December 23rd, 2006

We are told the batsmen have crossed for a single, but not told the score.

The end of an over is reached and, again, we are not told the score.

Close-of-play is reached and, incredibly, listeners are left to work it out for themselves.

The late Brian Johnston's golden rule of cricket commentary was that, because people are switching on all the time, the score must be repeatedly given.

He also made sure that the commentary would end with the close-of-play score.

Hard to believe what is happening today? Tune in, and be exquisitely annoyed.

LD Wilson, Guisborough.

CHRISTMAS? I'M OFF...

THE season to be merry? Not likely.

Slade and George Michael playing on pub jukeboxes for three months prior and one month after December 25, the hustle and bustle of trying to do a little "normal week's food shopping" while trying to dodge the serious shopping zombies who seem to be on rails while eating pasties straight out of the bag in the streets...

People colliding with you with their huge Argos/B&Q carrier bags - don't they realise that Wendy houses/garden sheds now come in flat pack form?...

No public transport, the inevitable umpteenth re-run of the soporific Great Escape, Wizard of Oz, White Christmas and The Italian Job...

An overkill of televised soccer, Songs of Praise, screaming red-nosed kids been hauled around in pushchairs with at least one wonky wheel, over-indulgence, inflated prices and cash machines continually running out of money...

And worst of all, everyone practically swearing on oath: "I just adore Christmas pudding and turkey."

I ask you: Is it really the season to be merry? Fortunately, I will miss all this merriment and joviality. I have rented a one-bedroomed crofter's cottage in the Highlands for ten days and the only thing I will miss will be The Northern Echo.

Dave Nicholls, Darlington.

Editor's note: You can catch up with The Northern Echo when you are away, online at www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

DIANA CONCERT

IT was with considerable consternation that I read of the plans to hold a memorial concert in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Please do not misunderstand me, I respect the memory of Diana but would suggest a dignified religious service would suffice.

I remember all the wailing and gnashing of teeth in September 1997, and do not think we should try to evoke those responses again. Also, the prospect of hearing Sir Elton John singing Candle in The Wind is so utterly depressing I'm thinking of leaving the country.

For goodness sake, let Diana rest in peace, remember her with dignity, and hope she is in a better place.

Derek Parker, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham.

IMMIGRATION

ON November 14, 2001, Tony Blair stated: "I strongly believe that Britain's diversity has brought tremendous strengths and benefits to our society."

Latest figures show that more than 50,000 immigrants are on benefits, paid for by you and me, the taxpayers and earners in society.

On December 8, 2007, Mr Blair appeared to change his mind when he stated: "If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become one of us. So conform to it or don't come." Is refusing people admission to public swimming baths while there is an "Asian women only" session part of this?

Perhaps spending half a billion pounds of our money on translators, interpreters, etc, is part of this plan?

Is any reader aware of a "white women only" session anywhere - or to put it another way, has Labour any real idea of what is going on up and down the country?

M Symonds, Middlesbrough.

HAPPY DAY

I DISAGREE with Kev McStravick, who wishes to have a multicultural national Happy Day coinciding with St George's Day every April 23 in Darlington (HAS, Dec 20).

St George's Day is a celebration of everything that is English, and not a day when members of the ethnic minorities should congregate at the Town Hall and in South Park to offer us dishes from their homelands.

It would be an excellent idea if Darlington Borough Council did stage a St George's Day party where English bands could perform, along with food stalls offering English delights, such as beef and real ale.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

BE WARNED

MY son had his motorbike stolen and burnt out before his eyes. Police had been called, hence the thieves burning the bike out as the helicopter hovered above.

My son was devastated. It was his pride and joy, and he spent many hours working on it. The bike was not insured - it was a field bike and cost £200.

We were given a victim of crime number by the police and the phone number of the recovery yard.

In hindsight, we would have been better off not reporting the incident. My son had to identify the bike. It was released.

I phoned the recovery yard to be told we owed £105 for recovery of the bike plus, by then, £36 for three days' storage.

So in the end my son had no bike, plus £105 recovery charges, £12 a day storage for three days and a further £35 for disposal of the burnt-out bike.

To add insult to injury, there was VAT - total cost more than £200. In other words, the cost of a new bike.

Mrs Y Smith, Spennymoor, Co Durham.

SMOKING

SO G Sowerby (HAS, Dec 19) finds that the non-smoking brigade gets up his nose. As a member of that brigade I find the unpleasant aroma from the average smoker gets up my nose.

One has only to sit near a smoker, even when they are not smoking, on a bus, train or in a cinema to be enveloped in a fug of stale cigarette smoke.

They do not seem to realise their clothing has absorbed the smoke from countless cigarettes and is constantly emitting this revolting stench.

A jacket hung in a wardrobe after an evening where smokers are present will cause the contents of the wardrobe to be stinking next morning and so should be hung outside for a few days.

A room can be filled with the stench from a single fleece jacket hung on a hook.

Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

HAS CORRESPONDENCE

HAVE Hugh Pender and Pete Winstanley taken over control of HAS? From the number and frequency of their letters which are published one would imagine that this was the case.

For myself, I now find that their repetitive writings about who did what to whom, where, when and how, with the associated apportioning of blame, are becoming somewhat tedious and boring.

I am more concerned about local topics and problems, where we are now and where we are heading.

So can we now put the Middle East, the US, Islam, etc, to one side for a period and have some more interesting, appropriate topics which affect people locally?

John Routledge, Witton Gilbert, Durham.

IN more than 50 years of reading The Northern Echo I cannot recall anyone having as many letters published in a single year as the astonishingly prolific Pete Winstanley.

Has the editor considered giving Mr Winstanley his own column?

This would provide some space for those of us who like to submit the occasional missive for publication.

D Cook, Sacriston, Co Durham.

IN March 2007, it will be 20 years since I first wrote to Hear All Sides. Can I just say that the space given to readers of The Northern Echo to voice their concerns is valuable.

Local councils spend vast sums of money on their own propaganda papers. It was only recently that a reader criticised Sedgefield Borough Council newspaper, Inform, which costs approximately £50,000 per annum and publishes what it wants to while rarely featuring opposition councillors.

I thank all members of the HAS team for their work and wish them all a Merry Christmas.

Councillor Ben Ord, Liberal Democrat, Spennymoor Ward, Sedgefield Borough Council.

Editor's footnote: Coun Ord's seasonal sentiment is much appreciated. The HAS team also wishes him - and every contributor - a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.