23/10/03

Value for money is the cornerstone of good housekeeping, as is the greater public interest in local government.

Mr Conlon should ask the average person in the street if we receive either from our local councils.

As far as the community force is concerned, the general opinion is that it is an unacceptable and unnecessary imposition on the tax payer. Its usefulness is out of all proportion to the expense incurred.

Some would suggest it is a typical example of creating jobs for the boys.

Do we not have an adequate police force in Spennymoor with newly constructed police station?

The news sheet Inform is another example of an unnecessary waste of council finances.

If Sedgefield Borough Council is interested in open government why does it not regularly publish a list of what each and every member of its one-party council cabinet receives in allowances and expenses? - AW Dunn, Spennymoor.

LAW AND ORDER

NICE to see Tony Blair having a crackdown on anti-social behaviour and nuisance neighbours who make life hell for people who want a quiet life in retirement.

The aggressive villains seem to have a poor outlook to life with all the stress and strains. They want to get it out of their systems on anybody.

I would think a lot of the extra money going to the police force will be lost through too much red tape.

Changes to the law should be made to help it succeed for law-abiding residents. - N Tate, Darlington.

WEEKEND evenings in Crook town centre have for many years been riotous occasions and residents are by now well used to the antics of revellers migrating from the pubs.

Among those antics is the use of our pavements and back lanes for lavatorial purposes, evidence of which is all too apparent the following mornings.

As these places are used by children as play areas, there are obvious health hazards involved, though the authorities appear to show no interest.

Needless to say, our hard-pressed, public-spirited police service is conspicuous by its absence on such occasions, as they invariably are whenever there is anything like real work to do. - T Kelly, Crook.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND

AS an atheist in my 70s and heterosexual, I feel I have no axe to grind in offering a comment on the possible schism in the Anglican Church over the question of homosexual bishops.

Does the Anglican Church not realise how foolish it looks in the eyes of the millions of non-believers who see this as another example of how remote the hierarchy has become from everyday life.

I don't believe homosexuals or lesbians deliberately choose to be so, but have an imbalance in their genetic make up which gravitates them to this sexual proclivity. On this problem the 'Christian' Church is being most 'un-Christian'. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

THE controversy in the Anglican Church over whether the Americans can appoint a bishop who is homosexual was bound to happen sooner or later and decisions should have been taken years ago when it was foreseen to prevent a split between African and American sections.

It should be remembered that, no matter how often the bishop indulges in sex, he will never be a mother. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

ROLE MODELS

SHARON Griffiths says that boys are missing out on straightforward adventure stories with heroes who are decent role models (Echo, Oct 15).

She cites Biggles as an example. Quite right.

Are the boys of today so different from a generation or two ago that their minds will only stretch to stories about football?

I hope the new publishing firm Spitfire has every success with bringing back old style boys' adventure stories.

But what about the girls? There used to be a plethora of magazines avidly read by the nine to 13-year-olds. The pages were bursting with fast moving, exciting, uplifting stories with excellent role model heroines. Now there's a poor substitute, a thin diet of how to get a boyfriend, how to keep him, how to paint your face and do your hair, what clothes to wear and how to have sex.

Surely modern girls are capable of enjoying more than that.

Boys and girls need less of the trashy stuff that is being thrust at them in today's magazines. Let them have the chance to enjoy some exciting, engrossing escapism, packed with bravery, decency and honour and pride in who they are. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

CHINA

FOLLOWING China's entry into the space the question is will she, one fine day, ever become a world super power and then have weight enough to throw about?

Isn't this what America is doing right now, there being no country in the world powerful enough to stand up to her military might?

And let's not forget that Chinese civilisation goes back 500 years BC, that is right the way back to Confucious' time.

China's stumbling block is communism. Mind you, it cannot go on forever.

Communism's days in China must be numbered; what number though is anybody's guess. Democracy will - with communism behind it - then take root, and the Chinese people will be free to practice Western-style democracy. - Alfred H Lister, Guisborough.

OPERATIC SOCIETY

I THINK the Bishop Auckland Operatic Society deserves a mention.

The show, Pink Champagne, was a credit to the society and the orchestra. Considering the cramped conditions on stage and behind it, they performed with great showmanship.

Congratulations to all who took part. The town should be proud of its operatic society. - Ethel Hand, Bishop Auckland.

HUMPTY DUMPTY

The Daily Mail recently reported in a politically correct second verse 'to be supportive to parents' that following his fall, Humpty Dumpty simply counted to ten and got up despite being so badly broken he could not be put together again. The hushed-up truth is that the famous egg came to a sticky and possibly sinister end.

No one spoke of Humpty's fall

Or mentioned the broken egg at all

Humpty Dumpty's fate was hushed.

Did he fall or was he pushed? - Charlie Emett, Darlington.