THE remarks by Coun Stephen Smailes (Echo, July 6) were interesting but confusing. He states that the police in Middlesbrough have been successful in dealing with the problem of prostitution and the solution seems to be that the prostitutes have moved away to Thornaby across the river.

But that is not a solution. He now avows that police in Thornaby will have to be successful. Of course, if they are as successful as Middlesbrough police, the prostitutes will move across the river, this time to Stockton - and then back to Middlesbrough, as they have been doing for decades.

The sensible part is when he states that it may be worth looking at legalising prostitution. If it is legalised, there will be a substantial drop in venereal disease, innocent wives with erring husbands will not find themselves infected with life-threatening Aids. How long will it be before a prostitute in Thornaby is found murdered or disappears?

In Europe, cities like Hamburg have had controlled red light areas and in the Netherlands very few women are raped or sexually assaulted, the lesson of "Jack the Ripper" was learned long before Victorian times.

In some countries, such as Australia and America, they have states where they really have solved the problem by licensing brothels, because they have realised there will always be men who will pay for sex and there will always be women who will provide it for money. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

CAPITALIST ECONOMIES

HARD-NOSED capitalism was born in America, don't ever forget. And it took hard-baked Margaret Thatcher to convert Britain to hard-nosed capitalism. And not without much pain, particularly for those coal miners.

Lots of workers Stateside in the 1920s were actually sacked. And they were replaced with imported cheap labour.

Is New Labour inching the way to something closely resembling American-style capitalism here in Britain? And if so, there'll be scant resistance from those Conservatives; none at all, perhaps.

Actually hard-nosed capitalism has no worthy opposition. The thing is that America was founded on what is known as "rugged individualism and self-reliance". And by emigrant Europeans, mortals who'd left feudalism behind them, along with the so-called landed gentry.

America, first thing of all, needed to be tamed. And no immigrant had any social rank to pull on his fellow pioneers. Yes, America has her own sort of aristocracy. And it is comprised of mortals who all earned their keep. This squares with the "American Dream". - AH Lister, Guisborough.

RACISM

PETE Winstanley (HAS, July 6) simplifies the issue of racism. There are many causes of racism, but when an individual speaks up against those who accuse him unfairly, then they are prejudiced and insulting and their argument lacks substance.

Pete Winstanley has, on many occasions, accused the British people of racism.

To suggest we need to ensure that those with similar qualifications have equal access, regardless of ethnicity, is vague and inconsistent.

He ignores the fact that there are many citizens who are ignored and classed on a low level because the middle-class have no intention of giving them anything else. They don't want equal rights, only rights that suit themselves.

There are many in this country who don't have qualifications yet, given the right environment, could do better, while the likes of idealists suggest the perfect world. How many of them live on a council estate, unemployed or on £4.10-an-hour?

When we sort out our own problems first and produce a just and fair society, then maybe we can be an example to the rest of the world. But until then, name calling and ignorant naivet will not solve the problems facing the human race. - John Young, Crook.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

AS a supporter of regional government, I would like to take this opportunity to compare the current system of quangos with proposals for an elected assembly.

The members of One NorthEast are chosen by civil servants in Whitehall. They are largely unknown to people in the North-East who have no input in the selection process.

A regional assembly will be elected by a system of proportional representation and the members (approximately 35-40) will be democratically accountable to their constituents who will know names and can remove them from office if they fail to deliver.

I know what system I will vote for in the forthcoming referendum. - L Rutherford, Durham.

MIDDLE EAST

AFTER reading many letters from Pete Winstanley and other correspondents, may I suggest they cease blaming religion for the problems of the Middle East and, instead, purchase a video of the BBC documentary The World at War.

The imagery portrayed in the series which began each week with the sad haunted face of a small boy facing a hopeless future and ended with Japanese suicide pilots crashing their planes into American warships, followed by the atomic bombing of the Japanese mainland, would have a profound effect on young terrorists seeking revenge by blaming America for the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Mr Winstanley suggests we should marginalise the cynical extremists who are the mentors of suicide bombers, and mentions Gerry Adams in his argument.

He forgets that Mr Adams was a leading figure in the IRA when a young man named Bobby Sands died in prison because of a hunger strike.

The leaders of Hamas and the PLO will have followed the events in Northern Ireland very closely and patiently wait until they are in government in Jerusalem. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.