EUROPE: I DO not get hot under the collar about the pound sterling. If I thought that the economic case had been made to convert to the euro I would be ready to vote now for the single currency.

It seems to me that with the British economy weathering the world economic storm so well, and countries like Germany having high levels of unemployment, the present time would not be the best time to enter. I would, of course, be prepared to revise my position if the balance of argument was different from what I think it is.

It occurrs to me, however, that if Tony Blair is able to persuade us that a war with Iraq is the correct policy, it ought to be relatively easy for him to swing public opinion in favour of the euro. I will be interested in what he has to say if Gordon Brown advises that the five economic tests have been met for going into the single currency.

I'd sweep it under the carpet, Tony. - Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.

DAVE Pascoe, UK Independence Party, writes about EU manipulation in his letter "Islanders are being treated unfairly" (HAS, Feb 10).

The chief funder of Mr Pascoe's party, Paul Sykes secretly funded the 2000 anti-euro "No" campaign in Denmark, via the Nationemes Europa (Nations of Europe) campaign group of academics.

The multi-millionaire Yorkshire property tycoon admitted spending up to £500,000 on a series of 150 full-page advertisements appearing in 31 of Denmark's national newspapers.

We have been warned! - Jem Bersin, North East in Europe.

ASYLUM SEEKERS

YOUR anonymous correspondent (HAS, Feb 5) casts a quite unjustified slur upon millions of perfectly decent British citizens (many of them immigrants themselves) who have serious worries about the long-term consequences of the continued flow of immigrants (not all of them asylum seekers) into this country.

These worries are not focussed on any race, religion or ethnic background. Every new arrival needs somewhere to live, and access to the social infrastructure.

Clearly these services are overstretched already, particularly in the South-East, where housing, transport, health, education and law and order are on the verge of collapse under the sheer weight of human numbers.

No one knows how many legal and illegal immigrants are currently entering this country, and until the Government

replaces the present chaos with a regime which is effective in regulating numbers to a tolerable level, public disquiet will persist. - Bob Jarratt, Caldwell, Richmond.

Darlington FC

THE increase in admission prices in old Feethams was to finance the arrival of a new striker.

The player in question has not arrived and will not do so due to the transfer window now being closed. Once again another promise does not materialise from the board at Darlington Football Club.

Would the chairman now reduce the gate prices due to this situation? It is only £2 more to watch Premiership Football at Ewood Park in Blackburn instead of lacklustre 'professionals' at Feethams.

Ever get the feeling you have been cheated? - Adrian Bell, Darlington.

SO George Reynolds has done it again. A young lad speaks his mind about the running of Darlington FC and George Reynolds cannot take the criticism and bans him for life.

The phrase 'if you cannot stand the heat get out of kitchen' comes to mind. - Eddie Worthington, Newton Aycliffe.

RIGHT TO BUY

WELL said Ian Dixon (HAS, Feb 10). John Prescott has four big houses and two Jags, the second, as we know, is to carry a replacement china set to everywhere he visits.

The Right to Buy was one of the most successful achievements of any government. People took the opportunity to throw off the shackles of the nanny state and stand on their own two feet.

There may have been one or two problems, especially down South, but overall it created an independence to attain the next rung on the ladder, through your own thrift, something backward looking councils, predominantly Labour, utterly despise.

The actual scheme is not the problem, but a failure to build enough houses to match a changing social structure, where single people, individuals from broken marriages and higher aspiration levels have all led to greater demand.

I would not wish to destroy the prosperity of the South-East, which is the shop window for Britain, but it would seem wise to start spreading future investment to the various regions. - Jim Tague, Chairman, Bishop Auckland Branch, Conservative Party.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

AN INTERESTING document has just been released by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on responses to the White Paper on Regional Governance.

It is a damning document which should, to all intents and purposes, kill regionalisation dead in its tracks.

Of the general public, only seven per cent were in favour of regional government.

Responses by region showed that the North- East was the second most apathetic to regionalisation. Doesn't exactly correlate with North East Assembly Chairman, Tony Flynn's statement: "that there is evidence of a groundswell of support for a directly elected assembly and positive signs that the North is at the forefront of this process."

Well, Mr Flynn, John Prescott seems to have made a mockery of your statement.

What we are being offered in the form of self-rule is a toothless, ineffective talking shop with a different set of politicians arguing over how to share out the same amount of money, the last thing that businesses or the people of the North want. - Neil Herron, Sunderland.