REGIONAL GOVERNMENT: LOCAL democracy is dying on its feet and until something is done to rescue it from this condition all talk of regional assembly is at best an irrelevance, at worst a prescription for accentuating the already glaring defects of the present set-up: waste, injustice and grotesque incompetence.

The trouble is councillors and their officials tend to take themselves very seriously indeed, but the public do not.

True, the latter are ready enough to complain in the pub, but more often than not can't even be bothered to vote in local elections, let alone make their views heard where they matter. Such people are as unreal as the system of which they complain.

In much of politics public accountability is a dead duck and unless it is resuscitated the setting up of a regional assembly would be a one-way ticket to quango-land, accompanied by a massive overspend.

In politics, as in much else, for the time being at any rate, small is good. Big means greater autonomy and inaccessibility for those in authority.

In the anticipated referendum, give an emphatic thumbs down to this brainchild of invasive authoritarianism. - T Kelly, Crook.

MR T Blenkinsop (HAS, Mar 3) claims that regional government will be more efficient. How will this increased efficiency be realised?

Will regional government bring us more services, improved services or reduced costs?

I fully understand that the fine details will not be known at this time, but surely someone will have some idea of what regional government will really mean, otherwise what will we be voting for?

What will be the practical effects of regional government? - RM Young, Peterlee.

TERRORISM

PETE Winstanley (HAS Mar 1) reverts to his favourite theme of good versus bad but then reverses his argument to one of bad versus good, with America being the devil in disguise.

His thinking is that the poor terrorist is driven by the cause of bringing freedom to all via the bullet and the bomb, and deserves a fair and humane trial, but never does Mr Winstanley suggest how he will obtain financial compensation for the victims of the atrocities.

He states the Americans are trampling on the fundamental principles of justice and human rights of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay but he is silent on the human rights of those people, both young and old, who are prisoners for the rest of their lives to incapacity because of the injuries they have received at the hands of those who created their own laws and whom he defends.

He ignores the oppressive methods used by the Taliban to suppress the freedom of women in Afghanistan with the threat of public scourging. Through their actions the Taliban placed themselves outside the fundamental principles of human behaviour as accorded by the United Nation's Charter of Human Rights and by doing so they became outlaws.

To rehabilitate the Taliban prisoners would require the US Government to return them to their country of origin to live under the supervised parole of the United Nations.

A closer look at the present situation in Belfast would soon put the idea Mr Winstanley has of civil trial for Taliban terrorists into the dustbin. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.

FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL is our national game and its tarnished image speaks for the nation.

Gone are the days when dad could take the kids to a Saturday home game knowing that the youngsters could look up to the sportsmen on the pitch. They were fitting role models.

These days the question is less likely to be what's off-side, and more likely to be, dad, what's roasting?

Whatever the legal outcome of the Leicester City players' antics in Spain, there is yet another blot on the tawdry reputation of Premiership soccer.

It used to be just the fans, but the culture which turns every Saturday night town centre into an orgy of binge drinking has spawned a new generation of irresponsible players.

The vast majority of top footballers are disciplined professionals, but the minority who display bad, violent and disgusting behaviour on or off the field are undermining both the game and the country.

They are abusing their status as sportsmen and their role as ambassadors.

The details of the Leicester City case are a matter for the Spanish courts but there is no doubt that the players were guilty of yobbish behaviour at the least.

With their fat pay cheques and celebrity lifestyles, too many footballers seem to think they can get away with outlandish and obnoxious behaviour, especially against women.

What sort of role model do these players present to youngsters today? If they are not prepared to grow up and act like civilised responsible adults, they will have to be taught the hard way.

They should face the harshest penalties. It is time the Football Association and the players' own union, the Football Players Association, stamped out the yob culture within the game with action not words. - DT Murray, Coxhoe.

PENSIONERS

THERE is no Government that can please everybody. Pensioners now can get free TV licences (if they are over 75), £10 Christmas bonuses, £300 heating allowances, free prescriptions and weekly visits from the district nurse.

They all seem to be able to go to Benidorm for two or three weeks in the winter. Some folks are never satisfied. - H Dinsdale, Darlington.

MINERS

C JACKSON (HAS, Mar 5) writes about the millions miners receive from the public purse.

Didn't you know that this Labour Government receives £3bn from the mineworkers' pension scheme? As for the millions given to the miners, you should get your facts right.

Why do lawyers advertise in every newspaper and on television? This advertisement isn't for free. Lawyers wouldn't advertise if they didn't get their share. - TW Armstrong, Seaham.

RSPCA

THE RSPCA does much good for animals and is a charity well worth supporting, but they are making a bit of a blunder by running an Easter card competition (Echo, Mar 1).

The competition is for children to design a card and slogan based on battery hens and eggs. What has that subject to do with Easter?

Sadly, all too many children know little or nothing of why Easter is celebrated. Far from celebrating the death and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ, for them it means eating chocolate eggs hidden by rabbits. A stupid and pointless idea and no cause for celebration.

To use this ignorance about Easter and to manipulate the misconception about the season in the minds of children by putting across propaganda about battery hens - revolting though the practice may be - does the charity no credit.

Please RSPCA, call it a drawing and slogan competition, not an Easter card competition. - EA Moralee, Billingham.