Hear All Sides

DEATH PENALTY

WHAT a topsy-turvy world Peter Mullen inhabits (Echo, June 19).

The death penalty does not "put a high value on human life". On the contrary, it devalues life and promotes a more violent society by endorsing the view that the premeditated killing of another human being is acceptable. In effect, it may legitimise violent revenge.

The punishment for murder should reflect society's utter condemnation of this most evil of all crimes. If one of my family was murdered, I have no doubt that my first instinct would be for vengeance, but it does appear that for some courageous people, the road to recovery lies ultimately through forgiveness.

The death penalty takes no account of remorse, and precludes the possibility of rehabilitation. It may also actually hinder recovery for the bereaved.

I am not a Christian, as Peter Mullen professes to be, but I would recommend that he considers carefully the words of St Paul to the Romans: "Repay no-one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." - Pete Winstanley, Chester-le-Street.

GET A LIFE

I WAS incredulous after reading your front page cover (Echo, June 16) regarding legal threats of a Brenda Tervillit from Hartlepool, because a male stripper refused to remove his thong, as ordered.

With all the suffering in the world, has the lady not got anything better to expend her energies on, than promoting further emasculation of men?

The Old Testament affirmed the New Testament, regarding Christ and prophecy. Nobody does this better than Isaiah 3:12: "And in that day the women will rule the men." Sums up the sad case of the world today!

Godlessness does not just rest with people like Brenda Tervillit, it rests with the apathy and indifference, that few object to the media giving profile to serving base instincts and titillation, when there are Khurds dying of starvation in Armenia and elsewhere.

It's about time we all got a life, by imparting life to the less fortunate, starving and dying, rather than serving the immediate sexual senses, impulses and desires. - Name and address supplied.

T'D OFF

WITH reference to Mrs Pallister's letter (HAS, June 14), I regret having missed the shots by Mike Amos, Mrs Howe and Mrs Bowes.

Thank goodness there are still some people who will make some attempt to rescue our language.

If I might put in my ha'porth, how about the prevalent hatred

of the letter T? Children's TV is one of the worst offenders, an

example being: "You can ge' i' a' a corner shop."

However, my pet bugbear is the use of words with totally wrong meanings, such as 'hurl' instead of 'hurtle' and 'decimate' instead of 'destroy'. - DM Hart, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

GET KNITTING

I APPLAUD the efforts of Sheila Anthony (Echo, June 16). However, in the last five years I have knitted over 100 jumpers, 50 pairs of pants and 500 blanket squares.

My efforts go to Save The Children and I am looking for other knitters to join me, also for donations of knitting wool. - Ann E Carr, Middleton St George.

RICH AND POOR

THE mindless violence in Gothenberg recently will not endear the anti-capitalists to the rest of society.

Having said that, there is a dangerous trend even in so-called socialist countries, to widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

The huge salaries paid to footballers, sportsmen, captains of industry etc are out of all proportion to their worth to the nation.

Benefit games for footballers, share options for company executives and the huge sums given away by TV and media groups are other examples of the gravy train mentality.

Despite the ridiculously large prizes in the National Lottery, at least the money donated by the public finds its way back to ordinary people and organisations.

Incentive to work hard and earn well is right and sensible, but only governments can ameliorate the feelings of the general public that greed is permeating our society to a disconcerting level.

What is required is punitive taxation of the obscene remuneration given to fat cats and the like.

If governments do not take steps to level downwards the wealth of the nation, we will see more and more unrest and violence in society in the years to come.

The Liberal Democrats were the only party to advocate higher taxes for the rich and they should be praised for pointing the way for the government to follow. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

ALL IMAGE

THERE is so much talk about politicians' hair and baldness etc. Nowadays it is all image.

We were faced with the election of one or two Conservative parties.

William Hague, I thought, was the best leader the Tories will ever have. A decent, honest man. He fought a good fight.

I thought Anne Widdecombe stood up as a decent fighter for what people really want. Law and order and a real police force instead of the 'invisible men in blue'.

Tony Blair, to me, will never be a statesman. He wants to sell us into Europe. It is wrong, he thinks, to kill foxes, but six million cattle and sheep don't matter. Most of them healthy.

I would vote for a three-headed Mongolian tram driver if he would promise to get us a real police force. - J Ross, Rowlands Gill.

PAY RISES

AS the pay review body responsible, will the Cabinet now implement the catching-up exercises for pensioners they themselves have recently derived benefit from, by restoring the link between the retirement pension and earnings? - Alan Kelly, Ferryhill.