FAMINE RELIEF -- NEVER was the power of the media a more effective agent for good than in November 1984. At that point Bob Geldof changed all of our lives. The Ethiopian famine hit television screens and created a massive outpouring of compassion.

But, by then, the famine had reached biblical proportions and millions of people were already starving.

Now, in 2002 the threat of famine of an even greater magnitude hangs over much of southern Africa. In Malawi, severe flooding has washed away crops, leaving 70 per cent of the population affected by lack of food, and in neighbouring Mozambique, 80 per cent of the maize crop has been lost due to drought. In Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho, the story is the same - a combination of drought and erratic rainfall has resulted in damaged crops, failed harvests and widespread hunger.

By October, it could be catastrophic. Cholera outbreaks, as a result of poor water supplies and sanitation, have already been reported. For children in a region where malnutrition is a leading cause of death, their plight will very quickly become desperate.

If we learnt anything from the famine of 1984, it was our ability to predict with certainty that this will happen.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is among other aid agencies concerned that the worst days of this emergency are still ahead, and is appealing now for funds to meet this crisis head on. We need support now to establish therapeutic feeding centres for severely malnourished children and to ensure that drugs are in place to combat disease.

In 1984, the power of the media took images of starving children into every home in the North-East and evoked an unprecedented response.

UNICEF is seeking help to make this crisis real in the minds of the people of the North-East and to ask them to help now before we have more harrowing pictures of dying children on our screens and in our newspapers. Donations to the Southern Africa Children's Appeal will be gratefully received at UNICEF, PO Box 1800, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S6 4UG. - Louis Coles, Regional Fundraiser Manager (North East).

SINGLE CURRENCY

THE false impression that there is a fundamental difference of opinion between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown on the subject of the European single currency is pure spin and hype.

Certain sections of the media would have us believe that there is a good cop, bad cop power struggle going on. This is utter nonsense and is a deliberately misleading ploy.

Blair is portrayed as ultra enthusiastic about pushing Britain into the eurozone, while Brown is described as 'quietly sceptical', insisting that 'five economic tests' be passed before he would recommend joining.

The truth is starkly different: there is not a 'fag paper' of difference between them in their mutual desire to see Britain join the eurozone, and see our sovereignty destroyed, and our status reduced to that of a powerless province within a European superstate.

The reason for this pretence of 'principled animosity' is simply tactical: the object being to con and hoodwink an increasingly sceptical public. Recent opinion polls show Blair's popularity plunging, at the same time Gordon Brown's popularity is rising. Brown is widely regarded as a safe pair of hands with the economy, and Blair is mired in endless sleaze stories.

At what point then, will 'sceptical' Gordon have his road to Damascus moment, and announce that the tests have been met and he backs the PM's enthusiasm for entry?

That point will only occur if they (the Government) think they can win the referendum. With opposition to the euro and the EU growing larger as time progresses, the possibility of winning a yes vote is increasingly unlikely. - Dave Pascoe, Press Officer, Teesside Branch, UK Independence Party.

JOHN WESLEY

YOUR articles about the anniversary of John Wesley's tour of Weardale take me back to my husband's Victorian grandparents - John Edward Craig and Sarah Anne Huitson - who, for some strange reason, always referred to each other by both Christian names.

Both of hardy Weardale stock and, when married, living at Heckberry Cottage, St John's Chapel, he, at one time, was employed in nearby lead mines while Sarah Anne, before marriage, worked as a barmaid in a pub at Cowshill.

John Edward became a dedicated Wesley follower and a lay preacher as well as teaching himself law from a mountain of tomes. A sort of adviser on legal matters to those without finance to employ professionals.

But how such a dour, seemingly humourless man ever married a barmaid (as genteel as she was) is beyond understanding.

They eventually bought a small farm/dairy/shop at Chilton and their elder son, Lesley, became a superintendent within the Wesley Church.

My late father-in-law was named Whitely after a missionary visited them at St John's Chapel around 1906.

I wished I had been more attentive to my father-in-law's reminiscences. There were enough interesting lives there for a Thomas Hardy-like tale for somebody with talent enough to write it. - D Craig, Billingham.