No headpine

IT would be difficult to assemble a more heterogeneous mass of errors, inaccuracies and myths than CT Riley manages to in his letter (HAS, Nov 3) about the supposed ethnicity of the English people.

Firstly, the English are not a 'mongrel' race and English is not 'hybrid language'.

It is, in fact, the oldest of the Germanic tongues, spoken it its ancestral form by all the North German tribes who settled here between the fifth and tenth centuries and who are the ancestors of most English people alive today.

Of later arrivals like the Flemings in the 15th century, the Huguenots in the 17th and the Irish in the 19th, all showed a willingness to assimilate and to obey the law of the land.

Finally, English Parliamentary democracy derives not from the ancient Greeks but from the Witan or council, of the Anglo-Saxon kings. No one else had anything to do with it. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

ORGAN RETENTION

FOR a long time families have had to accept the effects of organ retention without any type of practical support.

Parents have suffered with depression, tried to take their own lives because of the feeling of guilt and some still do not know the whole truth of what happened to their loved ones.

We have asked for a Family Support Group to be set up to help us for over a year, but still we are alone.

Things are changing. People are setting up their own Family Support Group. We will have a helpline so that anyone who is depressed or needs to talk can contact us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The committee is in place and the helpline will follow soon.

To all the families between Berwick and Middlesbrough who have been affected by the retained organ issues, we want to know what support you need.

This group is not being set up to go into conflict with the NHS or the trusts. We want to remember the past but live for the future. We intend to try and help the NHS to pass on information to families because by helping the NHS we also help to support all the families who receive the news about their loved ones. Basically, we believe that this is the way forward.

So if you need help or you would like to be involved with the group, come to the meeting that is to be held in the Jury's Inn, Scotswood Road, Newcastle at 7pm on Wednesday, November 12. If you need any more information about NERO (North East Retained Organs support group), or call (01670) 851182. - Brian Storey, Ashington.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

BOTH the Government and local councils are putting in place jam-busting initiatives and a key message is to encourage more people to use public transport. Cash, and cash coming from all our pockets as the taxpayer, is being spent on things like new bus lanes, programmes to help public transport operators invest in passenger comfort and in upgrading railways.

So it was really galling when I learnt that the London-based Strategic Rail Authority - the organisation that is supposed to oversee the development of the nation's rail services - is putting forward the idea of axing the direct rail service between Saltburn, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. Instead, trains will only run to Darlington and anyone wanting to travel further will have to trust to fate and a quick onward connection, something flying directly against government transport policy, both locally, regionally and nationally.

This service provides the only fast direct link between Teesside and Tyneside, attracting travellers who otherwise would have to brave the heavy traffic and congestion of the A1 or the A19 and, for Saltburn, it provides a vital tourist link for day trippers.

This is a battle I intend to fight. I have written to the Transport Secretary, asking for a meeting so I can put the case of keeping this vital service alive.

I am concerned that if we let this huge reduction to our service go by default and through inaction, the writing could be on the wall for the rest of the local services at a later date and using the diminished passenger numbers as a self-fulfilling prophecy. - Ashok Kumar MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

CHRISTMAS

A WORD of praise for Crook Community Partnership for its hard work in trying to improve Crook's Christmas lights display.

Many residents do not realise the town's white Christmas lights and the snowflakes in the trees around the cenotaph belong to Crook Community Partnership, which has to find £4,000 a year to display and dismantle these lights.

This year, the total funding is not available and, to enlarge the display as we would like to, is virtually impossible.

Donations and any funding would be gratefully accepted at the Partnership office. We would hate to go back to the old grim appearance of the town at Christmas. - Mrs A Heppell, CCP members, Crook.

AM I the only one to dream of sending Christmas prezzies to famous people?

I'd send Saddam Hussein a hard hat and Iain Duncan Smith a jar of hair tonic. Prince William receives a book on character building, Prince Charles a book on ageing and Cherie Blair a cosmetic set.

John Prescott would benefit from his gift of a Weightwatchers course, the Queen would love her weekend break in Filey, and Bill Clinton would receive a better sex guide.

Last but by no means least, I would send Tony "spin merchant" Blair a Spiderman outfit. - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

EDUCATION

CONSERVATIVE policies intend to give parents a greater say in where their children can go to school and to improve standards.

Under the " Better Schools Passport", parents would be able to "spend" the money that the state currently pays for their child's education at a school of their choice.

Popular schools would be allowed to expand and community groups would be able to open new schools if there was a demand from parents.

School choice should not be restricted to parents who opt to go private. Everyone deserves a fair deal and parents will have access to new state-funded independently-run schools.

This scheme will extend a quality state education to all, starting in the inner cities, where too many children are currently left behind, and then rolled out across the country. - Charles Johnson, Darlington.

WATER SUPPLIES

FRED Atkinson's dubious admission (HAS, Nov 7) that fluoride in the public water supply "might save a few kids' teeth" does poor justice to the dental profession, whose members are all but unanimous in the view that children, particularly those from homes where tooth care has little priority, benefit dramatically from this measure.

The evidence seen by these people day by day is not matched by those who claim that fluoridation leads inevitably to a host of health problems.

If the prophets of doom are right, somewhere there must by now be a community where long-term fluoridation has led to an unexplained incidence of health problems not found in a similar community whose water is not so treated. Where is it? - Bob Jarratt, Caldwell, Richmond.