Hear All Sides

HEALTH

AN open letter to Health Secretary Alan Milburn, Darlington MP: My husband, Joe Burnside, received a life-saving heart transplant 21 years ago in Harefield Hospital, west London. Now the powers that be want to close this unique place and move future transplant patients to Central London.

This would be disastrous. This special team would be split, 21 years of dedicated work wasted.

Mr Milburn, you should visit this lovely hospital. There's no fancy carpet area, it is devoid of paintings, plants and flowers and its surroundings are reminiscent of the 1930s. Not one penny wasted on the frivolous.

Instead, Harefield's priority is for the patient, and it runs like clockwork.

This is why Joe is still here today, along with thousands of others who travel from all over the world to this special place.

Mr Milburn, put yourself in the position of the patients and their families. Most people could not even afford the parking fees in London let alone the cost of hotels and meals. Please think again. Leave this wonderful place alone. Why mend something that isn't broken? Remember: you can't transplant Harefield. - Mary Burnside, Darlington.

WE HEAR so many bad reports about hospitals that I thought I'd tell you about my recent out-patients appointment.

I saw a consultant and his registrar, I was weighed, had an ECG, four X-rays and blood tests.

I was at the hospital for a long time but didn't wait very long in any department and everyone I came into contact with was very pleasant, helpful and friendly. I am 74 years old and never once was I made to feel a nuisance.

I do hope you print this, as hospitals get a lot of bad press and I can only praise everyone I came into contact with. - Mrs E Chapman, Billingham.

GENOA

TWO worlds collided at Genoa, that of wealth and power and the other of selflessness and community. The latter won in demonising the selfless and carving up the world between the few through the EU, WTO and IMF. Its programme is greed not need, and the privatisation of our services. Wake up England, the courage of the selfless few waits. - C Bennett, Bishop Auckland.

RECESSION

I AM tired of all this talk of recession. Ever since Bush was elected, people have been saying: "Ooh, trade will decrease." Investors getting nervous, firms cutting staff. If industry thinks recession, that's exactly what will happen. For crying out loud, it is in no one's interest. Think positive! - FM Atkinson, Shincliffe.

EUROPE

IN HER letter (HAS, July 13) Diana Wallis, the LibDem MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, supports an EU-wide direct tax system to replace the present financial arrangement for financing the European Union.

The Europe of the future will require its own armed forces, police force, immigration service and coastguard to prevent armed or peaceful invasion.

The supplies and uniforms required by the various groups will create thousands of jobs.

Why is it that when our shipyards, steel industry, armament and textile factories are being closed, not one MEP raises a voice in protest or suggests a solution.

She further states that, by paying a direct tax, people would feel more connected to the EU. The connection would be similar to a railway carriage to a train which is pulled along at different speeds to an unknown destination. It is time MEPs stopped dwelling on the present and started planning a future for the electors who voted them into office. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.

THE TORIES

FOLLOWING their pitiful showing in the General Election, we all watched the Tories slope off to their Smith Square headquarters, a beaten army.

They then amused us all with the debacle of their leadership battle, which looked like desperate men moving deckchairs on the Titanic.

Finally, the Lord Archer trial and his deserved sentence.

Is it not time for the Tories to turn off the lights on their way out and leave the Labour Government to continue its excellent work, and let the LibDems have a bash at the opposition? - Joe Wellthorpe, North Ormesby.

GROUSE SHOOTING

I was shocked to read (Echo, July 18) that Government vets had given the go-ahead for grouse shooting to start at the beginning of the season on August 11 under licence in foot-and-mouth-infected areas. This at the same time as I saw "Moors Closed" signs close to foot-and-mouth infected areas. Are these the same vets who have attended foot-and-mouth cases?

The countryside counts, but to whom? - Brenda Ellwood, Bishop Auckland.

BEAT BOBBIES

BEAT bobbies handing out stickers to children who politely ask for the officer's name and number (Echo, July 21) could work as a scheme to improve community relations.

However, just seeing a police officer at regular intervals patrolling the streets is all that is needed to make adults feel safer.

Many older readers will remember when there were far more bobbies on the beat. As children we were taught, not to ask for stickers, but, if we were in danger while out, to shout loudly for help as there would always be a policeman within earshot. The beat bobby would appear, as if from nowhere, running to the rescue. He would blow his whistle and summon help from more officers who would arrive within moments, on foot or by bicycle.

We knew the police were our friends in those days. We didn't need community relations schemes to build up our confidence in them. - EA Moralee, Stockton.