HUMAN RIGHTS - There is a certain irony in the claim by human rights lawyers that the deporting of these dissident Muslim clerics to their own country could be dangerous for them when the alternative of letting them stay here is certainly dangerous for us.

And an even bigger irony and injustice as we witnessed the ordeal of a much respected hospital consultant from Africa in his fight to keep his totally innocent family from being deported and now watch as the dangerous Omar Bakri's family remain here safely, contributing nothing but hate and being kept by the very taxpayers Bakri wants to kill.

It appears that this Government's policy is vigorously to support the bad guys and with equal vigour kick the good guys. Could it be that the good guys are an easier target? - Mrs S Harnby, Stockton.

KATRINA ROBINSON

THE head of the Prison Service in the North-East has recently said about HMP Durham: "We are trying to get the prison to a state of stability which would discourage incidents of suicide and self harm."

The County Durham coroner has censured Durham severely for its lack of care for vulnerable prisoners, both men and women. Some of the women have now been transferred to HMP Low Newton.

Katrina Robinson lost her baby at seven months, hours before being sent to Low Newton from Teesside Crown Court on July 29. She had pleaded guilty to affray.

Her waters broke soon after 8pm. Suffering from severe pain she asked for help. At 1.10am she was taken to Hartlepool Hospital where the baby was born dead at 4am.

At her son's funeral on August 2 she was handcuffed throughout to her boyfriend and brother. She was not allowed to change into dark clothes. At the end she said to her father: "I don't think I can do this sentence. You will be burying me next."

The prison system must accept that it has a duty of care to treat all prisoners humanely and vulnerable ones with greater care, especially pregnant women.

There must surely be an internal inquiry at Low Newton and Hartlepool and an inquest into the death of an innocent baby. - Janet Murrell, Durham City.

EXAMINE THE SYSTEM

THE culture of blame is alive as the media reflects only the criticism of chief examiners, markers and the members of grading committees.

There is very little examination of the system that lets so many of our young people down. The call for A stars preoccupies their minds without understanding that this would compound the already impossible situation.

It was my job as chair of a grading committee to ensure that standards were maintained year on year as teachers compared current work with past work to arrive at grade boundaries. The ensuing discussions among people of similar calibre followed the principle of redundancy, a principle that states where three or more people consider a problem, mistakes in judgement are reduced to almost zero. The system works today in the same way.

When the teacher set, teacher marked, externally approved and moderated examinations were in place, the professionalism of teachers and understanding of students enabled a much truer result to be obtained.

Similar assessment methods are well within the compass of teachers given the will to see them introduced. They work in parts of Australia and the US where employers and universities have descriptions of student ability. If those descriptions were fraudulently used, as some people think they would be, then the lack of integrity would have serious consequences for the education establishment from which they came.

Let us have a close examination of the system and not lay blame on those doing their best to make the current system work. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.

CRICKET

NOW that England are doing so well in the Ashes series of test matches it is good to see that you are giving the sport back page coverage.

What a shame that during so much of the season, cricket is pushed off the back page by speculative stories about football signings.

The gap between football seasons is so short that cricket needs every bit of positive publicity it can get if it is to be "re-established ... at the heart of the nation's sporting consciousness".

So come on, do your bit and give us more cricket stories on the back page. - Ash Johnson, Hartlepool.

NEW CONSTITUTION

CONSERVATIVE Party constituency chairmen and MPs will be voting in the autumn for a new constitution which will prevent the party membership from electing their own leader.

This is not just a matter of grave concern for Conservatives but for the whole electorate, for when democracy is removed from one party it sets a dangerous precedent for all.

Conservative MPs, who removed the most successful party leader of the 20th century and then elected three leaders who led the party to its three worst election defeats for 100 years, now propose to give themselves a voting monopoly - by excluding party members.

If the MPs were to get their way, only one vote would be cast from the North-East, one in Scotland, only two in Birmingham, only three in Wales and only 17 Conservative women could vote (ie their MPs) in a leadership election. This could never be a fair representation of the Conservative Party nationally - only a ballot of the party membership can do that.

I urge all Conservative Party members to ensure that their constituency chairman votes to reject the new constitution when they vote in the autumn. - Rodney EB Atkinson, Stocksfield, Northumberland.

Seaham HALL

SO Mike Amos enjoyed his expenses-paid Sunday lunch at Seaham Hall costing £82 for two and considers it worthy of a return visit in four years time.

On a recent Saturday evening, my friends and I celebrated two birthdays there. We called it the Meal of the Year in anticipation of luxuriating in fine surroundings, feeling pampered and relaxed, and enjoying a superb meal.

Contrary to expectations, the surroundings were bland and devoid of any suggestion of luxury. Furniture was shabby and dirty, two "Rest rooms" at our disposal were small, basic and without a trace of "pamper".

The menu offered only four choices for each course. The meals, artistic in presentation, did little to tantalise the tastebuds.

At a minimum of £8 per starter and dessert and £20 for a main course (coffee was extra) the bill was considerable but the addition of £3 a bottle for water was the biggest "kick in the teeth" as no offer of a jug of water was ever made.

The final bill for 16 people exceeded £800. Far from being an evening to remember, we left feeling we had been "ripped off". - A Ferguson, West Auckland.