Hear All Sides

LABOUR PARTY

WHO is this Tony Blair? Born Tory, well educated, he turned to lead the Labour Pary hoping to change it into the Blair Party.

Voted into power by the hard working class.

It is rather odd, ex-miners suffering for years with chest diseases of the lungs, some having been medically examined by a team of adjudicating doctors from the National Health Service, the health service founded by the Labour Party.

But they must wait until Tony Blair gets settled up with compensation to the farmers for their wrongdoing. You don't find farmers with the result of coal dust, stone dust and powder fumes caused by coal and stone blasting on their lungs.

This waiting is a complete insult to all of these men and also to the true Labour Party leaders of men. - Alf Pyle, Kelloe.

GREENPEACE

THANKS to sterling work by Greenpeace activists, we now know that Labour has gone back on another pledge - namely the long overdue banning of wood importation from South American rainforests.

What is patently another of the PMs porkies - last year Tony Blair said he'd only buy sustainable wood from legal and sustainable sources - is just one reason why so many fine folk never bothered to vote at elections.

There seems to be no point in supporting a decadent political system that is storing up the kind of problems for the future, especially of an environmental kind. That's the opinion people are quickly forming.

The only party I would like to see lead the country is Greenpeace. It has integrity, sound ideas and the guts to give it a go. All sadly lacking in new Labour. - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

HARRY MEAD

HARRY Mead claims: "It is not my normal practice to respond publicly to criticism of my column." But the fact is that he has done so on at least two occasions that I can recall - each time in response to a letter from me.

In my opinion, he has yet to point to a significant factual inaccuracy in anything I wrote.

Mr Mead is a fine columnist who likes to make provocative comments. I agree with much of what he writes. He is privileged to be given space to trumpet his personal prejudices. Perhaps he should leave it at that, lest we readers decide that while he can certainly dish it out, he simply can't take it.- A Mitchell, Stocksfield, Northumberland.

THE MONARCHY

OF course Aled Jones (HAS, Aug 2) is entitled to his views regarding the monarchy, but surely he should get his facts right.

It was reported in the last financial year that the Queen returned more money to the Treasury than it cost to run the monarchy. This should mean that we have the cheapest head of state in the world, which also covers other Commonwealth countries such as Canada and Australia. Compare that with what Bill Clinton costs the US even though he is now officially retired and no longer has his own private jet and helicopter etc.

If Mr Jones is concerned about "spending large wads of taxpayers' money" then he should check on what first of all the Members of Parliament get after their whopping pay rise and their additional increase in allowances, then come down the scale and check what the local councillors cost the taxpayers and see if any of these politicians ever pay the Treasury more than they claim. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

PARKS PRAISE

IN these days when it is fashionable to whinge and criticise, can I interrupt the pattern with some praise.

The pleasure that the council staff who deal with the parks, roundabouts and the ring road in Darlington have given to tens of thousands of people needs to be recorded.

The vibrant, imaginative use of colours and designs speaks well, not only for Darlington and the people who have caused it to happen, but also for obvious love as well as attention to detail and pride of a job well done that has been achieved.

For this setting of examples and standards and giving pleasure, many thanks from me and many others. - Peter Freitag, Darlington.

HIROSHIMA

IN his Saturday Sermon (Echo, Aug 4) Jim Wilson refers to the anniversary of the Hiroshima raid as being August 4. In fact it was August 6, 1945.

That is the Feast of the Transfiguration, which give us a horrific and blasphemous contrast between what God does and what people do. - Rev Tony Buglass, Superintendent Minister, Pickering Methodist Circuit.

SINGLE SUPPLEMENT

I THINK it unfair when single people should have to pay an extra supplement when travelling on coach holidays.

I can see it from hotels' point of view, what I object to is when a coach company adds this extra cash even though the hotel has not asked for it.

There ought to be some sort of ruling to stop this unfair practice. - Name and address supplied.