DURHAM BUS STATION: AT 6:30pm myself and my wife got off the London bus at Durham after a short break in the capital and decided to wait for a bus to Chester-le-Street. While we were waiting we witnessed the following incident.

A group of four teenage girls and one boy aged about 15-16 walked past us carrying a bottle of wine and another bottle. They walked out of the door at the top end of the concourse and one of the girls threw the wine bottle into the path of incoming buses and broke it.

Two members of staff were in the bus station office, a man aged about 55 and a younger man. Neither of them reacted to this incident.

After a couple of minutes, the teenagers returned to the bus station and spent several minutes spitting and being obnoxious before they left. Again no reaction from the station staff and no sign of the police. Standing next to us were four foreign students.

If Durham County Council actually cares about the image of the city I strongly suggest that either it, or the police, show some interest in the bus station at night. - Name and address supplied.

EDUCATION REFORMS

THERE are those, including the Deputy Prime Minister, who are against the planned reforms in education by the Blair Government.

They fear what is termed as selection. As I see it, selection is no bad thing if based on high standards of academic achievement.

I hark back to my schooldays of elementary education where outstanding achievers were seconded to grammar school to fill the places left by those at grammar who were good enough to have moved on to college.

We were a mixed bunch at elementary, there was no class bias or privilege, only outstanding exam papers brought about by academic aptitude, and those who did not reach the highest standards had their exam papers marked 'try harder'.

Dog in the manger attitudes are of no use if one fails an exam whether it be yesteryear or in the present. If a pupil was second best on exams day they must try harder. The grammar school system was a good system in my opinion. - GH Grieveson, Richmond.

PROSTITUTION

READING Ray Mallon's column (Echo, Dec 30) one wonders just how many times the so-called red light area in Middlesbrough has been cleaned up? Surely not once more?

Police and courts' time are taken up by this horrible crime and the result is what? Where will the prostitute get the money to pay the fine? And the man - well some lose their jobs and some have their marriages broken, so where does he go to satisfy his sexual feelings? Is it fair for police and courts to do this?

Prostitutes are human and all of them are daughters and some are also mothers. Many do help relations and friends financially.

If a prostitute decides to work from home then she is vulnerable to physical attack or murder, but if two of them work from the same place then the police will take them to court for running a brothel, so they have to depend on minders or protectors, many of whom are crooks, drug dealers etc who entice other young girls with drugs. It is no use expecting the police to protect them.

In many countries where brothels are legalised, including states in America and Australia, there are benefits which never occur in this country. Where a brothel is available there are very few rapes and sexual assaults. These go up when a town shuts down its red light area.

As the prostitutes are regularly medically examined the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases is lower.

Since the local authorities control the brothels there is no need for minders and the prostitutes contribute to those authorities for their licence.

Drugs and users are abolished, income tax will be paid on their earnings. If they do not abide by the law they will lose their licence so they are very much under control. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

RAY Mallon's effective endorsement of Cleveland Police's traditional approach to prostitution - harassing the girls and their clients - is yet another example of how senior officialdom seldom, if ever, learns from its past mistakes.

As for him comparing prostitution to shoplifting and murder - that is as silly as it is callous. With those and most other offences the main priority is the protection of society; with prostitution it should be the protection of the girls themselves, most of whom are little more than children or started out that way.

At present they are at the mercy of the streets. The only realistic and humane solution is the legalisation of prostitution and the establishment of licensed and properly supervised brothels.

There these unfortunate women could get all the protection - physical, moral and medical - and guidance possible. There would also be every opportunity to get them off the drugs which are so often part of the problem.

As things stand, the way they are treated should be an outrage on all our consciences, especially of those in authority in places like Middlesbrough. - T Kelly, Crook.

BUS BLUES

ON behalf of all the people who live outside Darlington, I would just like to say that, in the course of a year, we get a lot of paper rubbish shoved through our doors, but it would be very helpful if the bus companies would send us maps of Darlington buses.

My husband used to get the bus to Darlington Memorial Hospital. Now we don't know where the buses go from or what number they are. Other people must be baffled.

Also, I waited for a bus to Newton Aycliffe in early December outside Wilkinson's store in Darlington at 7pm at night. It is a mugger's paradise. The street is badly lit, no CCTV camera of course.

At least you stood a chance on the High Row. Councillors please note. - E Topping, Newton Aycliffe.

FESTIVE FRENZY

WE all say it every year as we cram so much energy into the celebration of Christmas. Next year will be different.

But as the months and weeks lead up to Christmas we invariably get hooked on the excitement. The festive lights, the hustle and bustle of the crowds and the frustrations as well.

Since childhood I have enjoyed the build up and preparation, the pent up feeling that seems unique to Christmas. But that last minute push pumps adrenaline into your veins. Walking around the shops and arcades on Christmas Eve might be more like frenzy but that is the tradition.

Often we over compensate: both on what we spend on gifts and on the volume of food and drink we consume. It is an insatiable urge but we do it and whilst the retail trade count the costs of projected profits we extend our appetite for bargains in the post-Christmas sales.

Christmas shopping is as much a feature of the season as the celebration itself.

Sceptics might say that it is out of proportion but within the frenzied activity there is the act of giving and for that we can take comfort. We can also take respite for a further 12 months before the frenzy starts again. - Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe.