FIREWORKS: ON behalf of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, I would like to thank people for their fantastic support of our Regulate Fireworks Now petition, which calls for an end to the disruption and distress caused to dogs and their owners by fireworks.

Every year guide dogs and other working dogs are sedated, retrained, or in worst cases, retired after being traumatised by the irresponsible use of fireworks.

This issue also affects thousands of pets, as well as elderly people and families with young children.

However, there is now fresh hope of new legislation being introduced which would restrict and regulate the use of fireworks, and this is where I would like to appeal for help.

On February 28 a Private Members Bill to restrict the noise levels, sale and use of fireworks, tabled by Bill Tynan MP, receives its second reading in the House of Commons. I would like to urge everyone who feels strongly about this issue to write to their local MP and encourage them to attend the House on the day and vote.

Please support our campaign. We don't want to ruin people's fun, but we don't want people's lives ruined either. - Geraldine Peacock, Chief Executive, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

GALA THEATRE

IT has been reported that Durham City Council tax payers are once again going to have to help foot the bill in April for the Gala Theatre.

I, for one, do not wish to pay one penny towards the running of this white elephant and I think the residents of Durham will feel the same.

People are sick and tired of having to dig deep into their pockets because of bad management by this council. I think the extra revenue the council receives from the council taxpayer could be spent on more important things than the Gala.

If the residents of Durham sit back and do nothing the council tax will go up every year and the council will keep going on wasting our money. - H Dalby, Durham.

WAR ON IRAQ

I HAVE been a member of the Labour Party for many years, but embarking on unnecessary, illegal and almost certainly catastrophic war against Iraq, in support of the United States, will be the signal for me - and lots of other lifelong party activists - to destroy my membership card.

It is becoming increasingly obvious, with the vast deployment of troops and President Bush's bellicose rhetoric, that the decision to go to war has already been taken in Washington.

It is a decision which has everything to do with Iraq's massive oil reserves and nothing whatever to do with international issues.

I would consider a unilateral assault on Iraq, involving the murder and mutilation of thousands of innocent men, women and children, to be a war crime.

It appears Tony Blair is ready to join America in launching such a attack and to sacrifice the principle of obeying international law and only taking military action authorised by the UN.

If he does so he will make Britain an accomplice in that war crime, in which case I would feel ashamed of belonging to a political party of which he is leader and of being a citizen in a country where he is Prime Minister. - Stuart Deacon, Sunderland.

THE Prime Minister's efforts to take the moral high ground in his crusade to rid Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction smacks of downright double standards.

Even a casual glance at the international trade in arms must come to the conclusion that the vast bulk of arms sloshing around in the world market come from the US, Russia, Britain and a few other European nations.

To go to war against Iraq on the pretext of preventing their weapons getting into the hands of international terrorists is an insult to the intelligence of British people.

So Tony Blair, if it is turning off the tap of the flow of arms that is your real intent then how about starting by halting the export of all British arms? - D Morse, Chester-le-Street.

E REYNOLDS (HAS, Jan 18) asks why we shouldn't attack Iraq. The answer is that millions of innocent people may be killed and injured so that America can have its revenge for September 11.

Whilst Mr Reynolds mentions a number of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein we should all remember that similar atrocities are not only presently being carried out by other nations against which we will never take action, but the horrific crimes which he states are the same policies used by the so-called civilised world to build their great and glorious empires, only the names have changed.

In order to end terrorism our leaders must deal with the causes and not just the symptoms. If half of the money the world spends on weaponry was spent on actually dealing with the problems and inequities of this world, there would be no reason for anyone to resort to terrorism. - HE Smith, Spennymoor.

MIDDLE EAST

HUGH Pender will never have any time for Israel simply because it has such close ties with America.

It is of no consequence to him that 50 Israelis have lost their lives for every Palestinian, many of whom were exchanging fire or engaging in hostilities with Israeli soldiers.

The Israelis who have died have largely been innocent women and children earmarked for slaughter.

I am sure that a cessation of activities by Palestinian bomb squads will bring about a change in the political thinking of the Israeli government but the Jewish people suffered so much in the Holocaust that they won't allow themselves to be forced into actions now that will indicate weakness.

Of course they should abide by United Nations resolutions, but it should be remembered that Israel has been under threat since the state was formed. - Peter Johnston, Darlington.