03/12/2005

I AM writing to say how much my colleagues and I are loving the jungle commentary by Lindsay Jennings.

The light-hearted look at the misadventures of television's jungle posse is a breath of fresh air and has become a staple coffee break discussion point with those who watch the show... and even those who don't!

Keep up the good work. - K Griffin, Durham.

I COULD not agree more with Howard Rocke and his Jungle Grumble regarding the promotion of those jungle antics (Echo, Nov 28) by Graeme Hetherington.

Surely it is irresponsible to promote the eating of worms, grubs, maggots and other unmentionables. It is time to pull the plug on those so-called celebrities whom it seems need basic training on how to behave as civilised human beings.

Where will it end? Will cannibalism be next on their agenda, as it seems feeding in the trough with the pigs would be much too bland?

For the health and well-being of your readers, please let us have no more coverage on such sensationalist obscenities. - CG Farquhar, Durham.

GEORGE BEST

IN the early 1970s Middlesbrough played a home FA Cup tie against Manchester United.

Boro then were in the old Second Division and rarely met the famous United.

The match was eagerly looked forward to and I remember at the time some Boro fans saying that one particular player would attract people to Ayresome Park who had never been there before.

That player was George Best and the local interest in him was tremendous. - LD Wilson, Guisborough.

INTERNATONAL AIRPORT

I WOULD like to congratulate our region's second international airport on excellent service. No, it's not Durham Tees Valley (aka Teesside aka DTV aka MME), but Edinburgh.

On Monday, November 28, the final flight from Amsterdam to Newcastle, due to arrive at 2010, was forced to circle while Newcastle Airport was closed by a snowstorm.

The pilot announced that he had 25 minutes of holding fuel before a diversion to DTV would be necessary. After 25 minutes circling, and at just before 10pm, he peeled off and we started to divert.

Not, however to DTV, but to Edinburgh. He informed us that he had requested a diversion to DTV, but it was refused because the customs and immigration people had gone home.

So, off we went to Edinburgh, where the crew ran out of flying time and we were faced with a long night waiting for bus transfers back to Newcastle.

It is reassuring that our region is at least served by two international airports that remain internationally active beyond the bedtime of children.

The next time the Amsterdam plane passes by Teesside we will listen carefully for the yawns and snores that will be drowning out the noise of the planes. - Michael Blakemore, Durham.

PASSIVE SMOKING

I READ Joan Lawler's letter (HAS, Nov 28) and I could not believe she was insisting that passive smoking is not a hazard.

Smoking is a filthy pastime which should be restricted to one's own private place and not inflicted on the rest of us.

I would not stand in a pub and allow poison to be dripped in my drink so why should I breathe in smoke poisons?

For years we hardly went to pubs because of smoke, but now we go to smoke free ones and it is great.

In Italy there is a total ban and when we were there in May it was lovely to go into smoke free cafes, so different to 2004 and guess what, trade has not fallen at all. - Ann Taylor, Thirsk.

CONTRARY to the letter (HAS, Nov 28) which says you publish more pro non-smoking letters than the nicotine addict suggests, the very fact you published her letter and the many others shows you publish more pro smoking letters apart from the ones from E Reynolds.

Should you not be showing more concern for the health of the North-East?

One frequent writer says smokers don't cause as much pollution as cars, conveniently forgetting smokers also drive.

I was recently walking along Grange Road, Darlington, with traffic all over the place, but it was not the traffic fumes I could smell and was making me cough.

It was from a person's cigarette smoke who was walking along the pavement 100 yards in front of me. - Name and address supplied.

SUBSIDIARITY

A FEW very persistent correspondents to HAS are trying to brainwash us into paranoia about the European Union's regional policy.

In reality the EU is simply following the sensible idea that governmental decisions should be taken at the level likely to be best informed and most representative, whether this is parish, district, regional, national, multi-national or global. This is known as the principle of subsidiarity.

I might mention that my late father was much involved with setting up the German constitution after World War Two. This was, and still is, based on subsidiarity - many big decisions are taken by the regional lander governments rather than in the national government.

For such reasons I support in principle the idea of the North East Assembly, but voted against it in the referendum because it was linked with curtailment of local government.

But we do need people in the region looking at regional problems from our point of view.

When there is no directly elected regional assembly we have to make do with the next best thing - people who are at least elected locally to represent the people of their own districts. - John Hawgood, Durham.

NUCLEAR POWER

I AM not thrilled to see that the apparent answer to our power problems is nuclear power stations.

We have been lucky so far that virtually none of these stations have been blown up, either accidentally or otherwise.

There is another underused source - it is called the sun. Also coal could be used, in the form of coal dust being burned reasonably cleanly.

We pioneered this process years ago, but it never went into production. Once again we left it for others to use. In this case the Scandinavians.

The problem of nuclear waste is an ever present danger. - Fred Atkinson, Shincliffe.

WINDOWS SHOCK

I WOULD like to point out a very important issue to potential home buyers.

Any home with double glazing usually has a guarantee for a period of ten to 15 years, made out to the person who owns the property at the time of installation.

I have found this out to our disadvantage after buying property 18 months ago believing the guarantee would cover us should anything go wrong with the particular windows/door.

The guarantee in our property was given in 1998 yet unless a transfer in name is made at the time of purchase of property, the guarantee is useless.

A hard lesson to learn. - Name and address supplied.

BUY BOOKS: HOW many more times are the people of Darlington going to have to listen to senior local politicians offering what I believe to be completely misleading information on academies?

Once again we have Councillor Chris McEwan (HAS, Nov 18) stating that the council intends to carry through the leadership of Hurworth into a new academy. This is not for him or his council to decide.

In an academy, the private sponsor decides on the leadership team, the curriculum, selection and exclusion policies.

In addition, with the unanimous governors' vote on Hurworth, staff have made it quite clear that they have no wish to work in an academy.

So, Mr McEwan, your preferred policy would mean that there would be no Hurworth leadership or ethos left to transfer.

The council is spending thousands of pounds on glossy promotional material on academies - money that would be much better spent on text books for our children. - Ian Holme, Hurworth.

ACADEMY SPONSORS

THE council seems to think that it can have a say in the admissions to the academy when, of course, it knows otherwise.

The sponsor will decide which students will be admitted and no doubt will be pleased to accept students from the best performing school - Hurworth - but may well not be prepared to accept many students from Eastbourne.

The sponsor will "cherry pick", leaving the council with the less able students who will go to the "sink schools".

In common with council practice over many years it fails to maintain its assets and then realises that it has no money for repairs.

It now seeks to get its hands on money from the academy, by selling the site presumably, to repair the schools which it has let fall into disrepair.

If no extra funds are forthcoming, will the council amalgamate schools yet again, and sell off the sites and the playing fields for development? - John W Antill, Darlington.

EDUCATION DEBATE

IF the debate about education is to get anywhere, its participants need to recognise that real learning has to involve personal fulfilment and creative satisfaction - which means it has to be rooted in people's actual experience.

Some subjects lend themselves naturally to such an approach and should be the basis for teaching others. Thus cookery could lead directly into nutritional science, chemistry, biology, environment studies and social history. Something similar could be said of woodwork, metal work and gardening.

As for literature, it should consist of authors whom young people could immediately take to and enjoy - and that rules out Shakespeare, Milton and George Elliot etc.

If this programme were enacted it would go some way towards bridging the notorious gap between arts studies and science and replace failure with success for countless youngsters who now drop out of higher education. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

TRANSPORT FIASCO

INTERESTING to read our council chief's response (Echo, Oct 29) trying to convey reassurance to the residents, but the one-way bus system and the absence of the High Row bus stands will still discourage the remaining shoppers who will have to get used to it.

The council promised the residents a high-quality transport system in their Pedestrian Heart presentation, but this system imposed on usis a massive retrograde step to the previous user-friendly system.

This project is being designed on different planets. One team is trying to attract shoppers into the town and another team is restricting the access of traffic.

There were two lanes of all traffic entering the roundabouts from Parkgate, but we now have a bus lane and a normal traffic lane.

The bus lane is useless and empty as none of them turn left at the roundabout, so they use the normal traffic lane thus making only one lane useable with the traffic backed up to Geneva Road, one mile away, at busy times.

A bus stop has been relocated immediately on the Parkgate exit from the roundabouts. A dangerous location and a recipe for an accident.

It is amazing how this highways design lacking safety was evolved, or is it a computer error that should not have left the drawing office?

Can our elected council resolve this transport fiasco and give the residents a sensible system? - L Hume, Darlington.

ROAD REPAIRS

I THINK I may be able to help sort out the wrangling between Darlington Tory and Labour councillors over the impact of road repairs on traffic flows in the town.

If, as they claim, Tory councillors are worried about congestion in the town caused by road repairs, the answer is simple - they should forego any repairs in their wards and let residents in Labour and Lib Dem areas put up with the short-term delays as our roads and pavements get fixed quicker.

I suspect the resulting furore in the West End of town would soon silence the Conservatives' moans.

No place is perfect, of course. However, when the council is repairing roads all over Darlington and actively asking the people of the town themselves where those repairs are most needed, the Tories' criticisms do seem a bit perverse.

Maybe some of that famous Conservative common sense is required. - Simon MacDonald, Darlington.