Hear All Sides

TONY BLAIR

I HAVE seen reported recently that Tony Blair's advisors, Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell, should have their powers curbed. This report came from a cross party committee of MPs.

Since Mr Blair came to power in 1997, the number of special advisors has doubled to 78 and costs the taxpayer £4.4m a year.

Having to have all these advisers confirms my opinion that Mr Blair is the very epitome of a person who has been promoted to a position beyond his capabilities. - S Johnson, Darlington.

BUS STATION

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the comments of J Lawler (HAS, Mar 21) regarding Darlington bus station. It is an absolute disgrace.

Why can't the people of Darlington expect to have a decent bus/coach station instead of having to stand on the forecourt of the Dolphin Centre, Houndgate and the taxi rank outside the town hall.

In 1948, my late husband and I came to Darlington to live. At that time buses from various towns arrived and left from the Leadyard, near St Cuthbert's Church. Eventually, we got a new bus station which was good, but I cannot understand why, over the years, the council officers and councillors have allowed the place to become so derelict.

Opposite the bus station we now have spare land since the business premises had to be removed following a fire. Is it to remain a tip?

It does not seem to matter that all kinds of rubbish is being deposited.

Come on councillors, we people who live around Feethams, Victoria Embankment and all roads en route to the railway station and beyond are not pleased with the gross neglect.

We all pay very high community charge and feel we can expect more of you. - PGM Eastwood, Darlington.

Spennymoor

J WOOLEY (HAS, Mar 13) has joined the small number of correspondents who seem to be obsessed by the boarded-up shops and dog dirt in Spennymoor town centre.

A closer examination would have seen the Festival Walk discussion group deliberating the daily topics, chattering school pupils going to their swimming lessons, customers leaving the supermarkets with loaded trolleys, conversation being exchanged in the cafes and the pleasant smell of cooked food from the bakeries.

At the leisure centre, lithe, lycra-clad ladies stride past pop concert adverts to the gym and pensioners enjoy a midday plunge in the pool.

The sound of music floats through the air as musicians rehearse for a future concert while, in the park, the soft clunk of wood from the bowling green is accompanies by the birds chirping cheerfully above multi-coloured floral displays.

At the edge of town the multi-national manufacturing companies have their world class quality products transported to customers across Britain and abroad.

Personalities, products, playful pastimes, do not portray an "atmosphere of decline" as suggested by J Wooley. Instead, there is an "air of confidence" as the people of Spennymoor face the changes and challenges of the future. - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.

JON COLLINGWOOD

MAY I, through your newspaper, thank everyone who either sponsored or pledged money to the Hartlepool United fans who walked to York for the Jon Robert Collingwood Appeal.

The 60-mile trek was not in vain as the amount raised is expected to total around £4,000. So from all of us, to all of you generous people, thank you very much. - Ron Harnish, Hartlepool.

DAY OF PRAYER

BRITAIN is being hammered by one calamity after another, floods, blizzards, power cuts, BSE, foot-and-mouth, industry closures and rail disasters. It seems as though every day brings a new cause for sadness, even despair.

It is good to note the lead taken by churches in the region in calling for a day of prayer (Echo, Mar 2). There are many examples of how God has delivered our nation in the past as a result of the people using the greatly-ignored power of prayer. Dunkirk is one such example.

Since we seem to have all but reached the end of what we can humanly do to save our farming industry, let as many people as possible trust God to help where we fail. Non-believers, give it a try. Set aside a few minutes regularly to pray for our country. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

TERRORISM

NEW legislation has been brought in which prevents the training and organisation of Muslim terrorists on British soil. This is commonsense and long overdue.

However, this has been condemned by human rights groups as damaging to race relations. Just where do these race relations fanatics draw the line?

And what about the human rights of the innocent people who would be the victims of said terrorists? - Trevor Agnew, Darlington.

EUROPE

SINCE we joined the European Community, we have had a net trading deficit of no less than £81bn to which might be added a net deficit in our community contributions of over £13bn, making, all told, a deficit for this country with the community since we joined, of the best part of £95bn.

It is interesting to note than 70 per cent of the world's trade is still conducted between English-speaking countries.

In 1953, Winston Churchill said: "We are with Europe but not of it. We are linked but not comprised. We are associated but not absorbed. And should European statesmen address us and say shall we speak for these? We should reply, Nay sir for we dwell among our own people."

In the first referendum that took us into Europe we had an assurance from all the leaders that our sovereignty would never be in question.

We have been led inch by inch and now they tell us that we have gone too far and that we cannot go back. I believe in this country and I believe the British people are equal with the French and the Danes in their ability to measure where their interests lie. This is a matter where Parliament should say to the people: "This is our advice and because we are deciding for those yet unborn, let the people as a whole decide." - G W Bainbridge, Hartlepool.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

MAGISTRATES, judges and juries do make mistakes. No system is 100 per cent.

Whenever an innocent person is convicted they are compensated financially. But when a guilty person is found to be falsely innocent, there is no way for the victims to appeal.

So at least a change in the law regarding double jeopardy will redress the balance. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.