Letters

JACK Straw should know very well how to do his duty by his country and the parents of Julie Hogg by sentencing Billy Dunlop to life imprisonment without breaking and without revising the law.

The law states: a) that a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime; and b) that a murderer must be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Surely Dunlop's confession and obvious guilt are sufficient to dispense with the need for a trial, thus paving the way for his life imprisonment. - Harry Singleton, Middlesbrough.

RIGHT-WING OPINION

YOUR Hear All Sides columns are the most interesting feature of your newspaper.

Nevertheless, I find it irksome to note that you appear to have a hard core of contributors, some of whom appear to have their right-wing views published on a weekly basis.

I also resent the tone of your columnists who are afforded some 15-column inches of space in which to project their similar views.

Recent offending contributions include one from Peter Mullen to which I must retort that the first half of the last century saw most of Europe embroiled in two catastrophic world wars in which millions of people died. The second half of the last century has seen, by and large, peace prevail.

Surely this is worth a little support from this country, along with a willingness to participate with our European friends in ensuring that we remain free of conflict throughout this century. - Alan Benn, Bedale.

ROAD SAFETY

SPEED limit restriction signs should also have a mandatory notice attached. The notice being: driving within this speed limit may seriously damage your health.

For those who choose to obey the restriction will undoubtedly be subjected to one or more of the following acts by their fellow motorists: tailgating, verbal and physical threats of violence, obscene gestures and words, acts of dangerous driving.

A European directive is urgently required. - JK Lavery, Darlington.

HEALTH SERVICE

AS the National Health Service comes under increasing criticism we feel we would like to redress the balance in its favour.

My husband had a stroke late at night in August last year and since then we have had the best professional care from all the personnel we have met in the NHS.

It must be very hard for the majority of dedicated people in our health service to hear their profession criticised so much.

We will always be grateful for their expertise and encouragement. - J Knox, Newton Aycliffe.

DISCRIMINATION

OUR country has always prided itself on being fair-minded and tolerant. But we all know that we do not always reach that ideal.

The bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho are now in the news. The murder of Stephen Lawrence shocked the country and the failings in the police investigation provided a wake up call to us all.

Every organisation and workplace needs to be on guard against racism. The problem is not a few bad apples practising discrimination, but that whole organisations can end up building racial discrimination into the way they work.

In too many workplaces, people get away with racist abuse. They will say "it's only a joke", and that people who complain "haven't got a sense of humour", or "have a chip on their shoulder".

But racism is no joking matter, and it can hurt the victims as badly as a physical attack. Trade unions know that they have not always been perfect, but are now trying to do something about it. That is why the TUC has set up a root out racism campaign, with a particular focus on ridding the workplace of racist abuse and banter. - Neville Lawrence, Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign; John Monks TUC General Secretary and Chair Stephen Lawrence Task Group.

STROKE VICTIMS

I WAS sorry to see that the controversy that raged over the PM's speech at the WI conference overshadowed some very important issues.

The members of the WI debated three motions at their conference. One of them urged the Government "to greatly improve the treatment and therapies available to stroke sufferer".

This motion was passed unanimously by the 10,000 delegates. As a result, over the next year the WI will be putting its weight behind a campaign to improve care for the thousands of people who have a stroke each year. Its involvement will potentially save lives and help to reduce disability.

Congratulations to the W1 for taking up this pressing issue. - Eoin Redahan, The Stroke Association, London.

DLI

I AM researching the Durham Light Infantry and the Northumberland Fusiliers in the First World War and would appreciate any help with letters or photographs of men who served with the 50th Division in the Great War. This includes 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers and the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions of the Durham Light Infantry.

Any information from relatives of men who served in the above units would be gratefully appreciated. - David Blanchard, 11 Stafford Place, Peterlee, County Durham SR8 2EL.