Letters

IN response to EA Moralee (HAS, Jan 19), Stephen Hawking has one of the greatest minds on our planet and has spent many years examining the universe, drawing conclusions from actual facts in order to establish our origins.

He and his factual commentary has nothing to do with the plight of humanity. If a God did indeed create everything then surely this God also created earthquakes, famine and disease which cause so much of the suffering people endure.

As for the universe being created for our benefit, space is a fantastically hostile environment and most of the rest of the universe is so far away it is unlikely we'll ever get to see any of the other billions of galaxies first hand.

Depressing as this may be, if everyone dropped dead tomorrow the universe would still carry on regardless. Christians told Gallileo he was wrong about his observations, now they accept them without question. In time they will have to accept Professor Hawking's facts as well. - Kelly Scott, Shildon.

FAME

WHICH came first, the chicken or the egg? In the same way, which came first, the fame or the fall from grace?

The report that Rev Jesse Jackson took his pregnant mistress to the White House while he was advising President Clinton over his adulterous affair with Monica Lewinsky (Echo Jan l9) makes one wonder.

Would the high profile Rev Jackson have become an adulterer like the President and would he have flaunted his immorality had he never gained fame?

If both men had lived their lives in obscurity, would they have remained loyal to their wives as they vowed before God when they married?

We shall never know, but in both cases fame and high position seem to have been at least in some part responsible for their adulterous behaviour. Power and leadership can be dangerous things. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

WEAPONS

REPORTS (Echo Jan 5) that Britain's armed forces are soon to acquire thermobaric weapons of the kind used by the Russians to destroy Grozny concerned me.

Ours, of course, will be a more "precise" version, designed to limit civilian casualties. How many times have we heard this before?

The truth is that modern weapons become more and more murderous, while rich nations are now able to wage war without suffering casualties themselves.

In the past, the overwhelming majority of people killed in wars were soldiers; now 90 percent are non-combatants, at least half of them children.

According to UNICEF, in the last ten years two million children have been killed in armed conflicts, while over four million have been disabled, one million orphaned or separated from their parents and ten million psychologically traumatised.

Britain plays a significant part in these crimes, both as a participant in war, and as one of the world's biggest arms dealers. What was that about an "ethical foreign policy," Mr Cook? - Pete Winstanley, Chester-le-Street.

Spennymoor

AT last our council leader has come forward to offer some explanation to the residents of Spennymoor for the present appalling condition of the town centre, (HAS, Jan 19).

I dispute, to some extent. his view that all the heartbreak to Sedgefield Borough is the responsibility of the previous Government.

I am not a supporter of the Conservatives, Labour or Liberal Democrat parties, but even I know it was not the last Government who closed Spennymoor High Street, which, a large number of residents believe, has lead to the decline of the town centre. The Labour-controlled county council is the responsible party and it did so without reference to the residents.

Now most of Spennymoor's problems are a lot closer to home than the pathetic attempt by Coun Stephens to lay the blame at anyone's door but his own and his council's. - PA Eddy, Spennymoor.

PENSIONERS

I MUST reply to the comments of Mrs Wilkinson (HAS, Jan 20). I am a pensioner myself and I feel that her comments that most pensioners live hand to mouth is complete rubbish.

In fact, I feel we have never been so well off in our lives.

What with rent rebates, council tax rebates, often mentioned in "For Your Benefit", and winter holidays abroad to evade the cold winter, still qualifying for £200 winter allowance.

For once let's say thank you instead of the usual twist. - CB Smith, Crook

EUROPEAN UNION

YOUR article (Echo, Jan 18) regarding European Commission plans to finance political parties which back the EU's ideals and exclude any parties who oppose them was sinister enough for it to have been given a more prominent position in your newspaper.

This is surely more evidence of the now rapid drift into a crush-all-opposition dictatorship which masquerades under the guise of the EU.

Who gave these un-elected megalomaniacs the right to spend the taxes of people who oppose the Federation of Europe in this way?

A vote for the current reprehensible Lib/Lab pact is to give licence for the proliferation of this type of dictatorship because the LibDems will give away our right to govern ourselves more quickly even than the Labour Party.

We are constantly being informed that it is imperative that we join the single currency. If it is such a panacea, why, in a recent poll of all the countries who joined, was Luxembourg the only one who now thinks it was a good idea? - C Ward, Spennymoor.