Letters

THE continuing revelations from Downing Street have brought clarity to the political picture and given us a clearer view of the man behind the mask; they have shown Tony Blair to be a weak and synthetic Prime Minister who is trying to hoodwink the British public over Europe.

Here in the North-East, and I suspect right across the country, Labour is not trusted to say what it means. In comparison, the Conservatives have articulated a straightforward and honest message 'to be in Europe, but not run by Europe'.

At every level of representation it is the Conservatives who are standing up for the core ideas and beliefs of the British public, defending the integrity of the nation state and the liberty of the individual.

There can be no better illustration of this than during our Save the Pound day a few weeks ago when hundreds of people from the North-East signed our pledge cards in favour of keeping the pound.

Yet Mr Blair is intent on scrapping our currency and handing over control of our economy to Frankfurt.

Why won't he accept the view of the overwhelming majority of British people and allow us to keep the pound? - Martin Callanan, Conservative MEP, North-East Region.

FUEL PRICES

COUNCILLOR Tony Richmond's attempt to fuel the imagination (Echo, July 31) of local voters with tempting cuts in the price of petrol will most assuredly backfire. Neither William Hague nor Michael Portillo has any intention of reducing tax. They both know that the price at the pump is regulated by the cost of oil on the open market.

John Prescott is directing £50bn of public spending into local transport and a further £59bn to tackle congestion on the roads, whereas John Major raised over £23bn in one year from fuel and excise duty and spent only £8bn on the motorist. Mrs Thatcher contributed bus deregulation. Tory ranting does not add up nor does it deliver. - Don Bristow, Darlington.

IMMIGRANTS

SO Andrew Lightfoot (HAS, July 28) has no problem with immigrants so long as they are of Nordic origin. I think the notion of deciding who should or should not be allowed to live here on the basis of race would be found to be utterly repugnant by most British people.

Some black people emigrated to Britain long before the 1950s and many of those who did come in the 1940s and 1950s were invited - to help with the war against Hitler or the labour shortage afterwards.

Perhaps Mr Lightfoot would like to see them and their children and grandchildren deported - a bit of ethnic cleansing to preserve the purity of the English race. - Pete Winstanley, Chester-le-Street.

COPPERGATE PLANS

I READ (Echo, May 25) of opposition to the proposed Coppergate Riverside development of the Castlegate and Piccadilly area of York.

My apartment is in the new Persimmon Homes development at Piccadilly Plaza and I believe that ours is the only residential site directly influenced by this proposal. For this reason I believe our views should carry great weight when considering planning permission.

I would like to pledge my unconditional support for the development and hope that planning permission is granted so that there is no further delay on the overdue development of Piccadilly.

The Piccadilly area looks shabby, run down and contains many eyesores and is most certainly not befitting such an historic city as York.

This proposed development can only renovate the whole area into a clean, pleasing, up-market part of the city centre.

With modern-day standards of planning and building regulations, this development will be done in such a way as to minimise the environmental impact and therefore I see little cause or valid reason for there to be any legitimate objections. - Martin Day, York.

ROAD MARKINGS

MY HUSBAND and I enjoy walking and have explored many of the highways and byways of Darlington in the last 12 months.

On those travels we have noticed strange markings on the roads and pavements. They appear in the form of dots, crosses and rings in bright yellow paint. As time has gone by so have some of the markings. Some have faded and some of the rings have disappeared, as the holes they surround have got bigger.

One of our main worries is the fact that two of the large yellow dots have mysteriously appeared on the pavement in front of our house. They have been there for quite a while now and therefore seem to be suffering the same fate as the others, fading with time and weather.

We are wondering what they may be. Are they route planners for the Freemasons? Are they in the same category as crop circles? Do tramps recommend our house as a friendly one? Are they codes for aliens in outer space? Should we be employing Molder and Scully to investigate? Could anyone help? - Pat Blair, Darlington.

BRAND NAME

THE spat between Councillors Dave Walsh and Chris Abbott over flying the Yorkshire flag in Redcar on Yorkshire Day (Echo, Aug 2) does highlight a problem of some seriousness.

Four years after the demise of Cleveland County we still haven't decided on a clear name for our area. For economic promotion we need an agreed 'brand name'.

Elsewhere, some unitary authorities refer to the county from which they originated, eg North East Lincolnshire, North East Somerset. One possible solution is for the two boroughs to have North East Yorkshire as their postal address. However, this would not encompass the community of interest we have with the towns on the north bank of the Tees.

But Teesside also is incomplete. Most of Redcar and Cleveland is not on Teesside. If Easington, near Loftus, is on Teesside then so is Easington, Co Durham, as they are both equidistant from Teesmouth. I note Darlington, on its website, promotes itself as 'Darlington in the Tees Valley'. This reminds me of the old water board name Tees Valley and Cleveland which I think would be the most accurate name for our area. - VE Wood, Redcar, Cleveland.