I WOULD suggest to Peter Mullen (Echo, July 2) that racism is not hard to define. It means prejudice or hostility towards someone because of their skin colour or ethnic origin.

It can manifest itself as conscious or unconscious discrimination, verbal abuse, assault or murder and is the root cause of many wars. It is an insidious and destructive reality and it is much more than just bad manners.

Peter says that there can be no equality of opportunity because we all have different skills and talents. Of course we do, but we need to ensure that those with similar qualifications have equal access to the same opportunities, regardless of ethnicity.

Being anti-racist means that you take care to avoid such prejudice yourself and encourage others to do the same. It also means that you stand up for the rights of all of us to live our lives without being subjected to racist hatred and discrimination.

It is odd that someone who thinks he is reasonably good at academic philosophy should find such simple concepts hard to grasp. - Peter Winstanley, Durham.

THE Northern Echo has had some great writers throughout its history, the most notable being the famous editor, WT Stead, who went down with the Titantic.

The present editor carries on the tradition and captains a pretty good ship. I agree with the correspondents who compliment two of the crew members, Mike Amos and Sharon Griffiths, I would also add Harry Mead and others, but space will not allow.

There is always someone to spoil the party and I must agree with the many critics of Peter Mullen who say that he lowers the tone of your otherwise excellent newspaper.

A good columnist should be fair and factual, but this working-class Tory from Leeds is a bigot who appears to be a very unhappy man, a misanthrope who dislikes mankind in general, has a pathological hatred of Tony and Cherie Blair and never speaks kindly of anyone, not even his own bishops.

A previous contributor once said of him: "The milk of human kindness runs thinly through his veins." - Fred Bowman, Peterlee.

WAR MEMORIALS

MY wife and I were walking in West Cemetery, as we do from time to time.

The trees are quite splendid and the epitaphs on some of the headstones show how fragile is the human hold on life.

But what impressed me most of all was the beautiful war cemetery - a credit indeed to the gardeners. Walking along the headstones, all equal irrespective of rank, it was clear most were a memorial to young men taken in their prime to preserve our freedom.

Every secondary school should send its senior pupils to see these headstones to bring home to them the tragedy of war and the sacrifices made for them to lead useful and socially conscious lives.

Sadly, politicians today seem to have forgotten the horrors of war, some too eager to adopt bellicose attitudes and a walk round a war grave cemetery would do them no harm at all. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

CEMENT WORKS

I WOULD have probably seen the funny side of the article (Echo, July 1) about the ski slope at the doomed Weardale cement works if it had been printed three months earlier on April 1.

Durham County Council's chief executive thinks it's a "real possibility" and could attract tourists from a wide area.

I suggest most people who live and work in the area would rather have industry than "real snow".

Quite a few of the people who are transferring to other locations are doing so because there will be no local jobs. At least now when they come back on holiday they'll be able to go skiing.

This is not the first "idea" to help regenerate Weardale, recently One NorthEast came up with the idea of making use of the dale's daffodils. (Need I say more?)

The article also states that the task force is striving to find new jobs for the 147 employees. Have they found anybody work yet? Not to my knowledge.

It's about time local councils, MPs etc started to listen to people in the dale. We want industry first, then tourism. - G Emerson, Stanhope.

ORMESBY HALL

RECENTLY, I took the opportunity to visit Ormesby Hall and I had a most enjoyable and interesting time.

Ormesby Hall is a handsome mid-18th Century squire's house and the former home of the Pennyman family. The building has a magnificent history that is well told by experienced guides. It is owned by the National Trust and is a Grade I listed building.

An interesting feature is that many of the rooms have remained the same as when the last of the Pennymans died. It also has a lovely garden and stable block which is leased to the Cleveland Mounted Police.

I would encourage people of all ages to visit Ormesby Hall to experience one of the national treasures which is based on our doorstep within the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland. - Councillor Eric M Jackson, Mayor of Redcar and Cleveland.