FOUNDATION HOSPITALS: I ALWAYS thought that bribery was an offence for which you can be brought to answer before the courts.

We have the Secretary of State for Health offering to put an extra £200m into hospital administration if any MP who is threatening to vote against his latest proposals does not do so and his proposals are carried. Surely that must come under the heading of bribery.

This money is being made available, not to improve services, but to buy the votes of those MPs who see Alan Milburn's proposals as the first step on the road to selling off the National Health Service.

If the Government makes the chosen hospitals Foundation Trusts the people who use these services will have no say in what happens within them, as New Labour has done away with the body the public could turn to if they were not satisfied with their treatment, the community health council, and is replacing it with another level of appointed cronies.

If it lets these hospitals run their own affairs and borrow money for what they want to do, how can these hospitals repay the money they borrow without charging for their services. - Peter Dolan, Newton Aycliffe.

EURO

WE are informed that the CBI is pressing the Bank of England to cut interest rates to halt the decline in manufacturing orders (Echo, Apr 29).

The underlying "message" of this report needs to be stressed and considered by those tempted to believe the hype of those who advocate that Britain should join the European single currency.

That significant fact is that we (Britain) are still in full control of our economy. Our interest rates are set and varied by the Bank of England (a function devolved from a sovereign government), with the Treasury controlling all other fiscal and monetary matters.

This means that calls from the CBI to reduce interest rates, or calls from other quarters to otherwise vary rates, have a possibility of being discussed or even acted upon.

However, were we a member of EMU (Economic and Monetary Union) such calls would be pointless, meaningless, and of course of no consequence. The ECB doctrine of "one size fits all" would prevail. The disastrous effects of this policy are apparent to all.

How much more of a warning do we need to convince us that we must stay out of this political strait jacket?

A country that gives up control of its economy has, de facto, surrendered control of its government. - D Pascoe, UK Independence Party, Hartlepool.

Darlington SHOPPING

WHY a new shopping centre? I prefer quality to quantity. Why not fill the empty town centre shops first?

Darlington's priority should be a completely traffic-free town centre plus a town centre supermarket and multiplex cinema.

I enjoy out of town shopping occasionally, but like our present market town feel. However, I do object to having to travel to see a film on a decent screen.

The Odeon foyer is pleasant but once inside the screens are too small for most films and the seats are shabby.

Quality shops not more 'samey' shops please. - Pauline Rees, Darlington.

MODERN ART

I WONDER how long the latest fad for gathering numbers of naked people together and calling it art, will last (Echo Apr 28).

The first demonstration that was widely publicised was at the Baltic. People were invited to strip off and have plaster casts made of themselves.

Then metal shapes were made out of the casts. The problem is, the final outcome bore little or no resemblance to the models and, as far as the ordinary observer is concerned, the metal people could have been fashioned just as well without the naked models.

Now Spencer Tunick is jumping on the bandwagon. What is his work of art? A couple of hundred naked people on an escalator.

If this is modern art, please spare us any more. The old fairy tale springs to mind, the one about the Emperor's New Clothes. In this case there are surely more people than one honest little child pointing the finger and seeing what is truly there.

It's a shame these artists can't come up with something really worth looking at; something displaying a modicum of talent. As for the people who feel the need to bare all and parade about in the name of art, I feel sorry for them. There's more to life than exposing your naked body.

Are they that desperate for attention? Poor things. Someone should tell them they look a lot better with their clothes on. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

TONY BLAIR

THE "Blair Bashers" have had more than their fair share of space in these columns; may we now have a turn?

Although the UK contribution to the Iraq war is substantial, the key player has been, and is the US.

Statements by many of your contributors that US is only interested in oil, are surely now obsolete since it is clear that the country primarily concerned with Iraq's oil is France, and whose president, by threatening to veto any UN vote, actually precipitated the coalition action which in three weeks flat removed Saddam Hussein from power. An event that the UN could not achieve in 12 years.

Tony Blair was faced with a choice. Either we join with our traditional allies the US or stand on the sidelines with our now dubious-looking European allies.

He chose to stand by his sincerely-held belief that this country's best interests lay with the US.

Much remains to be done in Iraq but one issue is clear. We have a leader possessed of charisma, determination and considerable personal courage. Tony Blair, a truly great Englishman. Now back him. - Alan Benn, Press Officer for the Hambleton District Labour Party.