GOLDFISH BOWL: TO have any views on the controversy surrounding David Cameron one has to understand the changing state of the United Kingdom, how it has evolved over the past 50 years and the rise to political power of Tony Blair and David Cameron.

They are both products of the welfare state, in which, it seems, one can do anything, nobody accepts responsibility and someone else foots the bill.

At the beginning of the welfare state two events happened which today are being reflected in different statements issued by Tony Blair and David Cameron.

The first was the arrival here of a rock group, Bill Haley and the Comets, and the second was the creation of West Germany as the powerhouse of Europe. Both, in their own way, signalled an end to the past and with one eye on the clock prepared to introduce a new future.

The new future arrived when we gradually became a house-owning democracy, but the past could not be abandoned completely because most grandparents lived on council housing estates.

That era has now passed so today we have a situation where the majority of parents and grandparents have developed within the confines of the welfare state.

We are like goldfish swimming in a bowl going around in circles, blowing bubbles and waiting for someone to feed us at regular intervals.

We know that for goldfish to survive the water has to be constantly renewed and that means going back to the past. I wonder who is going to change the water? - Thomas Conlon, Spennymoor.

TYNE TUNNEL

THE Passenger Transport Authority is having second thoughts on the way to finance the building of the new Tyne Tunnel.

Although in one of its newsletters it suggested that the new tunnel would be completed next year, it seems it will not be completed until the end of the decade.

It has repeatedly been made clear by the PTA that a concessionaire would be appointed to build the new tunnel, take over and run the existing tunnels and collect the tolls. It now seems it is looking for new financial arrangements (PTA New Tyne Crossing Procurement Options).

The inspector who held a public inquiry over several weeks in March/April 2003 said he saw no difficulty in securing a concessionaire to construct and operate the new tunnel and the cost estimates were robust.

At this late stage the PTA appears to be having second thoughts. The only person who seems not to have had any doubts was the minister who said in a letter dated July 21 of this year that he was satisfied the new Tyne crossing scheme is reasonably capable of attracting funds necessary to secure the implementation by means of a concession agreement.

The real problem with the scheme is the PTA is trying to fund the new tunnel costing up to £20m out of the tolls. It should be financed as any road scheme; certainly some of the capital costs should be funded by government and European grants. - Stan Smith, Community Campaigner, South Shields.

METAL DETECTING

RE your article (Echo, Oct 21) regarding the supposed vandalism to public monuments by various people including so-called illegal metal detectorists.

Your article is full of quotes from Kate Wilson of English Heritage, a body of people who are determined to have the hobby of metal detecting made illegal.

Since 1996 when the archaeological world in general and metal detecting enthusiasts decided to work together forming the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the problem of illegal metal detecting on land without permission no longer exists.

I am aware that since August this year, over 500 finds have been recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme officials at York by metal detectorists including the only hoard of coins to be found that can be associated with the Civil War battle at Marston Moor.

Vandalism to ancient monuments will always remain a serious problem whoever the culprits may be.

There are serious vandalism problems with ancient sites and monuments, but English Heritage is fully aware that metal detecting is not part of the problem, but is just an innocent hobby that it is determined to portray as a pastime followed by people determined to steal Britain's heritage, instead of acknowledging that 90 per cent of finds in Britain's museums are there as a result of metal detecting.

It is a totally legal, responsible hobby enjoyed by 23,000 citizens in this country, without whom our knowledge of history would not be so well understood. - Norman Smith, Chairman Northern England Weekend Searchers, Newton Aycliffe.

WINTER WORRY

MY mother-in-law lives in Brandon, Durham, and has recently had her central heating altered from a back boiler and hot water storage system, with a separate gas fire, to a combination boiler and fixed electric fire.

Wouldn't it be nice to know that there are no more power cuts coming this winter?

She, and many others in County Durham are now totally dependent on electricity for heating and hot water. Before, when there was a power failure, she could at least have some comfort from the gas fire. Do planners have to have brains? - John A Barr, Darlington.

WORK TOGETHER

WHAT a shame that Dr Bateson's letter, Fly the Flag, (HAS, Oct 15) has been treated so meanly by later correspondents to HAS.

Political analysts these days emphasise three points.

First, Nato is out of date and needs replacement. It was hastily put into place in 1949 armed to the teeth as a military/political screen against supposed communist westwards expansion.

The world after 2000 is fundamentally different. We must work out new structures.

Secondly, peacekeeping mechanisms must be consensual, not old style separatist. This calls for mutuality, not some notion of free and separate exclusiveness.

Churchill, in 1948, had recognised that the way forward might involve some sacrifice or merger of national sovereignty.

Three, a replacement of Nato will be broadly experimental and multi-phased in building common security and defence policies.

Using civilian and military means, there will be humanitarian and rescue operations, joint disarmament tasks, military advice and assistance, crisis management, conflict prevention and peacekeeping schemes, post conflict stabilisation. These are tasks already spelled out in the draft proposals for the European Constitution.

Time is short. Peoples of vastly different political and cultural backgrounds must work together. Purposive joint determination must take the place of exclusive ideas of 'free and separate nations with their own identities'.

Don't your letter writers realise that self-determination alone will never build lasting peace in Europe or anywhere else? - David J Whittaker, Richmond.