HUNTING

A LOT of people may think the Government is trying to ban cruelty to foxes - this is not the case. Foxes, as vermin, should and will be, controlled, even if hunting is banned. This Government knows this.

The main alternatives to hunting are snaring and shooting with a shotgun. Both methods are as cruel, if not more cruel, than hunting. A shotgun is designed to kill small animals at close range; a fox is not small and you don't get that close. A snare works by, hopefully, constricting round a fox's neck then relying on the animal to panic pull and strangle itself.

If I were a fox I'd know what a dog is. I'd know all about hunting and I'd have a fair chance of getting away. If I did get caught, death would be quick and I wouldn't be left maimed and dying, which is what the Government is in favour of.

Mr Blair, leave hunting alone and get on with debating something more important. - William Snaith, High Coniscliffe, Darlington.

ONCE again the democratic House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly for a total ban on the hunting of wild animals with dogs.

Those who support hunting have tried every trick in the book to prevent the democratic voice of the majority of British people be heard. Now it is time for Tony Blair to get off the fence and act.

The message from Parliament is clear. There can be no compromise on cruelty, and licensed cruelty is no more acceptable than the current situation.

We all value the British countryside and support sustainable ethical farming. Those who pretend to speak on behalf of country people while promoting their own warped and outdated view of how the countryside should be managed have been defeated and it is time those who really care about the future of our rural environment ditch these dinosaurs.

British farming could have a great future if it recognises that it has to change. One important step in that change is to accept that animal welfare and ethical farming practices are not the preserve of the loony fringe but the concern of us all. Let's get rid of hunting and we can move on to a better future for our countyside. - J Ashdown, League Against Cruel Sports, Willington.

COUNCIL FINANCES

IT is interesting to note that one of the hardest hit areas for increases in the council tax is Sedgefield Borough Council, which is within the Prime Minister's own constituency.

Our council tax bills have risen by 12.5 per cent. When I wrote to the council inquiring why our council tax was to rise by more than three times the rate of inflation, the reply stated that the council had to put more money into statutory services to meet Government targets and public aspirations.

This led to an increase of six per cent in the budget, which for some reason "leads to an unexplained increase in the borough council tax of 12.5 per cent". One can only hope that Tony Blair is actually paying his share of this and is not exempt for some reason. - John A Redman, Spennymoor.

I ENDORSE the views of R Davies and JA Cunningham (HAS, Mar 11). I am incensed at the proposed increase in council tax, as are the majority of people I speak to in my community.

With inflation running at 2.5 per cent and average pay rises between 0-2.5 per cent, what justification have these councils got to impose these unfair increases on working people, when in some cases the annual tax increase is greater than the annual pay increase? And once again we see our standard of living going down under this Government.

When are we all going to get wise and say enough is enough and, like the poll tax nationally, object to these unfair tax increases and bring to account these people who seem to be unable to control their expenditure in line with inflation and just pass on their inefficiencies to all of us. - B Collins, Spennymoor.

MIDDLE EAST

F ATKINSON is right (HAS, March 14). There is no easy answer to the massacres of innocents in Palestine and Israel.

Secure borders for Israel must mean giving up the land illegally occupied by military conquest since 1967. Tragically, Israel's policy appears to rely on a very effective murder-machine: their military, killing three or four Palestinians for every Israeli butchered by a terrorist.

Seeing children with catapults and ambulances being machine-gunned by invading Israeli tanks is disgusting. How we can be considering sanctions against a tin-pot dictator like Mugabe whilst taking no effective action to compel Israel to withdraw to its borders angers me.

Why have double-standards? When Iraq invaded Kuwait, it was forced to withdraw by force. It still faces sanctions for trying to develop weapons of mass-destruction.

Israel invaded and has illegally occupied Palestinian land since 1967. It possesses weapons of mass-destruction (atomic bombs) and the means to deliver them to its neighbours and beyond.

I want to see Palestinian and Israeli children growing up in peace. There can be no military "solution" despite Sharon's fanaticism.

Justice for both sides, based on United Nation resolutions, is the only way back from the abyss. - Stuart Hill, Darlington.