DOUBLE STANDARDS:

WE seem to be besieged by a plethora of loan and mortgage deals invading our space, whether on our TV screens or on the Internet.

The message is the same from all companies promoting their products - apply for a loan or mortgage to consolidate existing debts and get something by way of cash back. It seems straightforward and bears some logic. After all, rates are competitive and there may be savings in the long run.

Recently, one of the major banks announced it had written off over £1bn in bad debts from customers. It identified with a culture of growing debt and hoped to reverse the trend by being able to seek out problems before they start.

Everyone has debt of some sort of another and our desire to have today and pay in the future seems futile when you consider the costs financially, let alone the impact socially and emotionally.

But we still do it and will continue to do so because we live in a society that constantly challenges the need to have and not to be missing out on some consumer item.

Aren't the banks operating double standards?

Bernie Walsh, Durham.

TAIL DOCKING

AS a professional dog groomer for some 40 years I feel competent enough to give an informed opinion regarding the docking of dogs' tails. In fact, I used to tail dock show dogs many years ago. It was as painful then as it is now for a puppy and a complete ban for all breeds should ensue, including working dogs.

On the whole, I have found adult dogs, including gun dogs, mainly Springer spaniels, to be extremely sensitive around a docked stump as I handle them in my work.

I do not agree it is necessary to dock working breeds to protect them in the field. If it is, why not tail dock Labradors, Bedlington terriers, setters etc? They wag their tails like mad when excited.

I say only amputate a tail if a serious injury occurs, and then only in breeds with more protective coats.

I hope MPs vote for a blanket ban on tail docking with no exceptions.

Marjorie Embling, Crook.

SEEK THE TRUTH

I'M sure we all remember Basil Fawlty's immortal line: "Don't mention the war". It seems a large section of our national and local press, and, virtually all of the broadcast media, suffer from a similar stricture: "Don't mention the EU".

Media manipulation used to be a feature of totalitarian regimes and we in the UK and the West in general prided ourselves on a free press, untarnished by government control. Sadly this is no longer the case.

The crisis in the fishing industry is presented as being caused by 'greedy' British fishermen depleting fish stocks to dangerous levels. No mention is ever made that this disaster has been 33 years in the making.

When we became a member of the Common Market - now the EU - we surrendered control over our territorial waters.

ID cards, we are told, are necessary to protect us from terrorism, benefit fraud, identity theft etc. No mention is ever made that the EU constitution, which legally does not exist, as it has not been ratified, demands that it will be compulsory for all EU citizens to carry an identity card.

In November 2004 we overwhelmingly said no to an elected regional assembly by a factor of 80/20 per cent. Despite this vote, the un-elected regional assembly remains in place.

The 'regionalisation' of police, ambulance, fire brigades and NHS trusts is being steam-rollered through despite voices raised against these plans.

I urge readers to seek out the truth behind the superficial and the downright misleading way that 'news' is reported.

Dave Pascoe, Press Secretary, Hartlepool branch, UK Independence Party.

DEPOT MUSIC

I HAVE read how, in various parts of the country, nuisance gangs of teenagers have been successfully discouraged by the playing of quality classical music over loudspeakers.

I was therefore interested by your report (Echo, Mar 3) of the young Mr and Mrs Wilson, who complained about classical music being played for that purpose at Stanley bus depot.

I would agree there is no justification for the music to be played round the clock. One assumes that even loitering teenagers must catch a few hours sleep during the night so as to be readily available for more loitering duties the following evening.

However, the Wilsons seem to give the game away by claiming they would not mind if Bon Jovi was playing.

Surely this shows up the entire purpose of the exercise, based on the observed cringing effect induced in the young and ignorant by classical music.

If the Wilsons were a few years younger, could it be that they themselves could be found with the loitering groups around Stanley bus depot?

DE Sparks, Hartlepool.

NHS CRISIS

ON the day that there has been much in the media about the financial crisis facing the National Health Service - hospitals unable to take admissions 24/7, cancer patients unable to get the drugs they want and so on - I read "Robot voice will politely tell smokers to move away from front of hospital" (Echo, Mar 8).

Some of the hospital management are clearly sufficiently pleased with this innovation to draw it to the attention of the media.

What calibre of management have we got in our hospitals?

Should their priority not be core issues? If they have time for peripheral activity and senior management condones it, I can only conclude there are too many managers and a lack of focus.

In the private sector, I know that when companies are in financial difficulty it is often as a result of poor, weak and inefficient management. In part this is no doubt the same for the health service.

Harvey Smith, Darlington.

MICROWAVE CRUELTY

COULD anyone please explain why the seven men who microwaved that poor cat cannot be brought to justice?

The lady whose home it was gave the police the names of all the seven men and they had the evidence there in the form of a dead cat.

So why, why, why were they let off because of insufficient evidence?

Why couldn't all seven be charged as accessories to the crime.

My mind boggles.

S Crone, Northallerton.

ANY PORT IN A STORM: THE ghost ships may be headed for Brussels. Not physically, unfortunately, but the French are now demanding the European Union set up a working group to deal with ageing warships. The French interest comes about after their government lost legal challenges, brought by Greenpeace, over a 27,000-tonne, asbestos-lined, retired French aircraft carrier on its way to be junked in India.

Indian courts banned the ship from entering Indian waters and the French Supreme Court demanded the ship be transported back to France.

The incident is a political headache for France after reported claims that Paris was trying to sneak out its "garbage" via the backdoor to countries that cannot afford to refuse it.

The French deny trying to turn their embarrassment into a European problem rather than a French one. There are estimated to be around 1,000 retired, possibly toxic, civil and military vessels waiting to be scrapped in European ports.

So in the future, it may be up to Brussels to decide where the European Union will scrap decommissioned warships, thus possibly opening the doors for yards like Able UK to apply to Brussels rather than the local council for permission to operate. If the choice is between the North-East of England or somewhere in France, would anyone care to place a bet on where the European Union will decide to send the ships? Eventually the European Union will control every aspect of our lives and the British people seem content to just let it happen.

Stephen Allison, Hartlepool.

DARLINGTON CAB

MAY I clarify for readers the issue of legal aid funding that you reported on last week and the subsequent letter from Yvonne Collins of the Legal Services Commission?

First, I must pay tribute to the work of LSC staff in the region, whose support enables the service provided by Citizens Advice Bureaux and other agencies to be as good as it is, and whose forbearance as far as Darlington itself is concerned has averted potential crises in the past. The problems that I raised with Alan Milburn relate to the way in which this Labour flagship has arguably become the victim of its own success: they therefore need to be addressed at a political level.

The LSC exists to ensure that everybody in this country has access to justice: a legal equivalent to the National Health Service. It operates two funding streams: one for criminal justice, the other for civil matters (which include appeals against the denial of welfare benefits, assistance with resolving debt issues and support in challenging discrimination or unfair dismissal at work). As the costs of criminal cases have increased and funding for this cannot be capped, so the amount of cash for civil Legal Aid has been reduced.

The Lord Chancellor has conceded that this has fallen by 22 per cent since 1997. Citizens Advice has therefore linked up with a range of other organisations.

Thanks to the partnership between the LSC and the CAB, there is not a crisis in Darlington. This is not the case elsewhere in the country.

The Access to Justice Alliance states: "Legal Aid is close to collapse. We need action now on the funding crisis, not more bureaucracy. Lack of legal advice ruins lives."

The LSC caseworkers at Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau have dealt with 465 cases so far in the current financial year.

But we know that if more finance and greater flexibility had come from London, we could have given further help to still more people.

Mike Hill, manager, Darlington CAB.

HIDDEN ASSESTS: ISN'T it nice that some parts of Darlington can have transmitting masts disguised as trees (Echo, Feb 28).

Why can't all the eyesores be treated in a similar manner? I understand that, in Portugal, masts cannot to be erected unless they are made to look like trees.

The rental that the landowners of these sites get is surely enough for them to pay for this. If not, the mobile phone company should. In our house they are visible both from the front and the back.

John A Barr, Darlington.