PETER MULLEN: I READ the Peter Mullen column (Echo, Mar 25) with a mixture of amazement, anger and pity as he dismissed the opinions of practically everyone, including teachers and media people, because they didn't belong to some sugary-sweet, private school, leafy suburb environment that exists in his imagination.

He suggested that the inability of people to master the apostrophe, syntax and grammar somehow made their opinions worthless and that the way they dressed and spoke equated with being "half-baked, self-possessed and sordid".

He then inquired: "What in God's name are these opinions worth?", and goes on to refer to Britain being run on the basis of "Christian tolerance and mutual respect".

Leaving aside that he displayed just about the maximum amount of intolerance and disrespect that it's possible to compress into a short article, he ought to be made aware that he is completely out of step with many religious luminaries including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope.

Presumably he considers them "half-baked, self-obsessed and hatred-convulsed".

Whilst I have no time for despots like Saddam Hussein or for yobs who terrorise elderly people, I have an equally low tolerance threshold for small-time, tin-pot clerics who think they have a monopoly over wisdom and "mature political judgement". What in God's name are these opinions worth?

The dedication and commitment of our service personnel is unquestioned as they carry out the orders of the politicians. However, if Mr Mullen could put aside his blind patriotism for a moment, could he concentrate his mighty intellect on the causes behind the current conflict?

Mr Mullen is entitled to his opinions - as intolerant and lacking mutual respect as they are. But he should note the words of the Poet Laureate who presumably dresses well and has mastered grammar and apostrophes. Andrew Motion wrote, referring to the objectives of the war as being concerned with: "Elections, Money, Empire, Oil and Dad".

Perhaps he too will be considered a "screaming filthy, unkempt, foul-mouthed creature." But if Mr Mullen listens, Motion's concerns will be expressed, perhaps more basically, as those young people pass his house. - JR Bunting, Northallerton.

ENVIRONMENT

RECENTLY there was a litter pick in the Cow Plantation Nature Reserve, Spennymoor, and over 200 bags of rubbish were collected.

What happens is that people carry on dropping litter. And not only walkers; some residents who live adjacent to the reserve find it very convenient to throw their garden rubbish and anything else they don't want over their back fences into the reserve.

A new path was made through the reserve which gave better access to everyone, especially the disabled. What happens? Within days horses were being ridden on the path, and these irresponsible riders cared little who had to get out of their way.

Tree thinning is planned and nest boxes have been put up to make the reserve a better place for wildlife to live and breed in. What happens? Idiots with air rifles go into the reserve and shoot at anything that moves and some people think it's funny to let their dogs chase the odd rabbit that lives there.

The council is finally trying to look after the nature reserve, to make it a better place for wildlife and for people to use responsibly but a small minority spoil it for everyone.

As the council cannot have the reserve watched 24 hours a day, I would ask everyone to help protect it. - S Gibson, Spennymoor.

WAR AGAINST IRAQ

IT never ceases to amaze me when people imply that United Nations Security Council approval will make the Iraqi conflict morally acceptable.

Because France, Russia and fellow travellers would not go along with US and British proposals, then it is totally wrong to attempt to rid the world of this evil man and his regime?

It would seem he is entitled to treat his people, Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims, exactly how he so chooses and we in the West can simply wash our hands over these events.

Thousands of innocent Iraqis have been murdered and thousands more would surely perish if he were left to his own devices.

However, it must be said that this conflict has been caused by one man, Osama bin Laden, and his al Qaida fellow gangsters.

Had 9/11 not occurred then neither the upheaval in Afghanistan nor removal of the Taliban would have happened. It follows also, without a shadow of a doubt, that America would not now be involved in Iraq were it not for the attack on the Twin Towers.

The blood of innocent Iraqis is on the hands of Osama bin Laden, no matter how some of your correspondents tend to blame America for everything evil in the world. - P Johnson, Darlington.

TONY Kelly (HAS, Mar 27) and Alan Benn (HAS, Feb 28) seem to be confusing Saddam Hussein with Hitler.

Saddam is generally held responsible for the deaths of one million Iraqis, not six million. These include the Iraqi victims of the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War of 1991and the failed uprising which followed, as well as murdered political dissenters.

Western complicity in the carnage is not forgotten. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, supported by the US, encouraged Saddam to invade Iran, and helped to fund his war, while the West supplied weapons. It was when the Kuwaitis demanded their money back that Saddam turned on them.

The West did not support the 1991 uprising because it was afraid that if the Shias got the upper hand, another fundamentalist regime like Iran might emerge, and so Saddam was left in place.

Everyone now wants rid of Saddam, but Tony Kelly's notion that the "decent silent majority" of Arabs support this bloody war is wishful thinking. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.