WHAT a disappointment the new Durham Millennium Square and its buildings are.

The open space is sterile - three benches stuck in a row, looking at nothing. Where is the sculpture that could have been a focus? Where are the plants and shrubs?

On more prosaic note, where are the litterbins and cigarette receptacles? Do we really need to look into the office space of the library staff? Surely an attractive window display would have been better.

The theatre foyer and bar area are floored in an attractive stone, except that it is already badly marked with food and drink stains. Who considered how it would be cleaned?

This project could have been wonderful - a new library and theatre are just what Durham needs - but it is marred by lack of forethought and attention to detail. - Hilary Westwell, Durham.

ALBERT DRYDEN

I WAS most surprised at David Blackie's personal remarks about Albert Dryden (Echo, Mar 27 and 28).

I am not surprised he was wary of him, not without foundation it seems.

I correspond, receive telephone calls and have visited Albert at various prisons regularly. My observations have been totally different. He has, at all times, been clean, tidy, alert and optimistic, which I think should be encouraged.

Prison life cannot be easy, yet he remains cheerful.

I think this tragic incident should be laid to rest for all concerned, as well as David Blackie's book. - Brenda Scraggs, Frosterley.

CHRISTIANTY

W COLLINSON tells us (HAS, Mar 29) that he is proud to be numbered among the "chattering classes". To my mind, he has nothing to be proud of.

His denegration of Peter Mullen is typical of the way patriotic Englishmen are treated in this country now. His attempts to smear America and also Christianity are part of an ongoing campaign to undermine the West.

Christians did not knowingly and deliberately "keep Hitler in power". The full extent of Hitler's depravity was not known until after the war ended, fought by other nations who were also Christians, who made terrible sacrifices in doing so.

Mr Collinson only enjoys the freedom to peddle his tripe because of the blood, sweat and tears endured by these brave people. In my opinion, he owes a debt to these people he might repay by chattering a little less and thinking a lot more. - Deborah Anderson, Newton Aycliffe.

MIDDLE EAST

IN the 19th Century, when Palestine was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, alternately inefficient and brutal, various Western powers intervened to protect minorities among their oppressed subjects.

In the 1930s, Britain, which exercised a protectorate in Palestine, under the League of Nations, began the process of setting up a Jewish homeland and the United Nations legitimised the state of Israel which grew from that foundation. Having set a precedent for intervention and protection, why have none of these groups intervened to protect a minority suffering from a worse tyranny than the Turks ever inflicted? If Russia still claims to be the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, and France to protect the Catholics, why was there no official protest heard when the Israelis started to shell the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and kill members of its staff? Why has Britain not long since protested about the shameful treatment of the Palestinians, whose rights were guaranteed by us as the protecting power when the homeland was set up, and who have seen their property confiscated and their families exiled, their very right to live in the land of their ancestors denied? And why has the United Nations, so keen to intervene in other areas, not voted to send troops to Palestine to keep the peace there?

There can be no justification for terror tactics ever; but are not the incursions of the Israeli army into Palestinian areas as much acts of terror as the suicide bombings carried out by the other side?

Perhaps the troubles in the Holy Land might diminish if both sides saw that the West was as willing to hear the Palestinian protests as much as it has been to accept the Israeli justifications for using tanks, artillery and gunships to blast Palestinian homes and towns.

Recently, we have been told that the Palestinian camps are hotbeds of terrorism; whose fault is it that so many Arabs must live in camps anyway? - TJ Towers, Langley Park.

CAR WORKERS

IT is to be hoped that the wives and girlfriends of the men working at Nissan are aware of and proud of what their menfolk are up to in their lunch breaks (Echo, Apr 3). Spending their free time watching pornographic films, they are like dirty-minded little boys huddled in the corner of the playground, leering at rude pictures and talking dirty. No wonder they don't want a woman around to prick their consciences.

Beverley Ward, who has lost her job at Nissan, is better off out of it. It sounds as if there wasn't one clear-minded male colleague there ready to give her support. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

KIND HEART

I HOPE the lady who returned my purse to me in Asda, Bishop Auckland, on Thursday, March 28, is a reader of The Northern Echo, as I would like to take this opportunity of thanking her and to say how grateful I was to get it back.

It's nice to know there are still some honest people around.

We hear too much of the other side. My sincere thanks once again. - M Hodgson, Shildon.