01/08/05

I have never said that. I have always averred that cigarette smoke kills far more people than car fumes. Fossil fuel used by cars is the main source of heat in the power stations, which also emit fumes, and we all use the electricity produced.

His assertion that Africans smoking old trousers rarely get cancer could be correct as there will be less poison in burning cloth, and the life span of those people could be shorter than those in other countries.

Our region has the most smokers in the UK and the facts are that 70 per cent of men and 73 per cent of women do not smoke. If smokers who are killing others by 'passive smoke' were sprayed by their victims with asbestos powder they might be annoyed, but it is a proven fact that asbestos powder is far less dangerous than cigarette fumes.

Driving cars does not kill as many people as passive smoking and, of course, many smokers also drive cars, creating extra danger.

At the end of the smoke, how many people have seen lighted cigarette ends tossed out of a car window? Most car parks have piles of cigarette ends which have been dumped by drivers who smoke.

To give up means "Do not have the next one" or visit the place where you will spend your last days on earth: a hospital ward, breathing oxygen with part or a whole lung removed. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

FAILURES

FORGET the word fail - call it deferred success (Echo, July 20).

Come on. Reality check. If our precious children are expected to know the facts of life concerning sex (in great detail) drugs, alcohol, smoking etc, surely their minds can cope with the fact of life that failure is an inevitable part of life.

Everyone fails at something at some time.

Saying that a child is a failure in class is, of course, not pleasant, but all pupils have subjects in which they are stronger than in others.

As long as encouragement is given for success there is nothing wrong in pointing out weakness and failure to achieve the desired standard where such criticism is valid. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

TENANTS' FORUM

I HAVE received notification of the impending AGM of Derwentside Tenants' Forum.

It tells me that anything not on the agenda will not be allowed to be discussed. This means that I am denied the right to express, at a public meeting, my misgivings about the project to transfer the housing stock.

Perhaps, through your column, you will allow me to express my reasons for disagreeing with the project.

I have been told, by one of the "stock transfer officers", that the houses will still belong to the council - with a management board of 15.

Five councillors. How many of them live in council houses today? Five people with business experience. Are they likely to be council tenants? Who will really be in charge?

If the councillors and the business members suggest that the labour force is too large or that some projects are too expensive, who is to argue with them. The tenants are already in a minority of 2-1.

If Easington Council can have part of its grant withheld, for whatever reason, and Middlesbrough can be refused permission to borrow money, who is to say that Derwentside will be any different?

The July issue of Homechoice, the council's information sheet on the project, states that "the new organisation would be free to borrow all the money needed".

If the management does borrow the money it will have to be repaid, with interest. Who will then have to foot the bill? Not the management board, not the council, who will have washed their hands of the housing stock. No, it will be left to the tenants to clear this debt. - DC Elsom, Annfield Plain.

LONDON SHOOTING

TONY Blair added his voice to the official expressions of regret over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes in the anti-terrorist shooting error in London by the Metropolitan Police.

"At the same time therefore, in expressing our sorrow and deep sympathy for the death that has happened, it is important that we support them in doing the job they have to do in order to protect people in this country," he said.

However, the Home Office refused to comment on reports that the Brazilian was in London illegally, having outstayed the period of his visa.

But Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "I don't have any precise information about his immigration status here. My understanding is that he was here lawfully."

Maybe he was, but clearly there was nothing lawful about the killing. In fact, there is now a shortage of precise information as to why and how this young Brazilian electrician was killed.

The best support that can be given to the British people in these difficult times of terrorist attacks is the knowledge that facts of this killing are not swept under the carpet.

The British public need to know that the police are not a law unto themselves in order that proper support can be given with confidence.

Perhaps now is a good time to ask: Is our police service (once referred to as the police force) properly accountable with a workable complaints procedure? I fear the answer is no. - Peter Troy, Sedgefield.

WHORLTON LIDO

RE the ongoing saga at Whorlton Lido. The new owner states that he closed it because of noise, litter and the presence of yobs (Echo, July 13).

Being a local resident for 30 years or more, I would like to dispute the reasons given.

Firstly, the noise factor. I have never in the area of the lido experienced what I would describe as excessive noise. The river itself makes more when in good flow.

Litter - what a load of rubbish. Members of my family have worked there over the years and the last job every evening was to collect any rubbish.

The present owner complained about yobs. Get it right, Sir. Yes, a lot of young folk visited the lido. Some were a bit noisy. For goodness sake, they are young and boisterous or had he forgotten he was once young.

To my knowledge, over the years, the police had never been called out because of breaking the law until only recently.

The lido was one of the dale's finest features for maybe seven or eight weeks each holiday season. Many of those who visited the lido would end up in Barnard Castle or local pubs when invariably the rain came down. The area's economy must be affected.

As for the local pub, I bet they will miss the revenue created by the lido. I hope the pub survives it. - Name and address supplied.

SLIPPED DISCS

THERE may well be, as The Northern Echo recently reported, a resurgence in the popularity of vinyl records.

Unfortunately, you don't reveal where one can buy new record players (apparently as scarce as Ming vases) to replace ancient machines that have fallen apart and died. - I Smullen, Leeds.