Hear All Sides

ANTI-SOCIAL

WHY is farming the only private enterprise in which we allow and, indeed, subsidise anti-social behaviour? Behaviour like the devastation of our countryside, once so rich in historical, as well as natural, interest. As for the claim that it goes back no further than the Enclosures of the late 1700s and early 1800s, that's rubbish.

The countryside of 50 years ago was still very much what our medieval forefathers would have known, and forget "medieval" as a term of abuse; they had their downside, doesn't every age? But in some ways, certainly in woodcraft and architecture, they could leave us standing.

So we've lost our heritage, but gained ever-increasing mountains of food nobody wants. Who has benefited then? Obviously not small farmers.

Two groups who have done well, astronomically well, are the agro-chemicals industry, makers of the poisons that still go as copiously as ever into the environment, and their main users, the farming tycoons.

With such appalling suffering at present all around us, that lot at any rate are unlikely to have lost either money or sleep. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

LEAD US, MR BLAIR

SURELY, after seeing the killing of all the animals by the so-called experts and watching other animals being left in very cruel conditions in fields of mud and nothing to eat, it is time to call a halt to this unnecessary slaughter.

It is obvious that the answer is to vaccinate and save the livestock. Surely health hazards must come into this, the disposal of thousands of animals by fire, the burial of infected carcasses into pits and the stink of these must be a real health hazard to the people nearby, plus the poisoning of underground streams.

Let New Labour get control of the situation before we have a plague of disease throughout the country.

Tony Blair is supposed to be a leader, isn't he? Well let's see him do the nation a favour before it is too late. Let him be a leader. - F Wealands, Darlington.

FAREWELL TO FOOTBALL

REGARDING the Government's request for suggestions for suitable Bank Holidays, why not Monday, May 17, in celebration of the end of another season of football? We could then spend the day contemplating how those hard working clothes horses manage to turn out for 90 minutes, once a week, for little more than £30,000 for their superhuman effort.

It would also signal to the public that television schedules have returned to normal and Coronation Street has not been replaced by another meaningless tie between one of England's finest and some European minnow, played out in a dust bowl stadium that doubles as a racetrack or vegetable market. I'd raise a glass to that. - Joe Wellthorpe, North Ormesby.

PAYMENT PENALTY

I FEEL I am being penalised by the majority of companies for not paying my bills by direct debit or credit card. I do not possess a credit card and have no intention of owning one. I pay all bills by cash within five days of receiving them. But most companies offer cheaper rates if you pay by these methods.

I feel my money is as good as anyone else's and was wondering if any more readers feel the same way as myself? I am now in receipt of a letter from Sky TV telling me I am going to be charged £4 for them to send me an invoice once a month. Is this a record for the price of a stamp? - A Clarke, Bishop Auckland.

THE POOR NORTH

IT would seem to me that the old trend has continued - the South is growing richer, the North poorer. In the four years of Mr Blair's Government, the number of millionaires has doubled; the less well-off have experienced no similar improvement.

The Government's own figures, issued this week, show the gap between rich and poor has reached unprecedented levels. Moreover, it states the poorest fifth pay more in taxes than the richest fifth of society.

"Unto him that hath, shall more be given."

But all this could have been predicted. More than 30 years ago, the Labour Party published a policy document, Signpost for the Seventies.

At the back it contained a deprivation index, showing towns like Middlesbrough, which remain neglected. Labour pledged itself to rectify this injustice... and then, after polling day, did nothing about it except make the situation worse.

Yet instead of seeking to analyse why its past policies failed, Tony Blair basically proposes to repeat the same public/private partnership. It reminds me of the dim-witted schoolboy who was asked what he would do to revive a drowning man, dragged from the river, and replied: "I'd give him a glass of water." - Raymond Challinor, Whitley Bay.

TEACHERS' CONDITIONS

SHARON Griffiths (Echo, Apr 18) touched upon teachers' conditions of employment and raised one or two thoughts as well as my blood pressure. How easy it is to make broad statements about the proportion of the teaching profession who work "incredibly hard" but have little or no experience of "another industry" and not provide figures to back up the argument.

Similarly, to mention salary without offering hard information on which to make comparisons, does not create strain when preparing a piece for publication.

And, of course, no article about teaching could be thought to be complete without a passing reference to the long holidays which teachers enjoy.

Has Ms Griffiths ever considered the practicalities of experiencing "another industry" either before commencing a teaching career or during some sort of career break? Does the same argument apply to "other professions"? If it does, then perhaps journalists could benefit from such a scheme and the public might be given more articles on topics of real concern and less whinging articles about the behaviour of members of journalists' families. - Ian Wilson, Stokesley.