BALI BOMBING: THERE is a perceived need for the UK and US leaders to rush to judgement and blame al Qaida as the origin for all current acts of terrorism in order to sway the sceptical majority towards supporting war on Iraq.

Is it indeed all one dastardly plot? There is no hard evidence to link Iraq or Bali to al Qaida. There is, in fact, more convincing evidence to link that organisation to Saudi Arabia.

There has never been a shortage of misguided, deranged and evil people in the world to wreak havoc on civilisation. The desperate attempts by Tony Blair and George Bush to link the unconnected for reasons the majority of us are still not convinced of, takes our eyes away from one fact. They have, as yet, still not brought the leaders of al Qaida to justice.

Whilst American fears and searches for bogey-men in the shell-shocked aftermath of the events of last September is understandable, how many people will have to die to provide the therapy? - Chris Greenwell, Aycliffe.

SHOPPING

MILLIONS of receipts are issued every hour by supermarkets which register every item sold.

Only a few people keep the receipt to prove they are not shoplifters. Most people discard the receipt without even looking at it.

These discarded pieces of paper then have to be cleaned up which is a waste of time, money and paper.

Is it not possible to have a device which each item passed through will impose a letter B on the barcode signifying that the item has been bought and showing the price paid? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

RADIO CLEVELAND

LIKE many BBC Radio Cleveland listeners, I am devastated by the decision to axe Alan Wright from the mid-morning programme.

I only wish he had a column in The Northern Echo, as well as your website. - N Staff, Kelloe, Durham.

JEFFREY ARCHER

YOU would have thought Jeffrey Archer would have waited until released from prison to publish a book about prisons.

It's only going to bring more hardship on him. - N Tate, Darlington.

GENERAL ELECTIONS

I NOTE that you are once again, in your comments, boasting (Echo, Oct 8) about Labour's landslide election victories.

When John Major secured his wafer-thin majority over Neil Kinnock in the 1992 election, the Conservatives polled more total votes than did Blair's New Labour in their alleged "landslide" of 1997.

However, the 1992 election couldn't have been a landslide, because your precious Labour didn't win. - D Sparks, Hartlepool.

BLACK & DECKER

IT'S hard to conceive that the motive for firms like Black & Decker pulling out can be anything but the profit one.

When its products come into the shops from the cheap labour areas they will be the same price as when they were made here, making a myth that joining the euro would solve the problem.

Quite a few have suggested boycotting these firms, an excellent idea if it could be implemented.

Nowadays, with a profits-before-people philosophy, loyalty from a workforce counts for nothing. There's no sentiment left in business. - D Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

FIRE SERVICE

THE firefighters are trained to do a job and are well paid to do so. To suggest they should get preferential treatment is insulting to many others whose lives are blighted with hard work and low pay, and who do not have the luxury of a secure well-paid job and good pension.

Their 40 per cent pay demand will see another increase in council tax, yet we constantly see old people being moved about like cattle because their homes are closing as councils being strapped for cash.

There are many people who risk their lives and don't get paid for it.

The fire service is an important service, as are many others, but to suggest a 40 per cent rise is their due is insulting. - John Young, Crook.

PETER MULLEN

I RECALLED writing a quiet and mild reproach about a displeasing column from Peter Mullen (Echo, Oct 8) which commenced with a quotation from St Matthew Ch 23 v 27.

Doubtless we would all be better persons by taking the time to read the rest of St Matthew's Gospel.

In this frame of mind I think it only fair to congratulate Mr Mullen for his success in raising a smile as he changed the subject to a light-hearted travesty about two politicians.

Mr Mullen could have a great future by writing for Mills and Boon. - Tom Cockeram, Barwick-in-Elmet, Leeds.

EUROPE

IF centralisation of power, with its inevitable high tax and waste, is the answer to solving the problems of our country, then the Russians would be the richest nation on earth. But we all know what happened in the old Soviet Union.

With the United Kingdom being inexorably drawn into a communist EU superstate, the Conservative Party has abandoned ever being able to implement true conservative policies of freedom for the individual to pursue the course of their lives with minimal interference from the state. The Conservative Party Conference was pathetic. Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa May decreed that the EU and the euro will not be mentioned. They even condemned their predecessors for being nasty and destroying our quality of life.

What hope is there of the Conservative Party ever being resurrected? If we stay in the EU is there any point in having a Conservative Party? - S Feaster, Rydale Branch, UK Independence Party.