Letters

I refer to the article about the removal and replacement of the dock gates at Middlesbrough Dock (Echo, Jan 17).

The headline about "unleashing a flood of prosperity" should possibly follow with a question concerning who the recipients of such prosperity are likely to be, given that the fabrication of the dock gates is being undertaken by Harland and Wolff who are based in Belfast!

Before there are any further such embarrassments to those in positions of authority within the local agencies regarding the Middlehaven Development, perhaps some demonstration of their influence and control of the procurement process might give some comfort to struggling local companies. - D Armstrong, Executive Director of Armstrong Davis Associates, Stokesley.

NORTH ROAD, Darlington

HOW right IB Wade of Darlington is (HAS, Jan 20). There's only one thing along North Road in Darlington that needs to be demolished and that is Crystal Wash laundry. How anyone can look on to that place for years is beyond me. Pull it down now. - V Flanagan, Darlington.

MOBILE PHONES

THERE have been many protests over the positioning of mobile phone masts on the grounds that there is no proof that they are safe.

I am sure that most of the protestors are users of mobiles and allow their children to do so on the grounds that there is no proof that they are dangerous. A funny sort of logic. - Eric Gendle, Middlesbrough.

WEATHER FORECAST

YOUR front page weather forecast (Echo, Feb 7) was cloudy and dry. It rained here incessantly from dawn and at dusk it was still raining. - EC Francis, Darlington.

EATING OWT

I WAS astonished to read the Eating Owt column about the Carlbury Arms at Piercebridge (Echo, Feb 6); no more than three lines about the food, but practically the whole write-up describing Mike Amos' annoyance at what was being listened to on the radio and the overheard conversations of other guests in the pub.

May I suggest that he sticks to ordering the food of his choice and giving a reasonable assessment of its quality, value for money etc. - Jim Ruck, Darlington.

ROMAN BRITAIN

HAVE you see the herds of zebra in the English countryside? Of course you have, they are black and white, with four legs, a head and tail and eat grass.

By this method, Raymond Selkirk tries to persuade the public his theories on Roman Britain are correct (Echo, Feb 9).

His latest discourse on the Roman road through Brusselton Wood being four feet wide is quite amusing.

Apart from measurements old and new showing the width of this to be of Roman normality, there was an excavation by Tony Sanderson in 1994 which found it to be about three and a half metres wide and well buried. The cambered road is well shown in the photographs of the dig.

The facts disprove him, as do those in the Anderson report on his Piercebridge Formula of water transport. Perhaps there were traffic lights or lay-bys on the hill in question to prevent a line of soldiers walking up the hill colliding with others marching down. - RA Boothroyd, Bishop Auckland.

SOCIAL BENEFITS

I AM glad that Harry Mead has brought up the anomaly of the benefits of the devolved Scottish parliament on tuition fees, free personal care for the elderly and the better pay award to teachers in Scotland (Echo, Feb 7).

The Scottish Liberal Democrats played a key role in the parliament there in securing these benefits.

They are urging us to fight even harder for these same steps forward in England.

I welcome the challenge and call on Tony Blair to respond to our claim for equal treatment. - S Wilson, Lib-Dem PPC Redcar, Thirsk.

DELIVERY SERVICE

SHARON Griffiths praises Tesco for its delivery service (Echo, Feb 9). It charges £5 which is a lot of money to many pensioners and people on low incomes.

The Co-op in Richmond delivers for miles around free as long as you spend £15, which is not a lot these days. Its staff are very obliging and always ask what time is suitable. The Co-op is an absolute boon for me as I am not able to carry a lot. - H Lee, Richmond.

STEEL INDUSTRY

WITH reference to the Corus problem, I think the Government should combine with the car makers to buy the Teesside plant to make steel for the British car industry. - FM. Atkinson, Shincliffe.

FLOODING

IF WE do not find a solution to stop the flooding soon, we could have an epidemic spreading around the country which the hospitals could do without. - N Tate, Darlington.

TONY BLAIR

SO Tony Blair has come down on the side of the workers threatened with redundancies by Corus.

How can he be such a hypocrite when last month he voted to throw 6,000 people out of work and out of their homes when banning foxhunting?

Does he have any credibility or morals at all? Soon this man will ask you to vote for his party of hypocrisy.

I can only hope the electorate have more intelligence than Mr Blair and co. - GW Bull, Darlington.

PENSIONERS

THE derisory 75p rise in the old age pension meant that Tony Blair was due to lose the election.

However, he realised that he had scorned over ten million voters in time and the Labour Party redressed the fault.

It is only recently that the Tory Party has woken up to the vote-winning chance it had.

The Tory proposal to roll up benefits, then changing their minds and allowing pensioners to chose and now taking away income tax for the over 75s, has come too late. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.