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MINERS' GALA

MAY I congratulate The Northern Echo on its coverage of the Durham Miners' Gala (Echo, July 14 and 16). It was far and away the best of all newspapers.

What was truly abysmal was the lack of coverage on local television.

The Miners' Gala is still the greatest event of the year. In spite of there being no pits left, thousands of people gathered to see the bands and banners, hear the speeches and enjoy themselves.

Admittedly, this year there were not so many as last year due to wet weather - even Arthur Scargill didn't turn up. But for those people who chose to turn out, good for you.

We had a 40-strong Australian Miners' Pipe Band which was wonderful, as were all the bands who played in some atrocious conditions. But alas anyone wanting to see it on television, if you blinked you missed it. - George Rowe, Houghton-le-Spring.

COUNCIL TAX

TWO-HUNDRED-and-fifty-pounds per working adult for poll tax or around £1,000 for Band D council tax. Which sounds the best for the working man?

The poll tax should have been perfect for socialists as everyone contributes. The people who complained about the poll tax were the people who had never contributed to the old rates system.

With more people than ever owning houses in the North-East (about 68 per cent) and obviously fully contributing, council housing stock is at its lowest level, leisure facilities have been slashed and other council duties tendered out to save money. So how come the council tax carries on going up much faster than inflation?

Why should pensioners who have worked all their lives have to pay over the odds for council tax while others pay very little?

We all get the same service, so income or house size should not matter. What next, different prices at the fish shop or supermarket, based upon your income, size of house or savings?

Force councils to get their own house in order and stop taking the easy route and burdening the average working lad. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland.

FIREARMS

I WOULD like to point out yet another piece of hypocrisy from this Government.

The 1997 Fire Arms Act banned the use and ownership of target pistols in this country, even for law-abiding competitors and it devastated my sport forever. Yet despite the objections of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Government has ordered the police to issue a firearms certificate allowing a pistol to be carried in public to Martin McGuinness.

This allows a man who has admitted that he was second in command of the IRA on Bloody Sunday to carry a gun in public. Why has this man been given this certificate, something other people of this country are denied?

I only shot at cardboard targets and yet I am refused a certificate. Commonwealth Games shooting competitors have to give back their pistols and certificates once they have taken part and represented this country. This double-standards Government prefers former IRA members to the law-abiding public. - Name and address supplied.

DEVOLUTION

ALTHOUGH I have no great faith in a Northern Assembly as it will become little more than another expensive layer of government, Robin Cook's arrogant refusal to rethink the Barnett Formula makes me think we do need a more powerful regional voice.

As it is painfully obvious with so many Scottish MPs with a foot in both camps, I fear that Barnett will stay, as we all know charity starts at home.

It appears that Scots want independence of our rule but not of our money. - S Harnby, Stockton-on-Tees.

INSURANCE

I LOVE my little car, travelling here and there, a wonderful invention.

Unfortunately there are a million uninsured drivers out there, so presumably they have a Guinness label for a tax disc and no MOT certificate either.

They probably think the rest of us are mugs. But the insurance companies have to cover for these wayward types by increasing legal drivers' insurance rates. - FM Atkinson, Shincliffe.

NUMBER PLATES

IT IS good to see area and age codes on the new car number plate layout. But for quick recognition two changes are needed: full spaces between the area and age identifiers and mnemonic area codes.

The leaflet I have just received gave the example as BD for Birmingham! Surely with a little more effort both letters in the tag could have been made mnemonic. Why not post codes? - M O'Carroll, Welbury, Northallerton.

THE BRISTOL REPORT

THE REPORT on malpractice at Bristol Children's Hospital makes one thing clear: the malpractice had gone on for years but been very effectively covered up.

And isn't this true of all the recent appalling medical scandals?

And if the system is so good at hiding these things, how many more are there we don't know about?

I believe those we do not know about are, for want of a better phrase, the tip if the iceberg. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

DOUBLE GLAZING

IN JUST one afternoon, according to the experts from a double glazing company who called at my house and pushily described to me their expensive sounding product range, my bungalow loses a soberingly large amount of heat - enough to keep the house warm all night.

This the peculiar pair of salesmen could tell without so much as setting foot inside my home or inspecting my secondary glazing! To hell with them. Next week I am reinstating my hot water bottle. - A Jones, Bridlington.