HORSES: I HAVE read an article on dog fouling and a lady being fined for the offence.

Recently, coming out of my house, I was confronted by a much larger pile on my doorstep, not dog dirt but horse muck.

Is it not time something was done about this. If you catch the offenders about their horse's deposits you get sarcastic remarks, like, 'You have it for your rhubarb or your roses', and they laugh and keep on going.

I wonder what they would say if they were fined?

There are plenty of old railway lines to ride along, why must they use roads and footpaths? - P George, Gilesgate.

EUROPE

ONLY days after ten countries joined the EU, Britain is still being pushed by some to leave.

Leading the charge for semi-detached status is the UK Independence Party. This minority party beckons the country towards the exit door claiming Norway and Switzerland have prospered outside the EU. A categorical assurance is given that Britain would too.

Absolute rubbish. Norway is rich because it is Europe's Kuwait. A country with a small population and vast supplies of oil and gas. Its wealth has nothing to do with its semi-detached relationship with the EU.

As for Switzerland, its economy has hit the buffers. It has stagnated for the past three years, and grown by an average of just 1.3 per cent a year since 1986 - slower than any other advanced economy. So much for the Swiss model.

But at least they are still masters of their own destiny, anti-Europeans retort.

Really? In order to gain access to Europe's single market, Norway has to implement EU rules that it has no say in setting. It is a "fax democracy", where regulations are faxed to Oslo from Brussels. Same story in Switzerland.

Norway also contributes to the EU budget without having any influence over how the money is spent. Not yet in the EU, Norway agreed some months ago to pay 210 million euros per year between 2004 and 2009 in return for a new agreement on access to the internal market of the enlarged EU.

This deal makes the Norwegians the main contributors to enlargement, paying more per capita than any of the EU members states. This lack of influence is one reason why support for EU membership in Norway has recently risen to 57 per cent.

The lesson is clear. Outside the EU, Britain would be neither richer, nor freer. - John Foster, Darlington.

MICHAEL Howard is right to be scared of losing votes to UKIP (Echo June 1). When will the politicians, especially the party leaders, admit that the majority of people in Britain want to leave Europe?

Both Messrs Blair and Kennedy are totally blinkered when it comes to anyone not adoring the EU as they do. They will not be happy until England is no more. They are encouraging us to regard ourselves as merely a small group of regions in western Europe.

Michael Howard talks of being in the centre of Europe and changing the things that concern us. Fat chance! Does he really think on past evidence that any of our objections and demands will be met? Look how Mr Blair's "red lines" are becoming increasingly fuzzy pink and about to vanish. Mr Howard is trying to patch up the gaping gashes of Euro-nasties with a band-aid which, even as he dreams of applying it, he knows will peel off and have no effect.

All the party leaders need to open their minds and their ears to what the people are saying. If UKIP speaks out for what we want, the bigger parties should not be surprised when they lose votes. People have sense enough to vote for the party that really has Britain, not Europe, in its heart. - EA Moralee, Billingham

PIERS MORGAN

R BROWNSON (HAS, May 28) cannot understand why I felt sympathy for Piers Morgan.

Mr Morgan's mistake was he failed to protect his paper against the possibility of a hoax.

He should have made it clear the pictures were a representation of what the soldiers had actually seen and taken part in.

Mr Brownson also said the pictures put the lives of British soldiers at risk.

This is nonsense, as the Iraqi insurgents knew full well what was going on.

The only person who put the lives of British soldiers at risk was the person who sent them to Iraq - Mr Blair. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

DURHAM CITY COUNCIL

CLAIMS that Liberal Democrat controlled Durham City Council has failed to collect £1m in charges for removing business rubbish suggests yet another example of incompetence which has left residents feeling angry and let down just 13 months after they kicked Labour out of office.

From Durham's own Millennium Dome - the Gala Theatre - to above inflation council tax rises, the Lib Dems are matching Labour's record of ineffective services and waste.

People don't want the 'probes' and 'statements' Gerry Steinberg is demanding. We want better services through good management and fair council tax.

From Labour to Lib Dem incompetence, Durham deserves better. - Mike Fishwick, City of Durham Conservatives.

SECOND WORLD WAR

THANK you for acknowledging in print the fighting undertaken by those who fought across Africa, Tunis, the battle at Anzio and the liberation of Rome.

My father was one of those. He was a regular soldier before the war and was therefore actively involved during the six-year conflict. At the age of 85 and, as everyone is reminding us, 60 years on, the action he saw still invades his dreams.

A few years ago someone accused him of being a "D-Day Dodger"! Thankfully, because he is hard of hearing, he didn't catch what was said but my mother did. She was mortified, knowing what he had gone through.

I believe that for the two months prior to D-Day the news had been full of these battles and that they played an important part in the downfall of Germany.

It would have been great for these men and their families had they been included in the celebrations - an acknowledgement that their bravery was just as important. - Pam Phillips, Middleton in Teesdale.