12/01/04

Scientists and governments, and children at school all know that Mars is a desert, a dead planet. What a colossal waste of money.

About 50,000 little children die of stark hunger every day in our world. With people like Robert Mugabe, the number could soon be doubled.

I think we ought to get our priorities right. - Jim Ross, Rowlands Gill.

HOSPITAL SERVICES

THE news that the A&E at the University Hospital of North Durham had to close because of overload comes as no great surprise.

The health authority "experts" who closed the finest A&E in the North, at Shotley Bridge Hospital, along with the surgical capacity there, are the ones whose jobs should go.

Any major trauma in the Consett area now has at least a 30-minute delay in transporting to Durham, and a heart attack or road accident victim can die on the A691 before reaching the North Durham A&E.

And this is totally unacceptable, even to the most diligent health authority bean counter.

No one can visit the North Durham hospital and fail to be impressed by the medical facilities available. But the design of the building - which must at a very early stage have had the health authority approval - leaves a lot to be desired.

It has corridors big enough to drive a small truck through, and the big voids in the design filled with artwork would be better used as space to provide more bed spaces.

Hospitals are supposed to be places where sick people go to get looked after and cured. Functional efficiency should come before architectural expression.

I must say, however, that the car park is supremely efficient and supremely expensive for those unfortunate enough to have a loved one to visit. - P Anderson, Consett.

THE new University Hospital of North Durham features in your newspaper once again for all the wrong reasons (Echo, Jan 6).

In past reports made by the press and local television, the same mistake has been reported as has happened on this occasion. That is "the £97m University Hospital replaced Dryburn Hospital in 2001, but was built with fewer beds".

This would be bad enough if it were true. However, if the recent history of hospital provision in North Durham is looked at, it is clear to see that UHND was built to replace both Shotley Bridge General Hospital, which had approximately 350 beds, and Dryburn General Hospital, which had over 500 beds. Both had full A&E facilities.

It does not take a genius to see that, with the downgrading of Shotley Bridge to community hospital status and closure of Dryburn, thereby losing approximately 850 beds and two full A&E facilities which they had provided, the UHND, with only 454 beds and a single A&E unit, would be inadequate for the needs of the population of the North Durham area.

This is the real cause of today's problems, and the reasons why it was ever allowed to happen should be investigated and those responsible brought to book, as it is nothing short of a scandal.

It should also be remembered that the new hospital was being planned by the same people and at the same time as they were making the changes at Shotley Bridge.

During this time they were giving assurances to the people of Derwentside that the new hospital at Durham would be adequate for all the needs in the whole North Durham NHS Trust area.

So much for their assurances. - Tom Pattinson, Stanley.

IRAQ

AND so it rumbles on: the stubborn Tony Blair (pictured) linging to the figment of his imagination, weapons of mass destruction.

Now Mr Blair is no fool and he is trying to climb out of a very deep hole he has dug for himself.

May I offer a very simple explanation for Mr Blair's apparent predicament.

It all goes back to secret meetings with President Bush, when I am convinced he promised to go to war on that fatal day, March 21, 2003.

He knew he could count on Tory support to go to war and he rode roughshod over public opinion to keep his promise to President Bush.

I suggest Mr Blair knew perfectly well there were no weapons which could threaten us, but he had no option but to go to war.

He gambled the downfall of Saddam Hussein would get him off the hook but it has not worked out that way.

Strictly speaking, Mr Blair should resign because he sold out our country to the Americans.

The next election is not far off and the electorate must decide if Mr Blair should be forgiven.

In one sense it would be ironic if the Tories were to triumph because they had it in their hands to stop us going to war. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

COUNCIL TAX

THE thing that is irritating about spokesmen for the Liberal Democrats is their smug assertion that everything they advocate is exclusively fair.

The debate about funding local government has gone on long enough. The council tax is broadly legitimate, also simple to operate and understand. It has anomalies but concessions are built into the system.

There is nothing particularly fair about a local income tax. Is it fair that people who are not parents should pay for educating children? Is it fair that non-motorists should pay for pedestrian precincts and repairing potholes or suffer the pollution generated? Is it fair that people who do not use social services should help pay?

Of course it is reasonable to pool resources, which is the principle on which the present council tax is based. But I would expect liberal-minded people to regard this as legitimate without seeking elusive equity.

The Labour Party has apparently wisely abandoned that hopeless ambition. - E Shuttleworth, Darlington.

PENSIONS

OLD age pensions will go up this year by 2.8 per cent, but percentage rises do not reveal true figures.

A pensioner on £100 a week will receive £2.80, a politician getting £1,000 a week will get a £28 rise. This means the gap between the poor and rich will expand.

If the money available is to be shared out fairly then the figures should be added to make £30.80 and then divided by two, each receiving £15.40 so the gap between the rich and poor will contract.

There will then be far fewer poor people and fewer rich people. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.