SPEED CAMERAS: I CAN only assume Bob Jarrett (HAS, May 20) is a non-driver by the impression he gives in his letter. He only speaks for a very small percentage of the public and not the millions of drivers who have been flashed over the last few years.

He also says Alistair Darling is caving in to the public little by little. Surely he must know that politicians won't admit when they are wrong, so they do this sort of thing to save face. As for the term 'cash cows', perhaps the term 'golden geese' is equally appropriate because that is what motorists have become to police forces up and down the country, laying golden eggs.

Even the man who introduced speed cameras has had second thoughts, after several members of his own family were flashed, and admits they are now being abused.

The Police Federation says the police are being blamed for the speed cameras, but it is not the copper on the beat to blame, but the high-ranking officers who make poor decisions.

The decision to prosecute is taken by the police and not the CPS. An overhaul of the whole situation is long overdue. - A McKimm, Crook.

MANY of the drivers who break the speed limit and receive penalty points on their licences are unaware that they are doing so.

In this world of high technology, is it not possible to alert drivers to the fact that they are over the speed limit?

Most people have mobile telephones, so if a transmitter was fitted to the speed cameras, it could send out a bleep to alert the driver to the fact.

When he reduces speed it will save lives, but fining him and penalising him afterwards will not. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

UNEMPLOYMENT

WHO'S kidding who? Once again the unemployment figures are down to a 29-year low, only 876,300 unemployed people in Britain. Impressed? Don't be.

Since 1979, the figure for health-related benefit is up to 2.7 million, stress-related claimants have increased by almost 40 per cent.

Even more frightening is the growth of men between the aged of 25-34 (normally the most employable) not working; employment of this sector has dropped by 25 per cent.

Official figures show that these benefit claimants are part of a near-record 7.8 million people of working age who are economically inactive.

So instead of 876,300 unemployed, the figure is 7.8 million unemployable. - M Kellett, Crook.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

PRESIDENT Bush finished one of his pre-election speeches by saying God Bless America and God Bless Israel.

How low can a politician get to try and gain votes? What God is he appealing to? Certainly not the God of the New Testament.

The US has the capability to be a great power for good, truth and justice in our troubled world - instead America has allowed itself to be taken over by a bunch of self-serving, deluded and, yes, dangerous people.

After playing the major role in saving Europe from the tyranny of the Nazis, they have taken over the role of the modern-day aggressor.

Vietnam, Panama, Somalia are just a few of the disasters which has caused the US to lose a great deal of sympathy throughout the world.

And now Iraq - who knows how this total fiasco will end?

But the great mystery remains: why does Mr Blair drag our country through the mire by his blind allegiance to Mr Bush?

Why does he risk destroying the Labour Party in the process?

Despite a good record on domestic policy, it is time for Mr Blair to step down.

Quite simply he is past his sell-by date. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

MAXINE CARR

HAVING written yet another article defending Maxine Carr, (Echo, May 19) Harry Mead clearly resents the way society has treated her.

Let's us therefore take a look at that treatment. She received a very light sentence, served most of it in an open prison - ie a holiday camp in all but name, and is now free to live her life as she pleases.

To enable her to do so she will receive £15m worth of protection, funded by us, the taxpayer. If that isn't lenient and supportive enough for Harry Mead, I don't know what would be.

Maybe he should reflect on the fact that, by contrast, the victims' families in the Soham case got a paltry few thousand pounds to help them cope with the undoubted horror of their predicament, and he should also reflect, this time more accurately and objectively, on the precise reasons for Carr's extreme unpopularity, then he might spare us further such articles. - T Kelly, Crook.

EUROPE

I FULLY understand that people may wish to give Tony Blair a "bloody nose" at the European and local elections on June 10. After all, there are issues that many of us disagree with.

I do not think, however, that the European elections are the place to do it. These elections give us a very clear choice about what we want to get from our membership of Europe and, whilst I am angry at the Government, I think voting for Labour is at least a vote for a Europe that will actively work to create jobs in areas like the North-East and will ensure that working people get the protection they deserve in the workplace.

Only an organisation as big as the EU has the power to challenge vested interests, like multi-national companies and Labour, unlike the Tories, have always supported employees' rights against employers.

We only have to look around the North-East to see the benefits that the European Union and a Labour government have brought to our region. - Jessica Cleghorn, Gosforth.

AS negotiations continue to heat up on the EU Constitution there are worrying signs that Tony Blair's so-called 'red lines' beyond which the UK could not be moved, are now turning a washy shade of pink.

Firstly, we hear that the Foreign Secretary is preparing to give up the British veto in some areas of criminal justice, which would effectively destroy the independent legal system in this country.

We also discover that Michael Howe QC, a respected lawyer, has published a paper stating that the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into any EU Constitution could effectively shift the ultimate powers over UK immigration from Westminster to un-elected judges in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. It would seem that any of Tony Blair's assurances about possible British opt-outs would be worthless in the face of a powerful court in Luxembourg.

In these European elections, and in the forthcoming European Constitution referendum, I hope the people of the North-East will put Britain first, something Tony Blair and his colleagues seem incapable of doing. - Martin Callanan MEP, North-East, Conservative.