19/12/05

Of most concern is the difficulty some people may have in contacting call centres and helplines dealing with state benefits. As a social worker, I regularly have trouble contacting the Disability Benefits helpline. It has sometimes taken several days of repeated calls to get through.

A study by Liberal Democrats has shown that, since early 2003, over 119 million calls to Government helplines and call centres (36.6 per cent of all calls) have been abandoned, met with an engaged tone or have not been recorded by the system. That is an average of 88 calls a minute.

The worst offenders are the DWP, who missed the most at 62 million calls and Revenue and Customs, whose tax credit system missed more calls than it answered.

Liberal Democrats believe that the helpline chaos reflects the chaos and complexity of the Government's welfare policy, where so much depends on means testing and complex form filling. It is time the system was overhauled and simplified so that many of the calls that clog up the system would no longer be necessary. - Jacquie Bell, Parliamentary Spokesperson Richmond (Yorkshire) Liberal Democrats.

FLYING THE FLAG:HELEN Cannam writes: "I like to see the EU flag flying from our flagpoles, because it speaks to me of friendship" (Echo, Dec 1).

Ms Cannam is entitled to her opinion about the EU, and as she is such a strong supporter she might choose to fly its flag from her own flagpole, on her own property, at her own expense.

Any local councillor who shared her rather rosy view could also express their opinion in the same way, using their own resources.

But perhaps she would agree that it is improper for councillors to use scarce public resources to promote what is, as she admits, a political project - and a deeply contentious one at that.

If not, how far down the road would she go in allowing taxpayers' money to be misused for political purposes?

For example, would she acquiesce if a council printed and distributed leaflets advocating the EU, but draw the line at leaflets supporting a particular party? - Archie Turnbull, Chathill, Northumberland.

WIND TURBINES: RE J Routledge (HAS, Dec 14). The burning of fossil fuels is having a great effect on our ever changing climate. Clean, renewable forms of energy are essential in the race to tackle climate change.

Wind power in particular has the following benefits:

It's obviously very clean and it's an abundant source of energy with the UK being one of the windiest countries in Europe, particularly in the winter when energy demand is at its highest

It's affordable, the latest wind farms are producing energy more cheaply than the UK's newest nuclear power station. It creates jobs by using offshore engineering skills used by the declining industries. If offshore wind were developed to supply just ten per cent of the UK's electricity, then 36,000 jobs could be created.

And, unlike nuclear stations, wind turbines are unlikely terrorist targets.

Tell me why you think wind power is not the answer? Is it because you genuinely believe that it will not do any good for tackling the problem of climate change and diminishing fossil fuel resources or is it simply a case of these turbines being mistaken for "monstrosities"?

In comparison to other energy developments like power stations, or open cast mining, wind farms have relatively little visual impact.

If we don't switch to cleaner forms of energy, climate change will severely and irrevocably alter much of our landscape as well as the animal and plant life it contains. - Melissa Wilson, Greenpeace Area Developer, County Durham, melissawilson@orange.net, www.yes2wind.co.uk

FAMILY TREE: AT the turn of the last century, my great grandparents lived in Yarm. Their names were John and Mary Keightley, and Richard and Annie Northall Smith.

Would it be possible for readers to contact me, by email, with any information about their descendants. They lived in Silver Street, and at Smiths Yard in Yarm. - AKM Keightley, www.akm keightley@hotmail.com

EUROPEAN UNION: WHAT will it take to convince people that the European Union is anti-democratic and is moving rapidly towards a police state?

Soon EU legislation will be adopted which could ban Euro-sceptic parties from EU elections. Only approved (and please note "state-funded") parties will be allowed to put up candidates. To qualify, parties will need to cover at least seven different member states and fight elections on a common manifesto across the whole of the EU.

No party could qualify that had policies which defended the national interest of any single country, so goodbye to the UK Independence Party.

This is how the Soviet Union prevented dissent. It did not ban elections; it just banned dissidents from contesting them. Initially Warsaw Pact Countries only banned parties defined as "fascist" but before long, this definition was applied to everyone except the Communists and approved allies.

The EU does not throw its opponents into gulags (yet!) but is becoming increasingly intolerant of any dissent. A commission official, who was sacked for criticising the single currency, was recently told that his right to free speech could not be used to justify certain offences, such as blasphemy or criticism of the EU.

So be warned, at some time in the future when regional police forces are merged into one EU wide force, controlled by Brussels, don't complain. By then it could be against the law to do so. - Steve Allison, UKIP North East Organiser, Hartlepool.

GEORGE BEST: I WAS deeply sorry that my letter on George Best offended H Pender (HAS, Dec 12). Being a Methodist and more or less teetotal, I thought had George had a similar lifestyle he would not have hit the headlines like he did for so long.

The Rev Peter Mullen, commenting on the hysteria and euphoria following George's death, pointed out how a true sportsman like Fred Trueman, on his death, would probably receive no more than 15 minutes from the media.

The reason: he was not an alcoholic and did not beat his wife, a sad reflection on present day values. - Douglas Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

WASTE NOT: IN 2003, Durham voters kicked out a Labour council, which was seen as all talk, tax and waste. We've had just over two years of the LibDems running the city council, resulting in more talk, more tax and even more waste. The latest example of LibDem waste has left many Durham residents with a £20,000 bill after a legal battle to try to force 64 city taxis to be painted white.

Local Conservatives are urging the city council to work in partnership with Durham's Independent Taxi Association to address issues including safety.