HEALTH SERVICE: THE latest Conservative idea for the health service is to give everyone a health passport that would enable us to choose whether to go to a NHS or a private hospital for treatment if we needed it.

It would give freedom to those who had the means, but do nothing at all for those who did not have the savings or the wealth.

The private hospitals would benefit because they would get more business than they do now. NHS money would be siphoned from NHS hospitals that couldn't cope with the patient workload, and it would add to their unit costs.

At the present time, private hospitals are used by the NHS where it is short of capacity, and the private hospitals have spare capacity. It is a sensible transfer of resources but it should only be thought of a stopgap until the resources the NHS needs have been made up.

I hope that this is what the Government is working towards with the increased tax we pay.

Policy should be framed to help all families and not just those who are well off already. - Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.

RACING PIGEONS

NOW the disappointment of the Newcastle-Gateshead bid for Capital of Culture is dying down, 2005 is the year chosen on which to concentrate all our energies into a year to remember.

We who race pigeons with the mighty Up North Combine will be celebrating our 100th year, which is no mean feat.

This has been accomplished with a little promotion but a lot of passion. Our membership, which stretches from Scotland to Yorkshire, and has a passion for the sport, will make this a year to remember. - Bob Dodsworth, PR Officer, Up North Combine.

EUROPE

THE founders of the European Union had in mind co-operative development between the European states and the abolition of nationalistic self-interests that over the centuries have led to wars.

They realised that a co-operative state of affairs could only be achieved step by step as people felt the benefits of one step and then saw the benefits of the next.

They did not see time as an important factor as long as the vision remained in place. It has taken over 50 years to reach the present position.

Put in this context, the statement by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, on Monday delaying the adoption of the euro should not be seen as a setback.

With reliable information that sets the advantages against the cost, a vote to adopt the euro is distinctly possible.

We need the forthcoming debates to be factual and presented without any spin whilst we keep in mind that it is the deed that is important for the country and not the time it takes to carry it out. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.

CAN anyone tell me what carrot, or carrots, Tony Blair has dangled before Gordon Brown to have him performing such contortions on the euro referendum.

It is plainly obvious to the ordinary observer that there are too many problems with the EU to even consider joining the euro in the near future. Yet, although Mr Brown concludes after six years that only one of the five smokescreens has been passed, he still holds out the possibility of them all unambiguously being met in the coming year to appease impatient europhiles and EU leaders.

Is it not the duty of our elected leaders to solve our domestic problems (health, education, crime, for a start) rather than producing lorry loads and tons of needless jargon? Can anyone justify the cost of this waste?

Is the electorate prepared to stand by while the cost to the nation of producing and distributing more propaganda to form a consensus on joining the euro takes place, at the expense of our public services? - J Heslop, Gainford.

THE Chancellor announced on Monday that the Labour Party is determined to take Britain into the eurozone and made it clear that it is prepared to make the North-East poorer to do so.

He announced that a key barrier to entry was the lack of "wage flexibility" in the UK and, as his own report put it, "wage growth should be lower in high unemployment regions".

He has already started a study into regional pay rates for public sector workers which will mean lower wages for nurses, firefighters, police officers and civil servants in the North-East.

We already knew that joining the single currency could send us into recession as it has in Germany. Now we know that the Labour Party's answer to this is to reduce wages in the North-East. Our public servants should not have their wages cut because the Government wants to give control of interest rates to the bankers in Berlin.

I would urge trade unionists and members of the other political parties to unite with us to campaign against membership of the eurozone.

We in the North-East have been warned what will happen if we fail. - Jeremy Middleton, European Spokesman North East Conservatives.