09/09/2004

In September, 2003, he said the scrapping of Durham's seven district councils would save £122m a year, the equivalent to £144 on the bill for a Band D property. Coun Manton claims it's the sub-editor's fault for being nearly £100m out when going to print.

In August, 2004, it's only £21m maximum. Now, a week later, it's now £25m.

Whichever way you perm it, none of it fits with the proposed £144 reduction in council tax. Nor does Coun Manton mention that regional government will swallow up every last penny he claims he's going to save, Scotland being living proof of the costs involved.

Coun Manton destroys his argument by continuing to claim how good Durham County Council is, while simultaneously wishing to change the whole set-up. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland Conservatives.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

I NOTE that in recent propaganda in the North-East, the Labour Party is trying to associate the opposition to regional government solely with Conservatives. This is, of course, a nonsense.

Large numbers of Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters also oppose the break-up of our local government system for the sake of the totally alien "regionalism" which the European Union is forcing (via Mr Blair's Euro-fanatic Government) on the people of Britain.

We know from Foreign Office papers that even in the early 1970s the British government knew that the surrender of our national sovereignty to Brussels would mean a regional system of government for the United Kingdom. From the point of view of Brussels the best way to remove powers from the legitimate national governments in national capitals was to have their respective "regions" report directly to the EU Commission in Brussels, bypassing Westminster.

When I looked not long ago at the names of those people supporting the regionalist "One NorthEast" it was remarkable how many of them were also supporters of "The North-East in Europe".

The connection is clear. The democratic majority of all political parties will reject regional rule as fervently as they reject Euro-rule.

It falls to the North-East (specially selected by a government which will only ask those they think will give the right answer) to give a resounding NO to Mr Blair and his regional political careerists. - Rodney Atkinson, Stocksfield.

HOW many warning signs do the people of the North-East need before they realise that absolute constitutional disaster awaits them if they swallow the mass of lies and deceit put out by this government regarding Regional Assemblies?

Given the declaration by The Electoral Commission that "all postal ballots" should be abandoned in future, due to, among other reasons, their propensity for abuse and corruption, this government has ignored his advice and is telling the people of the North-East, in effect, that they hold us in such contempt that this warning does not apply to us, and that the referendum will be held by this method.

Now we are informed, that a leading trade union (Unison) is not only backing the "Yes" campaign, but is shovelling union funds into it.

Of great concern also must be the almost obscene level of editorial support, disproportionate coverage and the lack of reportage by certain sections of the press in the North-East of the massive amounts of taxpayers' money being spent by the Yes campaign.

This political imbalance is almost reminiscent of the former USSR, and "Pravda".

Given that there must be awareness of the real purpose, and intent behind the plans to break asunder the UK, the press in the North-East is essentially being complicit in aiding and abetting a public deception on a massive scale.

The real consequences of a Yes vote are being hidden from the electorate - the Government's plans must be defeated. - Dave Pascoe, Press Secretary, Hartlepool Branch, UKIP, Hartlepool.

ANY Member of Parliament, especially in the North-East, who votes for the disintegration of England via Regional Assemblies should resign or seek re-election. They are not worthy of the trust and interests of their constituents and are surplus to requirements. - R Harbron, Norton.

TERRORISM

TIME and time again contributors to these columns like myself, Pete Winstanley and others have said that military intervention is not the solution to preventing acts of terrorism.

The tragedy in Beslan has shown there are no winners in a situation like this. The Chechen fighters will not advance their cause at all by targeting children. Let them confront the Russian military if they must, but not innocent children and civilians.

Mr Putin and his brainless army have shown themselves incapable of handling a situation like Beslan. Surely the release of a few Chechen fighters would not have compromised his government and it was the only thing to do in what was a very difficult and unpredictable stand-off.

We in the West must take our share of the blame for this awful disaster.

For too long we have watched Mr Putin and his predecessors terrorise regions such as Afghanistan, Chechnya and others without as much as a whimper of condemnation.

Of course, as recent history shows, we are not guiltless when it comes to killing innocent men, women and children.

Mr Putin introduced laws in Chechnya to prevent the election of their true leaders, replacing them with Russian puppets. Because Chechnya is a largely Muslim country, the tragedy will only now exacerbate an already precarious relationship with so called 'Christian' countries.

Yet again I am delighted to read in the Echo a sensible and balanced view of what has happened and what needs to be done to prevent further catastrophes like Beslan. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

WHY did not the Russians agree to every aspect of the terrorists' demands, and when the hostages were free, change their minds and agree to nothing? If this was the usual situation perhaps the terrorists would stop taking hostages. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.