19/01/06

Naive because the main such failing was also the most fundamental and sacrosanct, ie the exponential and uncontrolled growth throughout all government departments of red tape and other futile paperwork.

There are now literally mountains of the stuff and they clog up channels of communication, ensure vital information goes unnoticed or unrecognised and prevent any meaningful communication between bureaucracy and real people.

Due to this single cause there have been any number of disasters in recent years, affecting not only the Department of Education, but occurring across the whole spectrum of public administration.

So, however unthinkable, what we all fear could happen again - a possibility that should guarantee sleepless nights for the decision makers concerned, or would do if they lived in the real world.

But they don't, so nothing will be done. - T Kelly, Crook.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

IT SEEMS to me that political power is even more addictive than the most potent drug, which is what interviewer Sir David Frost himself said on TV, "politics is a drug".

And doesn't the wish to become the leader of any political party, LibDems included, prove just how potent a drug the desire for political leadership is?

Meanwhile, most people working in industry cannot wait for retirement day, by which time they have had quite enough of going to work five days a week for perhaps the best part of their lives.

Yet politicians galore clearly see 65 years of age as no reason for retiring. - Alfred H Lister, Guisborough.

PRAISE FOR GEORGE

I am writing in defence of George the cockerel (Echo, Jan 12) who is as much a part of England's heritage as William Blake's Jerusalem.

The crowing of the cock is mentioned in the Bible and Shakespeare and is part of countryside living.

People who move to the country should expect to hear countryside sounds and there is a very simple and obvious solution to the problem. Why don't the people who object to the sound wear ear plugs?

After all, ear plugs are comfortable to wear, not like a sock put over the head of the cockerel which seems to me would be a terrifying experience.

Painting the roof of the coop black will confuse poor George - just imagine your house being pitch black all day.

Why can't people try to see this situation from the innocent creature's point of view, who is after all, only doing what nature intended him to do, heralding the beginning of a new day? - Barbara Tinsley, Durham.

YOB CULTURE

With a massive rise in unprovoked violent assaults across the region, the Government is just not acting on yob culture.

What is the point of ASBOs if there are not enough police to enforce them?

In New York, zero tolerance was enforced by massive police recruitment. Violent crime fell.

We are sick of kids in school being taught their rights when they do wrong, instead of teaching respect and the law.

Happy Slappers and yobs who commit unprovoked violent assaults are nasty fiendish people who need jail and lessons in respect. - Name and address supplied.

GARDEN CATS

TWO interesting stories in The Northern Echo. Brigid Press devoted part of her Gardening column to the difficulty of dealing with cats using gardens as toilets.

Then there was a report of cats being poisoned in Cockfield (Echo, Jan 10), with the comment that cat owners would (not should) try to keep their pets within their own garden, and the statement of the vet wondering why anyone should lay poison.

As a non-pet owner and an unenthusiastic gardener, I would suggest that cat owners should accept more responsibility for their animals. The attitude that a cat must be let out at night, to go and use someone else's garden as a toilet, is bound to cause resentment in a keen gardener who has probably spent much time working his soil to a fine tilth, so suitable for a cat toilet.

The thought that he or she has to remove cat faeces before planting is not a pleasant one. It is no wonder that desperate measures may be felt to be necessary. - Eric Gendle, Middlesbrough.

CARE CENTRE

RE the article about North Park Care Centre (Echo, Jan 6).

My wife's mother has been a resident there for over a year and we cannot praise the staff and management highly enough.

We both know how difficult it is to look after someone with dementia, as I myself looked after my mother at home for over 18 months.

We both know that these cases must be investigated thoroughly, as we would wish the same, but we feel that someone must give credit where it is due as the staff cannot answer back to a newspaper.

Thank you for your reports, but please don't forget the hard-working people who care for the elderly. - G and A Collingwood, Darlington.

PROSTITUTION

I AM absolutely appalled at the foolishness and stupidity of the reasoning given on the above subject by E Reynolds and T Kelly (HAS Jan 6).

We can never justify legalising prostitution, for whatever reason. Prostitution is evil, destructive and degrading to those involved. It affects not just those involved in it, but also their families, their children and society as a whole.

Prostitution is evil like shoplifting, murder, hatred, violence etc. Another word for it is, it is sinful. It is breaking God's moral laws which he has given us in the Bible. His moral laws were given to us for our good and guidance and to stop us getting into things which enslave us and destroy us.

People, deep down inside, are searching for something to satisfy the longing in their hearts. They think they can find that meaning in prostitution, drugs, drink, violence, murder, stealing etc, but the only place we will find that need satisfied is coming to Jesus Christ, and asking him to change us. - Pam Springer, Hartlepool.

I AM all for the legalisation of prostitution and I must applaud the decision made by the Government to allow three prostitutes the right to work at a time in legalised brothels.

I just hope that the management of the brothels only allow clients to have sex with their employees by using safe sexual measures. Brothels have been illegally running in London for some time and it is only common sense that they are legalised in this modern day.

While I will never visit such a place, I will certainly not scorn those who do, who could well be in loveless relationships or be sexually frustrated at being single.

For once I give the Government the thumbs up for at long last realising that sex is an extremely important factor in our lives. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.