Letters

THE massive sum of money awarded to the police sergeant involved in the Hillsborough Disaster makes one wonder how anyone can come to the decision when other families who lost children were awarded derisory amounts.

Surely, anyone joining a service like the police, fire or ambulance must know it can be a stressful job.

Since the sergeant retired on medical grounds, it is assumed that he will have a decent pension for the rest of his life.

Is it not time to put in place an appeal system, that is to say when these fortunes are awarded by people who are not paying it, then the people who are stumping up - ie the rate and taxpayers - can appeal and have the sum allowed reduced? - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

RAIL CRASH

I WOULD like to congratulate Chris Lloyd on his piece on the Selby rail disaster (Echo, Mar 1). The description of the scene, with the orange GNER line running through the wrecked landscape until it disappeared into almost nothing had a tragic poetry about it.

I have long admired Chris Lloyd's in-depth analyses of national and international issues. He has now revealed another aspect of his ability as a writer. The graphics, too, were superb. - Anne Simpson, Richmond.

Darlington BUS STATION

AS a voter, I would like to know why Darlington has not got a proper bus station. We elect the council to run our town, so why doesn't our MP, Alan Milburn, do something to ensure we get our bus station? - Harry Gilbert, Darlington.

TONY BLAIR

AT the last election Tony Blair came to power on a platform of education (tripled).

He will be better remembered by thoughtful people for a very large D - Dictatorship, Devolution, Deceit, Destruction of and Disaster for Great Britain.

I trust the electorate will not give him the chance to finish the job. D for Dismissal is a wise choice. - J Robinson, Darlington.

THE EURO

IN response to John Elliot (HAS, Feb 28) regarding tax harmonisation in the Eurozone, I would like to point out a couple of things.

Governments are free to spend as much as they want, provided they do not borrow excessively (more than three per cent of the GDP).

Tax and spending levels would still be set by the British government if we joined the euro.

Regardless of when we join, Britain has a veto over any moves to harmonise taxes and, at the Nice Summit, the veto over taxation and budgetary policy was clearly maintained.

What anti-Europeans are trying to do is to imply that joining the euro will mean higher taxes. However the euro and tax are two totally separate issues: the euro is a monetary one and tax is a fiscal one.

It is wrong to say that joining the euro will mean giving up control on tax and spending.

I think it is time to leave euro myths behind and start giving the public some facts. - Luisa Strani, Politics Student, Newcastle University.

PENSIONERS

MAY I answer Dr Alan Bennett (HAS Mar 1)?

We the pensioners of Darlington already know residential care homes have been closed. I know pensioners who are still traumatised at having to be moved.

We the Darlington pensioners do raise our voices loud and clear. We were fed up to the back teeth that we had to pay for getting either a bus pass or tokens.

We would like to know what happened to all the thousands of pounds collected.

Darlington Council is treating pensioners just as badly this year regarding concessionary travel.

We took hundreds of signatures for Darlington to be on our own rather than adhere to Durham, because we were told we would be much better off.

Why is it pensioners in Yorkshire, Cleveland, London, etc, get free passes? What is the difference in Darlington?

Better off. That's a big joke. - Irene Pinkney, Darlington.

TEACHERS

HOLIDAY for teachers may seem a long time but I feel George Sowerby (HAS, Feb 16) should know teachers do not walk into a classroom, stand in front of students and teach.

They have to prepare their lessons, correct and mark the students' work, they have parent/teacher nights and odd times when parents are unable to come at the allotted time.

There are meetings after hours between staff.

A teacher's learning does not stop when they leave university, it becomes second nature and sometimes they return to university to gain more knowledge and all this is done within their own time and cost.

I do hope Mr Sowerby will now realise teachers work much longer hours than he and many other people think. - AE Lunn, Durham.

GNER

CJ Blair is totally wrong in his claim about lack of investment from GNER (HAS, Mar 3).

GNER has invested more than double its franchise commitments in less than five years.

We have built up an award-winning reputation for customer service, thanks to the skills and dedication of our staff, many of whom are based in the North-East.

Prior to the Hatfield tragedy, passenger numbers had increased by 28 per cent. We were also running 25 per cent more trains, including ultra-modern rolling stock leased from Eurostar (UK) Ltd.

Despite the existing speed restrictions, we are still operating more train services than we did at the start of our franchise.

The whole point of longer franchises is to unlock much-needed extra investment after decades of chronic under-investment. GNER was amongst the first to champion longer franchises and we are pleased that the process for a new East Coast franchise is on the move again.

We look forward to an early announcement from the Government - on behalf of our passengers and our 3,000 staff who have had to put up with so much over recent months. - Alan Hyde, GNER Corporate Affairs Manager, York.

TEESDALE DISTRICT COUNCIL

I AM writing following an article (Echo, Mar 2) about a recent public meeting. There are three points of clarification I must make. They refer to the comments that "Teesdale has still not bowed to pressure from central government to adopt a system of management and has called for greater guidance from Whitehall on which option to choose"; that Teesdale has continued a "wait and see" approach to changes in local government structure; and that the Local Government Act outlines three main options.

Teesdale Council's position has been quite clear since before the Act received Royal Assent (July 2000), indeed before the Bill was introduced to Parliament (November 1999). This is that the council considers the existing committee system to be more open and accountable than an elected mayor or executive structure could be.

The council has not called for "greater guidance from Whitehall" but has consistently made the case for a fourth option which the Government subsequently agreed to include in the eventual Act: a modified committee structure.

The public consultation is running through March and I would expect the council to decide on its decision-making structure by late April/early May. - M Dennis, Director of Administration, Teesdale District Council.

EUROPE

THE views of the European Movement from Peter Freitag (HAS, Mar 6) exceed the bounds of credibility. He states that the amount of EU legislation has been "broadly stable for ten years". This is simply untrue as in successive treaties - from Maastricht, to Amsterdam and most recently Nice - we have seen new competencies granted to the EU.

This produces more legislation which then has to be adopted into UK law.

As for his statement that we are repealing as much as we are putting on the statute book, nothing could be further from the truth. I would be very grateful, and indeed surprised, if he could cite one example.

However, I would agree with Mr Freitag's view that "Europe should never deal with issues better handled at national level".

I presume, therefore, that he would join me in condemning the European health and safety legislation that dictates how an employee should climb a ladder, and the European employment legislation that dictates who can be employed and on what terms.

But, most importantly I hope that he is able to join me in condemning an economic policy that would demand a "one size fits all" interest rate across Europe. Westminster, rather then Brussels, knows best, And what's more, it can be held to account. - M Callanan, Conservative MEP, North-East Region.