02.08.04

This would be beneficial to Durham City and the wider tourism industry, as well as providing a much-needed figurehead for the region - one that everyone can understand and be moved by.

Let's agitate for the return of the Gospels! - Paddy Burton, Sunniside, Bishop Auckland.

LOCAL government minister Nick Raynsford has delayed the regional assembly votes in Yorkshire and the North West because of problems with all-postal ballots. But he said "none of the concerns related to the North-East".

Does he not realise that the same possibilities for fraud, misuse and intimidation exist here as well as in other areas? Does he not know that over 17,000 people here had their votes disallowed at the European elections? Is he unaware that four local authorities here had severe problems getting the ballot papers out? Does he not appreciate that the post cannot be relied on to give 100 per cent service?

For any vote to command respect, the electors must have full confidence in the system of voting, and that is sadly lacking with an all-postal ballot. - Judith Wallace, Chairman, North-East No Campaign, Sunderland.

FOR the past ten months the Government has been spending huge sums of taxpayers' money on their so-called information campaign in Yorkshire and the North-West and yet now, out of the blue, the referendums have been cancelled.

Thanks to some typical New Labour spin, the concerns about all-postal ballots were not extended to the North-East, despite the fact we operated under exactly the same ballot system as the other two regions.

During the European Election campaign my office was deluged with complaints about the full postal ballot here in our region. They came from people not able to vote because ballot papers arrived too late, others who found the process of voting far too complicated and some who had been bullied and intimidated to hand over blank ballot papers. Many just simply wanted the choice to vote in the traditional way.

We all know the Government was running to certain defeat in the other two regions and this was the real reason for throwing the referendum process off the rails.

So, yet again, this Government is taking the North-East for granted, just assuming that we will obey its command and vote for a tax-raising talking shop. I sincerely hope that this cynical move will be rewarded with a resounding 'no' in the referendum. - Martin Callanan, MEP North-East; Conservative.

YOU are certainly correct to say that the Government has had to "rustle up a fig-leaf" to hide its embarrassment over cancelling the referendums in the North-West and Yorkshire (Echo, July 23).

We have had postal voting in South Tyneside for the last three years, the only council in the region to have done so. The system is neither secret or secure.

However, the only possible way of getting a majority of the people to vote in November is by postal voting. Those in favour of a regional assembly will only manage do this is if they rake round the dustbins where the majority of the postal ballot forms will end up.

If the Government thought regional assemblies were popular, all they have to do is open the polling stations on November 4 and allow us to vote in the same way as we have done for decades. - Stan Smith, South Shields.

I AM in favour of an elected regional assembly for the North-East. For too long decisions have been made which affect the lives of the people here by London based civil servants and un-elected quangos.

I believe the time has come to say yes for the North-East and to work towards a better future. - P Rivers, Wallsend.

PETER MULLEN

THANK you, Peter Mullen, for so clearly voicing the concerns that many have about Islam (Echo, July 20). Of course, the politically correct brigade will bay like wolves and thirst for blood, as they do whenever anyone dares speak out. That does not make Mr Mullen's words any less true.

It is not racist to be seriously concerned that your traditional way of life is being threatened by an alien culture that shows no inclination and scant attempt to adapt to ours.

Muslims have chosen to come to this country, yet they continue to live as though they were still in their own. Why then have they come? For money? The climate? What? If they really admire Britain so much that they struggle to come here, then why don't they truly become part of our society by leaving their national culture behind.

The saddest part is Christians, even though they know their fellow Christians are brutally persecuted in Muslim countries, seem to lean over backwards to praise Muslims and their faith. Don't they recall the many instances in the Old Testament when Israel was punished by captivity for allowing foreigners to come and build their temples and worship their gods in Israel. Can we be surprised if history is repeated?

Peter Mullen correctly quotes Ian Philip: "All we need to say is that Islam is incompatible with our society".

Well said. Yes, Peter Mullen, let us not indeed die of our political correctness. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

BEWARE of Peter Mullen's presentation of himself as a valiant crusader against political correctness. He simply finds that the accusation of political correctness provides a convenient device to discredit counter-arguments. Most opposition to his views has nothing to do with political correctness.

There will always be many different ethnic, religious and cultural groups in this world, and it is inevitable that these groups will come into contact with each other. We have a stark choice: either we learn to enjoy this diversity and the benefits it offers to us all in terms of the exchange of philosophical, cultural and artistic ideas, or we persist with the mistrust, racism, war, ethnic cleansing and genocide which has dogged humanity for thousands of years.

Peter clearly favours the latter course. While rightly condemning Saudi Arabia's intolerance of Christianity, he advocates that we should adopt the same intolerance of Islam, because it is "incompatible with our society". Two wrongs don't make a right. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.

IRAQ

LD Wilson is mistaken in his belief that the British public was not misled in the Iraq affair (HAS, July 26). Government sources were quite definite in their assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed in 45 minutes. No such weapons have been found, ergo the public has been misled. - JW Davison, Ferryhill.