Hear all Sides

WHAT would be the real cost of keeping local councillors if the money spent on hotels, travel, perks etc was included?

They have joined the middle and upper classes who have been in a money frenzy since the Thatcher days.

For the rest of us, individual debt and working until senile are on offer. Hardly surprising as Blair has handed over the country to moneylenders by under-funding hospitals, schools etc and selling the national council house stock to them.

Already hospital wards are being closed by well-heeled administrators to service debts. The monumental overall debt will eventually open up an even bigger gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Worse still, because of the illusion of a sustainable affluent UK, we are paying an extra billion to the EU. This is Blair's legacy to us and our families.

Voting for any one of the three main political parties will make no difference, they all obey the EU stability pact which dictates the size of our public spending.

With the EU using the UK as a milch cow, England will suffer the most as we attempt to sustain our huge population without our own parliament to represent us. - F Evans, Sunderland.

LIKE many, I was aghast at the cheek of Tony Blair for having the audacity to accuse the British MEPs who criticised him over the windfall giveaway of British taxpayer's money to the EU of not representing their country.

This accusation is very rich, coming from an MP who has failed consistently to either represent or, even acknowledge, the views of his own constituents. - Andrew Fowler, Ferryhill.

EARLY RELEASES

DAMION Hanson murdered banker John Monckton and attempted to kill his wife, all in front of their ten-year-old daughter.

How long are we, the apathetic, some would say pathetic, British public going to tolerate this dreadful situation where criminals can be released only halfway through their sentence?

Who is responsible for this fiasco and have these do-gooders still kept their jobs?

Time after time we read of criminals re-offending often only days after early release from custody.

It is high time Lord Falconer told judges to start applying the law and not interpreting it to suit themselves.

Magistrates are equally culpable, often the subject of ridicule by petty criminals who have no respect for the law.

The only redress the man in the street has is to write to their MP expressing their total dissatisfaction at the way the law is applied.

Did I hear right when I heard Mr Blair say when he wanted our votes that he was going to be tough on crime - sounds a bit hollow now when not a day passes without an outrageous decision being handed down by magistrates and judges. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

CALL CENTRES

RE Jacquie Bell's letter (HAS, Dec 19) on call centres, many people when they dial the number find they are put on hold and spend a considerable time listening to music, knowing that the call will cost a large amount.

If the telephone companies charged any call put on hold to the company that put the caller on hold, rather than to the caller, then that company would ensure the call was answered quickly.

Will the telephone companies do it? Of course not. It will reduce their income. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

WIND TURBINES

RE Melissa Wilson's letter (HAS, Dec 19), I would start by stating that during my working life I was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

My comments on wind turbines are from the perspective of an engineer assessing their usefulness as machines to meet a given need.

A large conventional power station generates electricity at 25,000 volts which is increased by a factor of 16 via transformers to 400,000 volts for connection into the National Grid and used over a wide area.

Wind turbines produce electricity at around 690 volts which, if increased by a factor of 16, gives around 11,040 volts which is the lowest voltage level in local distribution systems prior to reduction to household voltage of 220-240.

It should be noted that wind farms are only ever quoted as providing power to households, never railways, industrial plants, airports, shopping complexes etc.

Electricity generated by wind turbines is limited in its use since increasing voltage via transformers does result in power loss.

The concept of building a multitude of small power producers is costly in effort and money with limited returns, while in reality only duplicating power generated elsewhere.

Also, simply because a few wind turbines start producing electricity does not necessarily mean that there is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions at a fossil fuelled power station.

In this country, in order to meet our energy needs, we require large capacity generators driven by steam turbines.

The real problem therefore is how to provide the heat to produce the steam with zero CO2 emissions and no dependence on a continuous fuel supply from abroad.

Wind supply cannot meet this requirement, nuclear power can. - J Routledge, Witton Gilbert.

REGIONAL ASSEMBLY

I CANNOT let the recent letters from Chris Foote-Wood go unchallenged in his assertion that last year's referendum on regional assemblies was a choice of alternatives.

Twice now he has stated that it was a choice of either an elected assembly (repeated) or the unelected assembly to carry on.

He goes on in his recent letter (HAS, Dec 12) to say that there was a choice of status quo or elected assembly.

In neither case do I recall on the ballot paper any other question but that of electing a regional assembly.

Perhaps he will explain which ballot paper he returned showing and explaining his 'alternatives'? - KL Hopper, Darlington.

CORPORATE RE-BRANDING

AT a recent meeting, Sedgefield Borough Council discussed proposals to change its corporate brand identity (logo).

The re-brand would feature the name of Sedgefield Borough Council, with coloured hoops with the new logo, which the report stated symbolised the characteristics of the following four aims:

* Red conjured energy and vitality of the strong priority.

* Orange inspired bright optimism for the healthy priority.

* Purple links the contemporary optimism and development of the prosperous priority.

* Green is the universal colour synonymous with the environment projective of the attractive priority.

At the meeting I quoted the high cost to council tax payers: £72,740 in two years' budgets plus £58,160 transfer costs, making a total cost of £130,900.

This is a staggering amount of council tax payers' money for a new logo which was both boring, unnecessary and worse than the existing one.

When Sedgefield District converted to borough status at a huge cost, we were informed that the new identity would attract new industries and create extra jobs. All the borough status created was one of the highest council taxes in England.

All opposition councillors recorded their name as voting against the re-branding. - Councillor Ben Ord, Liberal Democrat, Sedgefield Borough Council.