RURAL POST OFFICES: LAST week there was much ado about the threat to close upwards of 10,000 rural post offices in Britain; causing much distress to their customers and the hard-pressed small business community.

The fate of the post offices centred on the annual £150m subsidy to keep them open. One newspaper headline was typical of the reporting of this issue. It boldly stated: "EU's £150m lifeline will save rural post offices from closure."

Most readers will think that the EU has actually coughed up some money but scrutiny of the story reveals the truth. The "EU lifeline" is nothing more than approval given by the EU commission to our own Government, so that it can spend our money on the post office subsidy.

Before British ministers could expend our own money on a vital social service, they had to go grovelling to Brussels to convince the commission that the subsidy did not amount to "unfair state aid". - Peter Troy, Sedgefield.

NEW PARTY

IN light of the continuing fall in political standards, your readers might be interested to learn that the New Party intends to contest the local elections in May.

We are committed to tackling the problems which other parties shy away from. Education, housing, healthcare, pensions and personal welfare, to name but five.

However, our single biggest priority is to improve the prospects of young people who no longer have access to a decent education, a proper career or affordable housing.

Many people realise that the main parties are now locked into polices which are not in their best interests and most of us also realise that we need to do better for the next generation.

However, there is little to be achieved by blaming our leaders.

At the end of the day, we live in a democracy and the answer lies in the ballot box.

To find out more about the New Party, or to become a candidate, either log on to www. newparty. co. uk or call us on (0207) 872 5458. - Dr Nigel Knight, The New Party, London.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

I DOUBT that anyone will be surprised by the recentlypublished figures on earnings. It is now more than 30 years since the Equal Opportunities Act came into force.

The gulf between the earnings of men and women have not really changed over that period.

Employers have evaded the issue by claiming to give their male employees additional responsibilities to justify their higher wages. In fact, what has happened is that male bosses merely delegate the work to others and are therefore paid more for doing less.

The end result is that the lower ranks work harder, for lower percentage increases in pay, while their bosses take the credit and the gulf widens. If there is a problem, low-paid workers are sacked for incompetence, while the fat cats in charge of larger companies are able to cash in, even while the businesses they run are failing.

A recent leaflet from Stockton Borough Council states: "The average household earnings per week (October 2004, ASHE) were £366.20. Male residents average £483.90 and female £235.80."

Fathers For Justice complain if they have to hand over more than a quarter of their earnings to their estranged partners. I have no doubt that any mother would be pleased to have even a fraction of that amount to spend entirely on herself.

Single parents are hardest hit.

Yet the widely-held belief that the children of single parents are responsible for all the vandalism and anti-social behaviour in our communities, is not only untrue, it is insulting to those parents who struggle to cope alone.

The misconception still makes me angry even after 40-plus years. I object to the stigma male chauvinists insist on placing on single and divorced mothers. - Gladys Baker-Bainbridge, Stockton.

PUNISHMENT

AT last the next of kin of murdered victims, manslaughter victims etc will be able to voice their opinions in a court.

For centuries in Arab courts, the next of kin of the murdered victim has sat beside the judge and, although not able to interfere in the trial, at the end, if the murderer is found guilty, then they supply the punishment.

There are only three sentences they can make: 1 execution by beheading; 2 forgiveness and allowed free; 3 imprisonment until (blood money) compensation is paid to the victim's family.

It is about time that victims should be allowed to agree with the judges' sentences because it has been known for some judges to allow criminals to go away with ridiculous sentences. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

POWER SHORTAGE

SO we have another report on the electoral system to gather dust on the shelf of New Labour indifference.

In many ways the "Power to the People" report hits all the right notes. It calls for electoral reform for local and national government. It highlights the need for people to have ownership of democratic structures including the voting system.

It is certainly high time that this debate was opened up and the Government could start by opening up to public consultation the review of electoral systems that it is currently conducting, and widen its remit to include Westminster elections.

But it won't. And that is because Britain is no longer a democracy. Choosing between Tony Blair and David Cameron is like choosing between Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee.

There is no real choice and any move to hand power back to the people would undermine the corrupt practices of nepotism and blackmail that are the bedrock of all the political parties in Westminster.

Just look at the Liberal Democrats. Once idealists, they are now more concerned with winning at any cost, including the cost of any principles they ever held.

In a true democracy, the people would either chose policies directly or have a parliament made up of representatives of communities, who have a free vote on all issues and are not coerced by whips.

But the Westminster political parties will never allow this and will continue to collectively drag us into a police state rather than allow any real power to devolve to the people. - Leslie Rowe, Richmond Green Party.

ALAN HINKES

THE award of the OBE to the mountaineer Alan Hinkes raised the question once again of how antiquated and unjust our honours system is.

There are people who receive similar awards without stepping outside the confines of their offices.

MBEs are given out almost haphazardly to include dinner ladies and road sweepers, and football managers and pop singers are even given knighthoods.

Alan Hinkes is unique in his field and what he has achieved has required enormous courage, self sacrifice and fortitude.

I therefore feel that to award him a paltry OBE is not only inappropriate but a gross insult.

The award of CBE would, I feel, have been more appropriate.

The complete scrapping of the present honours system, and replacing it with one which truly reflects the achievements of our heroes and heroines in the 21st Century cannot come soon enough. - Peter Beadle, Northallerton.