POPPY APPEAL: I'M offering everyone the chance to be a record-breaker - and ensure the needs of British ex-servicemen and women and their dependants are not forgotten.

Last year the Poppy Appeal raised a record total of £21.46m and organisers are hoping to better that this year.

The pain and suffering which has arisen as a result of the two world wars has not abated. The Royal British Legion was formed to care for the needs of those involved.

Such assistance does not extend to ex-service people alone. Their dependants are also fully catered for under the Legion's benevolent schemes, thereby covering a complete age spectrum.

Contrary to what people may think, the calls on the Royal British Legion's welfare funds are continuing to increase. Last year the organisation responded to more than 300,000 calls for assistance and it expects this year the number will be even higher.

Remembrance Day brings the debt we owe to our armed services sharply into focus and the Poppy Appeal allows us to make some repayment.

All the money raised by the appeal goes directly to support the Royal British Legion's benevolent work.

I would ask everyone to be generous in supporting next month's Poppy Day Appeal and help set a new record for a very, very worthwhile cause. - Councillor C Magee, Chairman Durham County Council.

WAR ON TERRORISM

THE United States, not without justification, is being viewed with great suspicion over its motives in wishing to wage war on Iraq.

Iraq has vast reserves of oil and President Bush would love to get his hands on it to relieve a growing shortage in the US.

President Bush is being accused of surrounding himself with people who are guilty of insider share dealing and fiscal criminality.

Had Tony Blair been found in a similar situation he would have been compelled to resign.

Thankfully, our standards seem to be higher than those prevailing in America.

Terrorism, as shown by the latest outrage in Bali, is a serious problem. But mealy-mouthed condemnations will not solve the problem. Only a serious and prolonged effort by all governments to root out the causes of terrorism will help to eliminate the scourge to civilisation.

Bombing by the West of innocent people in whatever country will only exacerbate the situation and lay ourselves open to charges to state terrorism.

The riches of this world are poorly divided and we in the West have far more than our fair share and perhaps this would be a good area in which to do something positive to help the under-privileged. - H Pender, Darlington.

SO President Bush has warned the Iraqis not to resort to "criminal acts" by retaliating with chemical or biological weapons when he launches his promised attack on their country.

Is it not a criminal act for the US to obstruct the UN weapons inspections by imposing demands which are unnecessary and deliberately calculated to be unacceptable to Iraq, with a view to starting a war in defiance of the UN and international law, which will probably kill thousands of innocent men, women and children?

Bush himself has abandoned the principle of no first use of nuclear weapons, and is threatening Iraq with so-called "low yield" nuclear bunkerbusters. The fallout, both radioactive and political, could provoke a global catastrophe.

Cluff's cartoon (Echo, Sept. 16) said it all. It showed one American soldier explaining to another: "But we're entitled to weapons of mass destruction because we're civilised!" - P Winstanley, Durham.

THOMAS Conlon (HAS, Oct 14) believes opposition to a war against Iraq is due either to pacifism or anti-Americanism.

For some this is true but for the majority it is because of concerns which extend beyond the aims of the US and UK.

President Bush's willingness to ignore world opinion and the very laws and treaties which protect all nations threatens world stability. Already the war on terrorism has become an excuse for acts of terror, oppression and the denial of basic freedoms, legal and civil rights guaranteed by the UN and European human rights conventions.

An illegal attack on Iraq could engulf the entire Middle East in war and since there are many around the world who already see the actions of the US/UK as a war on Islam, such a conflict could easily spread elsewhere, possibly leading to a world war. Therefore, if a war against Iraq is necessary, it must be done according to international law and with the backing of the UN and the Arab nations, because to do otherwise carries possible consequences which threaten the entire planet. - CT Riley, Spennymoor.

EDUCATION

TWO 15-year-old boys were excluded from a school in Surrey for sending threatening messages to a PE teacher.

I always thought this would be a criminal offence. In my days at school, these boys would most certainly have been sent to Borstal.

Instead, we have people pressing for their reinstatement at school. The teachers are quite right not to entertain them.

The next school these two boys should go to should be prison. It is sad to witness the decadence of Western society. - J Ross, Rowlands Gill.