Letters

ARTHUR Scargill stood for Parliament at the last election and lost his deposit. No doubt he will suffer the same fate at the next election when he will oppose Peter Mandelson. He can probably afford to lose the money.

I feel sorry for all those Durham miners who lost everything during that disastrous strike led by Scargill which eventually caused the destruction of the mining industry. How the man dare stand for parliament in this part of the country is beyond belief.

Peter Mandelson's crime? He tried to obtain a passport for a friend.

In 1984 we gave a British passport to a young South African girl named Zola Budd to enable her to run for us in the Olympic Games. It was no big deal then.

And what of the Tory candidate Gus Robinson? Will Mr Robinson remind us of the shipbuilding skills for which Hartlepool men were world famous? Will he remind us that it was his party when in Government that closed our world famous shipyards? All the surrounding coal mines closed by the Tories, albeit with the help of Arthur Scargill. Hartlepool steelworks closed.

Wee Willie Hague will promise anything for a few votes. What do you promise, Mr Robinson? - M McNichols, Easington Colliery.

BECAUSE of its policy of apartheid, South Africa was barred from taking part in the 1984 Olympic Games. They had a world class athlete in Zola Budd, expected to win whenever she ran. What a wonderful opportunity this was for Britain to recruit a medal winner. We persuaded Zola to apply for a British passport which was processed and handed to her within weeks. She ran for Britain in the Olympics and fell down during the race.

What a difference between then and now. Poor old Peter Mandelson has been lambasted from all sides for doing what was quite legitimate when we had a Tory government. - W Pritchard, Peterlee.

FOXHUNTING

I MUST take issue with your paper's dual standards regarding cruel sports.

Last year you had a strong campaign against cruel sports and condemned every sport but one - foxhunting.

Since the New Year, the paper has had two front page articles on foxhunting plus further widespread coverage inside.

I find these articles very offensive and wonder how your paper could ever profess to be against cruelty to animals when not one word of criticism is written about foxhunters.

You even had the gall recently to say there could be no comparison between it and other cruel sports. Where is your logic in such a statement - it could only be made by someone with complete partiality to fox hunting.

You seem to forget that the common factor in cruel sports is the word cruel.

The difference between foxhunters and the others is one of money and status. You would hardly expect to see Royalty or landed gentry at a back street cockfight would you? Foxhunting and game shooting are their venues.

The other argument about job losses in the sport is completely invalid. I live in the country and I don't know anyone who has gainful employment from the hunt. Come to that I don't know anyone who even talks about hunting, but then I probably move in the wrong circles.

I shall be greatly relieved when it is illegal to hunt foxes and the sickening sight of the hunt is gone forever. - A Renham, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

NATIONAL SERVICE

I AM in the final stages of writing a book about those called up for National Service in the Royal Engineers and find myself without any contributions from sappers stationed at Malta and Trieste and possibly any other rare posting. Is there anyone who can help me? - Eric Pegg, 14 Reginald Street, Burwood, Christchurch, New Zealand. E-mail: eric.pegg