11/11/04

The earlier darkness creates more winter depression, opportunities for burglars and vandals to do their worst.

We've altered the clocks for such a long time few people, if any, remember its original purpose.

Why can't the clock be altered at the end of November and February, minimising the winter darkness a little by two months? No wonder 200,000 people have moved abroad. - FM Atkinson, Durham.

POST OFFICES

ROYAL Mail's reported plan to close up to 280 post offices will be a significant blow to a great many elderly people.

Many pensioners still rely on the post office as their source of cash for everyday spending.

Those of us lucky enough to be freely mobile or to have a home computer for banking by Internet, perhaps don't worry so much about the loss of post office counters - although they are all part of a depressing picture of public services in decline.

We have already seen rural post offices decimated over the last 15 years, now we face the loss of up to half of Britain's 560 town centre branches.

The situation is not helped by the major banks closing long established branches in the high street. Yes, there are more cashpoints, but elderly people are understandably wary of using credit cards and cash machines in the open street.

To the older person, the post office is more than a convenience - it is part of the community they live in. Shutting local branches can only mean more reliance on the car or public transport, bring added expense to the user and more damage to the environment. - Keith Lovelock, McCarthy and Stone plc, York.

REGIONAL ASSEMBLY

THERE will always be a north-south divide because certain immutable geographic and economic considerations favour the south of England.

First of all, the South is situated nearer continental Europe and so industrial and commercial organisations have lower transport costs than those in the North.

Then there is the weather. The South is milder and warmer than the North.

Also, London has evolved into the capital city of the United Kingdom.

So, as far as transport is concerned, there is something that the Government can do. It can build a motorway (three-lane in both directions) between Dishforth and Scotch Corner, it can widen the Durham Motorway (A1M) to three lanes in each direction for its entire length, it can make a motorway link on the A1 between Newcastle and Edinburgh and finally it can make the A66 road from Scotch Corner to the Lake District a dual carriageway for its entire length.

We do not need a regional assembly to make suggestions like this, they are common sense. - Brian Bowron, Newton Aycliffe.

THE referendum vote is finally over with 22 per cent saying Yes and 78 per cent saying No.

The No campaign themselves, I feel, will be surprised at this margin of victory.

Prior to the vote, of course, we were given to understand that the two sides were evenly poised.

One of the pleasing features was that the turnout reached a respectable 48 per cent.

There will be considerable disappointment in the Yes camp, of course, but in the end it turned out that the Government's package was not good enough. - LD Wilson, Guisborough.

"WE are all people of England" does not carry much weight, except when the bugle sounds.

The North-East has only a small part of the total population and we generate an even smaller proportion of the national wealth. This has led to the view that people in the North-East ought not to expect the same opportunities as those in the South.

What was on offer in the referendum was bound to reflect the PM's admitted early scepticism and the interests of southern based civil servants who allocate national resources.

The best that John Prescott could get from his colleagues means that once again the Labour Government has disappointed constitutional reformers.

The No campaigners have nothing to be smug about. They achieved a Pyrrhic victory. Existing jobs for the boys have been saved. Many people voted Yes and more than half the electorate did not vote. Sadly, the assembly's objectives would have benefited people who feel excluded from civil society.

There is a still a problem but now only failed ideas are on offer. North-East MPs are outnumbered by over 600 from elsewhere, including several key ministers with Scottish constituencies. Why would they want to scrap the Barnett Formula?

An elected assembly may not have given us more clout but it was worth trying. We have lost a lifetime opportunity for the sake of £3 a year on the council tax and to show resentment of politicians. - Eric Shuttleworth, Darlington.

WELL, it's all over. Self-pity has been wheeled out in the cause of a regional assembly. Now it should be abandoned.

I mean, all that about the Wicked South. For a rising generation it is no more than a tired posture.

Bottle it and send it to Beamish Museum. All it does now is to divert attention away from the inadequacies of regional politicians, of whom the North-East has its full share. - Michael McKeon, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

I AM extremely pleased and relieved that the people of the North-East of England have decisively rejected the idea of having an elected regional assembly.

The assembly idea championed by John Prescott was never intended to lead to more local democracy but was intended by the European Union to further the break up of England as a country.

The real challenges facing England are: to prevent Scottish Members of the Westminster Parliament voting on matters affecting England only, not their Scottish constituencies eg university fees and foundation hospitals; and to ensure repeal of the Barnett Formula.

The way to achieve this would be the establishment of an English parliament to deal with all matters applicable only to England. If only five million Scottish people deserve their own parliament it is surely only fair to extend the same consideration to the far greater population of England. - Michael Oliver, Whitby.

LIKE so many other North-East people I decided to vote No in the regional assembly referendum.

For my pains I now find I am a "Two Bit Conservative".

However, this is a small price to pay if it means that the brainchild of John Prescott is consigned to the dustbin of history. - Martin Birtle, Billingham.