Hear all sides

IT is an utter disgrace that multiple sclerosis sufferers are being denied the use of the drug beta interferon by our Government. Far too much time and money is spent by our governing bodies in looking after the interests of other countries, when, in fact, more emphasis should be placed on looking after our own citizens.

How often do we see our nation immediately respond to requests for aid within minutes of national disasters, yet our governmental departments are seemingly just as quick to blow the whistle on prescribing medication to reduce our own suffering, on the basis of what they term "exorbitant cost"?

Fair enough, as a rich country we should strive to assist those nations who need aid, but not at the expense of effectively promoting or prolonging suffering of our own citizens.

There are many people in this country who have worked hard and duly paid their national insurance and taxes, only to find themselves left high and dry when illness strikes, by what are basically incompetent government decisions.

I hope Tony Blair and Alan Milburn read the comments levied in The Northern Echo on January 26. The pair of them should think about loyalty to their own countrymen, prior to sticking their noses into things that don't ultimately concern them. Peter Kelly, Darlington.

PUBLIC SERVICES

EVEN by the normal standards of politicians' doublespeak, the new Tory leader has plumbed the depths of hypocritical nonsense.

Shedding a bucket of crocodile tears, Iain Duncan Smith commits the Conservatives to rebuilding public services. That alone, from the party which destroyed the health service, schools and public transport, is breathtaking in its audacity.

But Mr Duncan Smith also promised that a Tory government would cut taxes as well.

It is time politicians stopped lying to voters and pretending we can get something for nothing.

Even Tony Blair implies there can be huge improvements in public services without a cost to taxpayers. There can't be, and it is a con to pretend there can.

We have the worst health service and railway system in Europe. And we spend less on both. It is no good politicians pretending there is no connection between these two facts. No one likes paying more taxes, but if we want good public services, we will have to. And politicians of all parties should admit it, Mr Duncan Smith will never persuade anyone he is serious until he is honest about taxation. - DT Murray, Durham.

MINERS' PENSIONS

HAVING worked in the wet drift mines for 40 years, I am riddled with pains in every joint.

I paid into the pension fund since it started. When the pit closed, a group of us received our pensions. I have mine here beside me, telling me I have been awarded 33p a week and a lump sum of £19.

The men in this group are all in their 80s or 90s, most have fallen by the wayside over the years. It has been a huge joke in the workingmen's club as we keep getting a rise of two pence a week and telling us to report it to the council and social services.

Even now I only get 73p a week, not the price of a half of beer.

I hope Easington MP John Cummings sees these one-off payments speeded up so we may afford a whisky or two to keep us ticking over. Name and address supplied.

THE concession announced in Stuart Arnold's 'Pitmen's pension boost' (Echo, Jan 18) represents just a little, after a long time.

This was one of the proposals put to the Government as long ago as June 2000.

We could have done without Energy Minister Brian Wilson's comments. As he stated, the Government and trustees are working closely together to ensure that pensioner members continue to get a fair deal. This is a bit rich considering that the Government has been taking multi-millions of pounds out of the fund since 1994 and will continue to take its annual £113m for many years in the future.

The minister goes on to say had the Government's guarantee of pension benefit not been in place, bonuses already paid would not have been paid.

With bonuses paid in 1990 for five per cent, 1992 eight per cent and 1994 7.13 per cent, before the guarantee was in place, and the present healthy fund, makes D Murray's suggestion (HAS, Jan 24) of 80 to 20 per cent seem much too generous for the very small risk the Government is taking in underwriting pension benefits. A Greathead, Trimdon Village.

BRITISH GAS

WITH reference to your article "Alert leaves disabled woman in cold for 70 hours" (Echo, Jan 8), I would like to make the following comments.

Only one British Gas engineer attended the property on January 4, 2002. The other three visits were made by Transco employees. Transco, a part of Lattice plc, is a wholly separate company from British Gas and is responsible for operating the gas emergency service.

At the time of our engineer's visit on Janaury 5, 2002, it was found that there was a mobile gas heater in use. Our engineer gave advice as to the availability of bottled gas should this be required over the weekend.

The safety of our customers is of paramount importance to us, and it is for this reason that extensive tests were carried out on the gas appliances. We were unable to find any problems with the gas appliances in the property, although in an effort to provide peace of mind, we supplied a free carbon monoxide detector.

British Gas would like to apologise for our customer's dissatisfaction, and assure them of our best intentions at all times. Dirk Vennix, Regional Public Relations Manager, British Gas North-East.