21/03/03

But I have noticed that you are not so keen on asking the employers to stop proceeding with the changes to shifts and working procedures that firefighters will be expected to take up if they agree to the Bain report.

Forget the pay rise. The employers are expecting firefighters to sign up to changes but will not tell them the details of the new shift patterns or working conditions until they have signed up to the conditions in the Bain report.

Can you tell me of one of your employees who would sign up to such an agreement, or can you tell me of a trustworthy employer who would expect their staff to do so? - R Ellis, Spennymoor.

THE firemen continually bleat about their poor pay and working conditions. Everyone has a better job than they have. Yet they hang on grimly to their poor jobs instead of taking one of those better jobs.

They do not mention that on night shift they are provided with beds so that they can sleep while still receiving full pay.

I worked thousands of night shifts down the pit, but was always too busy shovelling coal to be able to sleep. In any case, anyone found sleeping would be sacked. - Jonny Ryan, Peterlee.

WAR AGAINST IRAQ

FOR the past three months we have had numerous statements and comments from George Bush, Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein on the Iraq situation. Some half truths, some spin and some down-right lies.

President Bush has only one reason for invading Iraq: oil. The United States currently consumes 19.5 million barrels daily. About half is imported, with the remainder produced or taken from storage. Both sources are at present at a dangerously low level.

The only way for the US to sustain its overwhelming dependence on oil is to control the 70 per cent of the world's proven oil reserves that is within the Persian Gulf area.

Some of your readers will have decided I must be anti-American. But I have no politics, no religion and no country, and this is the first letter I have ever written to a paper in my 70 years, and only now because I believe President Bush would start a third world war rather than tell the American people the financial mess their country is in. - Stephen Kielty, Middlesbrough.

ADRIAN Bell castigates MPs for asking the Government to be sympathetic to people asking for protection from the Iraqi regime (HAS, Mar 7).

In the 1930s similar letters in newspapers were commonplace, asking that German Jews be prevented from finding refuge in Britain. We know what happened to German Jews. Enough said. - Peter Wilson, Barnard Castle.

GIVEN its weapons of mass destruction, its numerous attacks against its peaceful neighbours and democratic countries around the world, its constant support for terrorists and despotic regimes, its disregard for international law and defiance of anti-proliferation treaties, its human rights abuses and its refusal to sign up to human rights conventions, its actions which threaten world stability and the undemocratic nature by which its government came to power, is it not time for regime change in the US? - HE Smith, Spennymoor.

WHILST George Bush and Tony Blair blame France for America's decision to abandon a second UN resolution, the world knows that a second resolution was irrelevant as America had already decided that it wanted a war regardless.

However, no matter the outcome or who is ultimately proved to be right or wrong, what is for sure is that the very diplomatic bridges that have helped keep peace in the Western world, which form the basis for international trade, peace and diplomatic co-operation, have been burnt.

International law and diplomacy is now meaningless, the UN worthless and international terrorists have their excuse.

And it is the ordinary men, women and children of this world who will pay the price. - CT Riley, Spennymoor.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

THIS country is the lock-up capital of Europe. Why? Could it be that we have more criminals than the other European states? Probably.

Could it be that our police forces are far better than theirs at apprehending criminals? Doubtful.

Could it be that the burglar knows he is safe from any physical damage by his victim, who, if he tries to evict the criminal by force from his house, may himself be charged?

Could it be that our prisons that supply three nice meals a day, clean laundry, free television etc, are no deterrent for the criminal?

Now we are getting realistic. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

NELSON MANDELA

BRAVO to the BBC for showing the life and times of Nelson Mandela. This wonderful, unpretentious man should be a shining example to all those faced with adversity and cruelty which is so widespread in our world today.

For me, his greatest achievement was to convince his supporters that they should not take revenge on the primarily white South Africans of Boer origin.

Every so often the human race gives to mankind a person such as Nelson Mandela, a legend in his own time.

Another great man who falls into this category is Mahatma Ghandi.

Of course, there are countless thousands of people who lead saintly lives and who usually shun the limelight.

An example is Michael Schumacher, the German race car driver, who raises millions for under-privileged children and gives generously of his own money.

Contrast these people with those always in the glare of publicity whose lives are consumed by an overwhelming sense of their own importance. Long after they are forgotten, the names of Mandela and Ghandi will be writ large in the pages of history. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.