21/03/06

We do not want handouts. We were brought up the hard way: do without and/or pay your own way. My husband is 75 and I am 71. We worked all our lives paying into the system on very low wages.

Because we saved we receive no free dentistry, no free glasses or have our mortgage paid. In addition, we pay over £1,000 annual council tax. We don't receive £8.50 cold weather payment either.

If we had spent it all we would now be receiving help. We don't drink, smoke or play bingo; we take holidays within our means - so we are now continuously penalised.

I hope when the writer reaches our age she has reason to think the same. - Name and address supplied.

FAIRTRADE LOGO

I WONDER if there is something missing from the end of John Wilson's column (Business Echo, Mar 14).

It states: "The 'fair trade' label can be used by anyone and it could, perhaps, easily be exploited. For now, however, have another look at those labels the next time you go shopping."

Perhaps there should be something explaining the difference between "fair trade" and "Fairtrade" on labels.

The "Fairtrade" logo with its blue, green and black image of a person waving cannot be used by anybody.

Products bearing this logo have had to undergo a strict audit from the Fairtrade Foundation. It is for a product, not a company, so some products do not bear the Fairtrade mark if they cannot prove they conform to the rules, even though other products from that particular company do.

The only way you can guarantee that a product is fairly traded is to look for the Fairtrade Foundation logo.

Marks & Spencer have acknowledged this by changing their packaging to include the mark. - Chris Eddowes, Hartlepool.

Darlington FC

RE David Dickson's letter (HAS, Mar 15). Whilst sympathising with his sentiments, I am left wondering how "the threat of County Durham losing its remaining league club is very real".

I am aware that Darlington annexed itself from County Durham when it chose to become a unitary authority.

As a proud son of that county I am aware that political bias has moved borders, but I am old enough to think that County Durham is the land which lies between the Tyne and the Tees.

As taught by my late father: "There are only three football teams in County Durham: Darlington, Hartlepool and Sunderland."

I wish all three success (though it would appear my wishes are falling on deaf ears at the moment). - Keith Rand, Fatfield.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

ISN'T it time that the Government looked into the reasons why people take their children away during school time to go on holiday?

The reason is that the tour operators hike up the prices during school holidays - sometimes double what they are at other times.

I don't condone people who take their children out of school but do understand if they want a holiday they are reluctant to pay over the odds.

I live in a holiday resort and I don't need a calendar to tell me when it is half term.

The number of tourists drop as they won't pay the prices. Families who do are paying over the odds for a holiday here.

Families could have had a holiday for half price if they had taken a holiday only a week before the schools broke up.

Why not take the tour operators to task? As it stands at the moment, the tour operators are rubbing their hands knowing they can carry on raising prices when schools are on holiday. - Greg James, Tenerife.

WORLD CUP AGGRO

RE sending our police to Germany for the World Cup to crack down on hooligans (Echo, Mar 10).

Would it not be better to look after our problems in England?

Let other countries look after their own problems for a change. - N Tate, Darlington.

NO APOLOGY

NOT only do armed officers from the Durham force wrongly target a young Shildon man at gunpoint but they then lack the courage and decency to apologise to him and his family afterwards (Echo, Mar 20).

For a totally innocent working man to end up at gunpoint is bad enough.

But for the police to fail to even attempt to apologise is unacceptable and yet one more example of the ever widening gulf between the police and the public they are meant to serve. - PG Deakin, Shildon.

COUNCIL ALLOWANCES

LOCAL councillors are, as they are quick to remind us, volunteers. I for one, would not expect them to be out of pocket and I know that some of them work very hard.

In Middlesbrough they are paid an annual allowance of £5,600 plus any expenses incurred on the production of a receipt (something introduced since Mr Mallon's arrival - previously no receipts were asked for).

My bone of contention is the fact that councillors who chair meetings etc are paid between £5,000-£8000 extra each year.

Surely the basic allowance is sufficient - are there no councillors who will chair these meetings without the extra payment?

If not, are they really volunteers or are they, as some people claim, "in it for the money".

Certainly, judging by the amounts some of them take home, it is more than many people in this town take home for a full time wage.

I would be very interested to know, of those councillors who do chair meetings/panels etc, which political party they belong to? - Barbara Dunne, Middlesbrough.

FLYING THE FLAG

SOME months back, the Echo covered a story I was involved in, along with Jim Tague's letter, (HAS, Mar 14) and that was my preference for the English flag to fly ahead of the EU flag at Wear Valley District Council (WVDC).

When Jim requested the secretary's notes from the WVDC meeting that had discussed the issue, I was also somewhat amazed by a comment made by a prominent councillor, referring to "two individuals trying to make a name by promoting prejudice and ignorance".

Well, after dipping my size tens into the North-East, as well as the national political waters, my skin has thickened somewhat. It actually went from gossamer to rhino hide in a very short space of time.

To accuse Jim and myself of "promoting prejudice and ignorance" for wishing to fly the English flag in preference to the flag of a political project is scurrilous to say the least.

It was pride not prejudice that brought the complaint. I am not ashamed to say that I am proud of my country. As for ignorance, there is none so blind as those who cannot see, and I have made a point of understanding the European Project before condemning and criticising it.

I have yet to hear anyone satisfactorily defend the premise of being governed by 25 unelected commissioners.

My colours are nailed firmly to the mast. - Neil Herron, Sunderland.