May 30, 2006

I am researching a new book about air raids and casualties in the Tees area and am keen to include personal reminiscences.

If any readers have memories and/or photographs that they are willing to share, I would be pleased if they would send them to me.

Photographs will be copied and originals returned and contributions used will be acknowledged in the book.

In addition, the manuscript already includes (what I hope are) complete casualty lists of those who died as a result of air attacks. I hope the book will be a memorial to them as well as a record of wartime occurrences.

If relatives are willing to provide photographs of family members who succumbed to air attack, they can be assured such pictures will be treated sensitively and might well serve to make the list of names rather less anonymous.

I can be contacted by email at billnorman1@aol.com (website: www.billnorman.co.uk) or at the address below.

Bill Norman, 23a Thames Avenue, Guisborough, TS14 8AE.

FISHY SOLUTION IT is commonplace that bad diets are among the main killers in developing countries, where people still often do not get enough to eat, and in the West, where people sometimes get too much of the wrong sort of food.

One possible solution could be artificial enhancement of world fish stocks. Not a glorified version of the Scottish salmon farming industry, but something more sophisticated, extensive and environmentally-friendly.

Most of the open ocean, away from the Continental shelf, is barren. It hasn't enough essential minerals, especially iron, needed by plankton, which are the base of the marine food chain. One such area of the South Pacific was the scene of an experiment a few years ago by American scientists, who seeded it with large quantities of iron filings. Within a fortnight it was teeming with plankton.

Given that fish in the wild are prolific, but wasteful, breeders (eg, a female cod lays 40 million eggs in her lifetime, but only two become breeding adults), the potential for their carefully controlled breeding in unproductive parts of the sea could signal the end of food shortages and mean a more wholesome diet, rich in high grade protein and essential fatty acids, for us all.

Tony Kelly, Crook.

MAKE VOTES COUNT PROPORTIONAL representation is still the aim of some politicians, but they do not hold the necessary power to push through its implementation. Those who have it will fight tooth and nail to retain the disproportionate hold on power that two-party politics allows them, as long as the disinterested electorate permits it. My vote has almost always been for the candidate, rarely the party. I voted Margaret Thatcher in and out and Tony Blair in but not yet out, despite voting for Vale of York Tory MP Anne McIntosh since. I have respect and faith in people of all ages and gender when convinced they can deliver. But the survival of party comes before the needs of the electorate as they take on their own agenda.

My lack of faith is in the system, not people. Their potential is being wasted and it is time for change. Absent voters are sending a clear message. If people felt their votes counted they would become involved and monetary reward would not be an issue.There are people who merit the trust of most voters in all parties, who would serve the community better if their efforts were not thwarted by the system we labour under. George Appleby, Clifton, York.

PUNISH LABOUR DURHAM County Council has been run by Labour for decades and was elected just last year with a huge majority. Since that election weve had rows, splits, resignations and the Labour council leader sacked.When former leader Ken Manton issued a back me or sack me threat, 26 Labour councillors promptly sacked him. Little wonder voters feel let down by Labour.

However, it will take more than a change of leader to heal a county council which is split from top to bottom. Voters should use the Framwellgate Moor by-election on June 8 to punish Labour for their splits and arguments which have threatened our care homes and library services.

Conservatives are the positive alternative to a divided Labour Party because we are campaigning for change for fair council tax, better management, less waste, value-for-money services and a cleaner, greener environment.

Michael Fishwick, Deputy Chairman, City of Durham and Easington Conservative Association.

FOREIGN CRIMINALS I READ and re-read Pete Winstanleys remarks that foreign criminals should not be deported back to their country of origin no matter how heinous the crime (HAS, May 24), rather they should remain here to inflict more misery on us.

These people had a choice, either to live honest lives, or to indulge in criminal activity. They chose the latter and if the threat of deportation is seen as a viable deterrent, then so be it. Hopefully, the justice system of those countries will ensure any misery they heap on citizens there is dealt with.I have a seven-year-old grandson and while I am aware that neither I nor his parents can protect him 24/7, if the removal of these criminals makes his life and that of others just a little safer then it is a job well done.

Remember Mr Winstanley, the criminal has a choice. Victims do not necessarily have one, and I am not a xenophobe but one who tries to look objectively and dispassionately at the facts. I do not allow race, creed or colour of skin to cloud my judgement.

Barry Kidd, Stockton.

I WAS interested to read the article by Pete Winstanley (HAS, May 24) with regard to foreign criminals.

Has Mr Winstanley taken into account that some of these foreign criminals come to our shores having done a risk assessment on the penalties involved if caught? We constantly read about refugees being convicted of numerous offences and not being able to be deported for fear of persecution.

Are these people actually persecuted, or is it the fact that they were trouble causers in their own country to start with and the penalties involved are so much greater?

Kev McStravick, Darlington.

PHONE WEARY I AM 81 and feel sure my letter will apply to lots of readers as they will have had the same problem. When you telephone a company to ask for some information, what do you get? A recorded voice asking why you are ringing and, according to your answer, you are requested to ring one or some other number. The other day I thought I had cracked it after ringing eight digits, but then a recording device told me that I was the eighth person waiting on the line. Oh for the good old days when you could speak to a real person and had your problem solved. I now intend to get rid of my telephone and send my messages with smoke signals and a jungle drum.

P Smith, address supplied.