05/01/06

The present 'home' of the club is an absolute disaster. The Arena is huge and soulless, and too distant from the heart of the town.

It is always more than 80 per cent empty, and has neither atmosphere nor character. It has not brought success to the club, and never will because it does not make economic sense.

A 'home' should be comfortable, convenient, the right size, and allow for the possibility of expansion when times are good, and contraction when they are not.

The Arena has none of these characteristics. Feethams had all of them and, with a modest amount of redevelopment, could regain them.

It is not too late for Darlington FC to return to Feethams, its spiritual home for nigh on 80 years.

The importance of Darlington having a League club cannot be overstated. And yet, if Feethams is sold for housing development, and if the Arena were ever to be closed because it became economically unsustainable, the very real prospect exists that Darlington FC could be without a home, and Darlington without a League club.

That would be tragic. Darlington should do everything possible to ensure that Darlington FC returns to its natural home: Feethams. - Valentine Herman, Sigean, France.

RE the article in which Tony Taylor, the Chairman of the Darlington Supporters' Trust, advocates using the former Feethams ground to provide a sporting facility for the town, in particular for the use of disabled people, instead of the remaining stands being demolished and luxury housing being built in their place (Echo, Jan 2).

I would like to express my support for Mr Taylor on this matter. Why should the cricket club and three other individuals who are associated with Darlington Football Club profit to the tune of millions of pounds from the sale of the land on which the stadium stands? - Mike Jarvie, Darlington.

STUDENT LOANS

I FELT I must write regarding the letter from KM Kirkbright from Marske-by-the-Sea regarding student loans (HAS, Jan 3).

I don't know where she has her information from but student loans are not interest free.

My daughter, who is 22, obtained a 2.1 degree from Teesside University.

She worked night shifts in a supermarket all the time she was studying and lived at home, and because of this she was able to keep her student loan at a lower level than most students.

What she didn't know, and what most people don't know, is that, far from being interest free and not being paid back until earnings reach £15,000 per annum, interest starts being charged on the loan after less than one year from leaving university.

My daughter's statement showed interest being charged at about £16 to £17 a month and I rang the Student Loan Section to query this. I was told that interest is charged no matter what wage the graduate receives and if nothing is paid off (ie even if the graduate is earning less than £15,000 pa) the interest just mounts up, making the loan even higher.

My daughter at present earns nowhere near £15,000, in fact she is only earning about £10,000 per annum, but in order to alleviate the impact of interest being charged she is paying back £50 a month to the Student Loan Company.

I know of a lot of students who did not realise this situation and it does annoy me when I hear politicians praising the student loan system. They should tell the whole truth. - Name and address supplied.

FLUORIDE

RE T Kelly (HAS, Dec 23). Unlike most things he quotes becoming poisonous in excess, fluoride is already poisonous to start with.

Therefore, it increases the toxicity of everything it is added to: be it school milk, drinking water or whatever.

The most comprehensive book I recommend he and others interested in fluoride poisoning should order from their library is Fluoride: The Aging Factor, by Dr John Yiamougannis (15BN 0-913571-03-2), a leading biochemist who, with Dr George Waldbott, conducted research into all aspects of fluoride and fluoridation over 35 years.

It reveals with scientific and photographic evidence that fluoride can cause bone deformities (skeletal fluorosis) and actually accelerates the process of osteoporosis through the loss of bone mass in the hips and long bones over years of ingesting fluoride.

The last 50 pages detail more than 400 published research papers, tests, trials, etc undertaken by reputable universities and laboratories worldwide showing clearly that fluoride does not prevent tooth decay and is a real danger to health, even in small doses. It would be very foolish to dismiss this overwhelming mass of scientific evidence as hysteria. - A Hall, National Pure Water Association, Darlington.

NO ANSWER

JACQUIE Bell (HAS, Dec 17) is quite right to point out the anomaly of a voting system which has given the present Government an overwhelming number of seats when, in fact, it polled fewer votes than the Conservatives and can claim only truly to represent less than a quarter of the electorate (22 per cent).

However, her claim that proportional representation would be fairer and more democratic is not true.

Italy, for example, used PR for 50 years between 1945 and 1995 and had 54 governments in this period, which resulted in economic and political stagnation and instability.

This is inevitable under PR as seldom, if ever, does any party gain over 50 per cent or more of the votes.

This leaves a small third party (such as the LibDems) with the casting vote in a hung parliament, able to indulge in horse trading by threatening to bring down the government.

This is probably why the LibDems are so in favour of PR as they see it as their only chance of power, but it is certainly not fair nor is it democratic or good for the country.

The first past the post system needs to be modified in some way to give a more truly representative result, but PR is certainly not the answer. - WD Donovan, Darlington.

JEREMY PAXMAN

MORE than likely Newnight's Jeremy Paxman has never read The Northern Echo and, if this is the case, Mr Paxman won't have read columnist-mayor Ray Mallon's (Echo, Dec 23) condemnation of his (Mr Paxman) aggressive style of interviewing.

And those of us who were watching Newsnight just recently witnessed one gentleman tactfully telling Mr Paxman - to his clear embarrassment - that interviewers deploying the gentle approach extract the most from their quarry.

Meanwhile, just what are the chances of Ray Mallon being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman?

I'd put London's mayor Ken Livingstone well in front of Mr Mallon. Why? Principally because Mr Livingstone is much better known, right through the country, than Mr Mallon. - Alfred H Lister, Guisborough.