WATER SUPPLIES: READING your front page report (Echo, Nov 25) on the alarming chemical cocktail in our blood, I was not surprised to find the North-East one of the higher areas.

I understand fluoridation is incorporated into Newcastle's water supply and yet no mention was made of that fact.

The chemical waste product called fluoride - which is not natural fluoride - holds within it many toxins. It would be interesting to read a similar report from fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. - B Tingate, Darlington.

DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

THE comments made by Councillor Joe Armstrong (HAS, Nov 24) still beg the question: why are there such huge increases in our council tax and a year-by-year failing of services?

He suggests that Coun Shuttleworth should make an appearance more often, which may be a fair assertion, but would things improve on what seems to be getting worse year in year out?

The thing that worries me is the future and what seems to be a government ignoring the consequences of this consistent failure.

Where do all the increases go to? Why are we consistently told that certain services have to be cut, while there seems to be a much bigger demand from the police, social services and other public sector workers? Then there are the huge rises our councillors seem to be handing out for themselves.

We are told the rises are the going rate for the job. If they were in business their going rate would be bankruptcy.

It is time councillors were made more accountable for failing to deliver and rewarded for success. And it is time we had a government with the will to make local government more efficient and more in line with needs of all the people, not just some. - John Young, Crook.

MIDDLE EAST

DAILY one reads and hears so many comments on terrorism now.

We overlook groups like the Stern Gang in Palestine during the 1940s. Was it terrorists who blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing and wounding British personnel?

One needs to go further back into history than September 11 and what has happened in the last two years.

When will Western leaders realise nothing will be achieved if the Palestine-Israel problem is not solved. - Name and address supplied.

Teesside

CONGRATULATIONS that at least you have got rid of that horrible poor description which is not a true name, Teesside Edition, of your newspaper and replaced it with the appropriate true name Tees Valley.

The same is true of our airport. It's very likely most others think we should get rid of Teesside in its name.

Most airports in England take the name of the local government area in which they are situated, for example: Liverpool, Manchester, Stansted, Leeds-Bradford etc.

I suggest ours should be Darlington-Stockton-Tees Airport, four separate words. - C Beedle, Stockton.

IRAQ

IF the former Iraqi general is correct in his claims that the present spate of vicious guerrilla attacks on the occupying forces in Iraq, especially those against the US, are to force an end to the occupation and restore Iraqi rule (Echo, Nov 20) then the sooner all coalition troops, aid workers etc get out, the better.

Let Iraq get on with its own business. There should be no need for further loss of life. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

CHRISTIANITY

TONY Kelly (HAS, NOV 25) lays great emphasis on the fact that many Arabs, who were obviously not Christians, were slave owners, in an attempt to draw attention away from his previous preposterous claim that Christians never owned slaves.

Why cannot he acknowledge that the American plantations were run by Christians who owned the black slave workers, or has he granted himself the power to decide that Jefferson, Washington and the thousands of other plantation owners were not actually Christians. - Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe.

TONY Kelly (HAS, Nov 25) seems to imply that the slave owners of the 18th and 19th century were not Christians. I am sure many were.

There is nothing strange about this. St Paul wrote: "Slaves obey your masters", seeming to accept slavery as part of the then society's way.

Our Anglo-Saxon forbears sold themselves into slavery to avoid famine. The serf was in bondage to his (usually Norman) lord.

The plain fact is that many of the practices of former times are now unacceptable to Christian and non-Christian. Christians have often been in the forefront of the reform of wrongs, but not always. - Peter Wilson, Barnard Castle.

ANIMAL RIGHTS

I'D like to express my outrage at the article (Echo, Nov 15) relating to the distribution of leaflets to people going to see Finding Nemo.

As co-ordinator of the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundations educational exercise, I feel angry that the article misrepresents what was both written in the press release and what actually took place.

We were not 'targeting youngsters' going to see the film, neither were we 'urging youngsters to join (our) ranks'.

We stood peacefully outside the Odeon offering leaflets, including ones challenging the supposed health benefits of eating fish, to adults who, of course, were accompanying children to see Finding Nemo.

Indeed, the response we received was one of much interest, resulting in numerous, lengthy discussions.

It's a shame that The Northern Echo, writing before the activity took place, only saw fit to try to discredit the message we were expressing.

Despite being provided with detail from a recently-published scientific report challenging the claim that fish is a necessary part of a healthy diet, The Northern Echo chose to report a one-sided argument based on the fact that fish is, of course, a healthy food. - Diane Sanderson, NARC, Newcastle.

COUNCIL TAX

BEN Ord (HAS, Nov 8) once again trots out the Liberal Democrat soundbite about local income tax. This would place the entire burden of council funding on the working population. On the presumption that the same level of service would be provided, a great many households would face huge increases in their contribution towards local services. It would also create a bureaucratic nightmare. As many people work outside the town where they live and pay income tax to the Inland Revenue office in that area, the appropriate amount of tax would have to be transferred to various councils at differing rates.

The current council tax system may not be perfect but it is related to the area where services are provided and is cost effective to collect. There are 25 per cent discounts for single occupants and benefit payments for those unable to pay the full amount.

The issue of a local income tax is an ill conceived policy which smacks of Liberal Democrat opportunism at its worst. - Mick Bennett, Durham.