Letters

ED Bowen writes about hunting, the countryside and conservation (HAS, Jan 12). Let us leave fox hunting entirely to one side and ask the following question of ED Bowen. What possible connection can there be between conservation and hare coursing? To catch a hare, transport it up to 50 miles and release it in front of party of greyhounds, where it is either cruelly (and not always quickly) killed or possibly escapes to a part of the country unknown to it. That is hare coursing but it is not in any way conservation is it? It is simply a cruel sport which should go the way of cock fighting, badger baiting, etc and the sooner the better. - Eric Gendle, Middlesbrough.

PLEASE note, ED Bowen, that there are also many rural people who understand conservation and the countryside and who are actively involved in various schemes to improve its quality, whose wishes are to see an end to hunting, an end to coursing and, in fact, an end to bloodsport of any kind. - E Cox, Richmond.

MARRIAGE

ALTHOUGH old-fashioned values of marriage and the nuclear family are to be found amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, Professor Richard Berthoud, of the University of Essex, is quite wrong in saying that people in England are moving away from the traditional family structure (Echo, Dec 19).

Has he been researching the typical family structures among Christians - and I'm talking about real Christians, not pseudo-Christians? He will be surprised to find that we uphold the old-fashioned values of marriage and we believe in the nuclear family because our values come from the never changing truth of God's world and not from the constant changing values of the society in which we live.

We do not believe in divorce, nor do we believe in unmarried couples living together because these are contrary to the word of God. - Mrs P Springer, Hartlepool.

STEVEN THOBURN

WITH regard to Mr Steven Thoburn's right to stand up for the people of Britain (Echo, Jan 4), I and over 90 per cent of this country back him all the way.

I totally agree that the people of this country should abide by the laws of this country, not some foreign regulation made by jumped up fat cats that do not like the British way.

What were our Euro MPs doing to let such absurd regulations overrule our rightful Acts of Parliament?

We are slowly being drawn into a European Community that will be run by the Germans and their allies to the detriment of everyone else.

Who is paying for the prosecution of Mr Thoburn by Sunderland City Council? The ratepayers of Sunderland of which Mr Thoburn is one. The council has no right to use taxpayers' money defending the idiosyncrasies of a foreign organisation.

If this is so, then Mr Thoburn is paying for the prosecution as well as the defence, this is not justice, it is victimisation.

One consolation for Mr Thoburn is that if there is any true justice left in this country he cannot lose this case. Our own laws supersede all foreign regulations and always will. - RL Groves, Howden-le-Wear, Crook.

GRITTING

A HAPPY New Year to Redcar and Cleveland Council. Here are some questions to which I should like answers.

1. Why were many roads and footpaths not gritted in the Marske and Redcar area over the last few days? I suppose it's commonsense to grit the main roads but what is the point when you have extreme difficulty getting onto these roads.

2. Why was the Marske shopping area not gritted?

3. Why was the Redear shopping area not gritted? Many people, mainly old people, were slipping on the footpaths when a fall could have been very serious indeed. A shovel of grit in some places would have sufficed. Don't they have any salt and gritters available? Don't we pay enough council tax (the second highest in the country) to deserve a little bit of consideration in this weather? - JM Carter, Redcar.

TED HEATH

SIR Edward Heath seems to spend most of his time lambasting people for being sceptical about Europe (Echo, Dec 21). Perhaps his cries come so loudly and so often because he was the one who was greatly responsible for signing away so much of Britain's interests to Europe in the first place. Saying sorry, I made a mistake, is something he cannot bring himself to do. Instead, he bellows I'm right and you're wrong at anyone who holds a view different from his own. Could he be trying to hide his feelings of guilt? - EA Moralee, Billingham.

CABINET COUNCILS

IN THE December issue of Inform, householders in Sedgefield Borough are told they will have an opportunity this month to state their preference of the type of council for the borough. I would urge all to state their preference after careful consideration of the options.

At the moment we have a cabinet and leader system, which we are told was introduced after the council listened to local people. I am not aware of any consultation taking place about this and have yet to meet anyone else who is aware of any consultation.

What I would advise people in the borough to do is to look closely at the options. The present one is not a good system, power is given to the leader of a political group without reference to the people.

The second option for a mayor elected by the people and a cabinet then selected by the mayor, at least gives the people some say in the matter, and if we don't like his work, we can vote him out of office after four years.

This is the system which will have my support although I must say that none of the three options has my full support.

The third option of an elected Mayor and an appointed manager fills me with dismay. The most important thing of all is for the people to take part in selecting the system to be adopted. If they do not, political activists will decide for us and that will most certainly not be good for us. - PA Eddy, Spennymoor.