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BODY PIERCING

THE fashion fad for piercing various parts of the body has many hidden dangers. There was a time when sticking things through your nose, mouth or any part of your anatomy, was considered a stupid, even a barbaric, thing to do.

Now the fashion seems to be to make yourself look like a weird porcupine and give yourself problems when it comes to eating and speaking comfortably. In years to come, when the fashion has passed, there are going to be many scarred faces and bodies. If young children insist on body piercing and parents can't refuse them, surely it would be better to strongly encourage them to fake it, like Victoria Beckham. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

VACCINATION

IT'S that time of year again. As the cold weather approaches, flu vaccinations will be available for "at risk" patients over a certain age and/or with certain medical conditions. As the colder and damper weather conditions are near, the availability of another kind of vaccination for another and very large "at risk" group would not come before time either.

Vaccination against the foot-and-mouth virus for cloven-hoofed livestock, if implemented six months ago, could have prevented the monumental loss (and waste) of lives and livelihoods. Much cruelty, grief and the flawed logistics of the disposal system would also have been avoided. And, as Harry Mead so aptly points out: the £2.3bn, which has so far been sunk into the foot-and-mouth crisis could have been saved for the NHS.

Vaccinations are needed so that life can go on. For people, for animals and, with foot-and-mouth, also for farming and the wider rural economy. - S Kuhlmann, Wolsingham.

WHEN I attended school, the teacher told us a story. It was about a young soldier who was to receive an honour. At the parade where this was to take place, his mother was heard to say: "Isn't our Willie wonderful? He's the only one in step."

To change the scene somewhat but to keep the sentiment. After over 2,000 outbreaks of foot-and-mouth in this country, when almost every other country in Europe has managed to clear their outbreaks up with only one or two cases, isn't it time we changed step to be out of-step like every one else?

We, in this country, are the most law-abiding in the world and Tony Blair should thank his lucky stars for that.

If Tow Law had been anywhere else, there would have been riots.

Even if we eventually clear it up without vaccination, and we allow imports from other countries, we will soon be re-infected, so what's the point of being the only one in step?

Sooner or later, we will have to vaccinate, so why not now? Mr Blair, you owe your people something better than they are getting at the moment. - JHV Walker, Coxhoe.

I CANNOT begin to reply to Harry Mead's dogmatic comments over many weeks in the confines of a letter.

Suffice to say that vaccination against foot-and-mouth-disease is very attractive in theory, but has many practical and scientific difficulties, as well as no guarantee of being totally efficient. - J Heslop, Gainford.

CONGRATULATIONS on publishing the letter of Jim Ross on vaccinating for foot-and-mouth (HAS, Sept 5).

Most farmers I have met support a vaccination policy. Would we stop a flu virus by a slaughter policy?

All the Tow Law protestors and other interested parties should lobby their MPs for a change of policy. £3bn is too much wasted money, who knows where it could end? Even a half-wit knows that, if something is obviously not working, then try a better way. - W Mawston, Ferryhill.

SMOKING

ACCORDING to ASH (Action On Smoking and Health), smokers are less productive at work than non-smokers.

People work in many different ways and, to get the best from their staff, employers need to treat people as individuals. According to research by recruitment consultants Office Angels, some people smoke because it helps them concentrate and makes them more efficient.The challenge for management is to accommodate smokers without inconveniencing non-smokers.

In a mature society, employers should be allowed to consult the workforce and develop a policy on smoking that best suits their business.

For an organisation that claims to be anti-smoking, not anti-smoker, ASH is remarkably quick to demoralise those of us who enjoy lighting up. If nothing else, it shows how desperate and intolerant the anti-smokers have become. - Ben Williams, Forest, London.

SPEED CAMERAS

I AM disgusted at the way the police are exploiting the motorist with their speed cameras. What I propose is that all motorists band together to beat the police at their own game by sticking to the speed limit. That way the police will not get extra cash to install more cameras. - George Blood, Bishop Auckland.

METAL DETECTING

ROBIN Ashby (HAS, Sept 3) is wrong when he refers to "cowboys with metal detectors" and "that anyone opposing the Valetta Convention is anti-European".

I am the co-ordinator of a metal detecting club. Our members are responsible for finding and recording under British law, 99 per cent of all metallic finds currently on display at museums throughout the North of England, such as the Middleham Jewel, the Ripon Jewel, and the Poppleton Hoard of Saxon silver.

The Treasure Act of 1996 and other British Acts of Parliament protecting sites of special historical interest work very well as a result of co-operation between metal detectorists and archaeologists, and the Valetta Convention was purely another step towards getting our hobby banned as it is in the Republic of Ireland. - N Smith, Newton Aycliffe.

LABOUR POLICIES

HUGH Pender (HAS, Sept 4) thinks it amusing to chastise those who dare to challenge the Labour Party for its recent failings.

Come forth and tell me what they have achieved for the working man.

Gordon Brown, scared by the good economy he inherited, immediately gave control of interest rates to the Bank of England, and we all thought great, cheaper home ownership.

How about this in return. Miras removed (not reduced), stamp duty increased four times, council tax at four times the level of poll tax, petrol nearly doubled, insurance cover rocketing (more tax), married man's tax removed for nearly two years, long-term pensions in a mess.

You may say, well we can't have it both ways. We simply aren't getting it either way.

For as long as we have Hugh Penders in the region, the Labour Party will be assured of votes, no matter what they do and we will remain the laughing stock of prosperous parts of Britain. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland.