AUBREY Adamson (HAS, Apr 18), once again pillories sparrowhawks. I very much doubt some of his statistics and I would question some of his logic.

I agree that sparrowhawks kill small birds in order to live, but there are other species which act similarly.

Here, domestic and feral cats kill a lot of birds, and crows and magpies take fledglings from nests.

I am sure Mr Adamson will agree that this is part of the natural food chain and has been so ever since predators and their prey first arrived on earth. Small birds and sparrowhawks have been around for hundreds of years and have survived without man's intervention, so why change the pattern now? Everything has the right to live and who are we to act arbitrarily to deny this right to one species?

Natural selection is more likely to produce a more balanced result than people potting at or poisoning birds of prey.

I have small birds and sparrowhawks in my garden and occasionally we witness one of the latter carrying off one of the former. At the time our sympathies are emotionally with the prey, but on reflection we accept that the predator has to live also. - RK Bradley, Darlington.

RICHMONDSHIRE COUNCIL

I AM writing with reference (Echo, Apr 16) to Richmondshire Council bosses' defence of their £4,000 adventure weekend.

Mr Tabiner gets paid more than enough by the taxpayer to train his 11 senior managers, not to take them on adventure weekends costing the taxpayers another £4,000. And does he need all these managers?

I train all my staff myself with no cost to the taxpayer.

As far as I am concerned, this show of very bad administration yet again will help my council tax protest a great deal. It will confirm to people what I have been saying for years.

With bad administration, too many chiefs and Indians, who don't know how to run a business, are bleeding this country dry, right from parish councils through to central government. - Cath Thompson, Catterick Village.

DAFFODILS

I AGREE with Ann Carr (HAS, Apr 20) that gardeners dead-head daffodils to promote flowering, but it does seem a shame to me that the Farndale daffodils are picked in full bloom.

Daffodils in the wild should be in a host - a crowd - as quoted by Wordsworth and left to nature. - M Howe, Darlington.

HOSPITAL FACILITIES

I WOULD like to comment on the recent furore over the absolutely preposterous fact that doctors and nurses have to pay to use the car park at Bishop Auckland Hospital.

Doctors and nurses get little enough pay as it is, without the little that they do get going into the pockets of fat cat private executives.

This also raises questions about the increases in funding that have recently been announced by the Chancellor in the Budget.

How much of this extra money, rather than going to improve the NHS or to pay for more doctors and nurses, is simply going to go into the pockets of the private companies? - Martin Jones, Spennymoor Liberal Democrats.

EDUCATION PROGRAMME

TWO years ago, the international community missed the deadline set for ensuring every child around the world had the opportunity to go school.

Still, 125 million children can't go because they are poor. Thousands of parents face the daily agonising choice of feeding the family, buying vital medicines or paying for children to go to school. Education is a big issue in Britain, but vital around the world. It is the Global Week of Action for Education (April 22-28) where campaigners in developing and developed countries will urge their governments to act and allow every child an education to realise their potential.

This week, and as we near the G8 meeting of the world's richest countries, we call on Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to take the lead and put action behind all the good words. Words from world leaders will not help children learn to read and write but debt cancellation and increased aid will.

The UK must work with other countries rich and poor and act now if the potential of many of the world's children isn't to be wasted. - Rebecca Palmer, Oxfam North East, Yorkshire & Humber.

EUROPE

EXCHANGE rates tax the mind, as anyone who takes a holiday abroad will testify. Getting the exchange rate 'right' in order to adopt the euro is a debatable point. There has to be some form of calculation in order that initial imbalances are easily worked through.

A senior executive from a car firm in Germany has said that many of his colleagues are concerned that the exchange rate costs will force them to think again about investing in Britain in the long run.

It is significant that inward investment into Britain recently fell by 36 per cent whereas the fall in the eurozone was only 12 per cent. Joining will bring short term problems but long term gains. All the measures are complex and, depending on whch are thought important, the results vary. Undoubtedly, the question of exchange rates is complex but the problems are not the most significant consideration.

The view of a number of influential people in industry and economists is that the short term problems are easily dealt with, but that staying out of the euro means that short term problems become long term problems. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.