CHARLES SIMON

YOUR report on the death of Charles Simon (Echo, May 21) reminds me that I have a picture presented to my father on June 5, 1942 for the support he had given to the Darlington Repertory Theatre.

On the back of the picture are the signatures of the cast at that time and there may be some of your more elderly readers who, like me, remember these names and the high standard of productions which Charles Simon achieved.

For interest, the signatures, apart from those of Charles Simon and Nancy McDermid, include John Tanner, Charles Clifford, Reginald Barlow, Peggy Evans, Gertrude Clayton, Vera Ingram, Elizabeth Brooks, P Rowell, M Dixon, Eva Robinson, Patricia B Rowell and, a great favourite at the time, George Sheldon. - David Morris, Richmond.

COUNTRYSIDE

THE RSPB, together with 13 other organisations, is writing to the Prime Minister to urge him to support the crucial changes that we all believe need to be made to the way in which our food is produced.

It is three months since Sir Don Curry's Food and Farming Commission published its findings and recommendations for the future of the British countryside in the wake of the disastrous foot-and-mouth epidemic.

The Commission recommended that a shift in farm subsidies from food production to environmental stewardship was urgently required. Without long-term investment and diversion of subsidies from intensive food production into truly sustainable farming and more choices for consumers, we shall continue to see the impoverishment of small farmers, declines in the rural economy, losses of wildlife and continuing frustration on the part of the public.

Along with my colleagues from organisations as diverse as The Soil Association, The Ramblers and Butterfly Conservation, we believe the Treasury must find ways of making new money available to fund the Commission's recommendations. - Andy Bunten, Regional Director, RSPB, North of England Region.

POLITICAL DONATIONS

PETER Mullen (Echo, May 21) brings morality into the political arena, by mentioning New Labour's receipt of £100,000 from a promoter of pornography.

I am reminded of what one playwright said, that is that he much prefers people who don't themselves cheat at cards, as opposed to those mortals who - full of wind - just talk about cheating being immoral. And isn't talk cheap.

"Moral is what you feel good after and immoral is what you feel bad after," said writer Ernest Hemingway.

I get his message. I don't know about Peter Mullen. He himself once mentioned ladies' red frilly knickers being a bit of a turn-on (I paraphrase). - Alfred H Lister, Guisborough.

BENEFIT PAYMENTS

IT'S now fashionable to insult people on benefit with much mindless use of expressions like 'parasites' and 'layabouts'.

Well, hold on. An awful lot of people on benefit are carers - either single mums or those looking after disabled relatives. Such people save the tax payer astronomical amounts of money.

Of the rest, by far the greater number are victims of circumstances and many do really useful voluntary work.

And, given their miserly weekly pittance, the myth of an army of scroungers living the Life of Riley is as barmy as it is scurrilous.

Another important point: people on benefits are harmless - which is more than can be said for many in work, eg factory farmers, senior government advisers and some others in well paid public jobs. They are real parasites. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

NATIONALISATION

AS a child of the 1920s, I was born into poverty, despair and degradation, another innocent victim of the abhorrent, class-ridden society then so prevalent throughout this nation.

A few years later we were at war, forgotten millions were now to receive recognition. They were needed to fight the war.

With the ending of the war, the country as a whole developed a conscience. The bad old days must never return. This was going to be a country fit for heroes to live in. It had been earned by blood, sweat and tears. A socialist government was elected under the socialist principle of 'to each according to their needs, from each according to their ability'.

The nation as a whole was to benefit from a programme of nationalisation of the essential services and industry.

Yet, there were those opposed to these humanitarian ideals. They weren't satisfied with only a share of the national cake, they didn't want a whole cake, they wanted control of the bakery.

Thatcherism and privatisation saw their wishes granted, with crippling costs to the nation. We continue to pay a heavy price.

Our railway network is a functional disaster. British Telecom persist with unfairly high standing charges. The postal services are experiencing difficulty in coping. Gas and electricity companies compete against one another for customers, like dogs fighting over a bone.

We now have a supposedly socialist government who appear to have abandoned the principles of its existence.

Renationalisation should be one of the prime objectives towards a more fair and equitable society.

Come on you Labour Members of Parliament, get off your backsides, stand up to be counted by insisting this country be returned to its people. - A W Dunn, Spennymoor.

TV COMMERCIALS

WE are told that the Post Office is losing one and a half million pounds per day. Thousands of redundancies are necessary for the company to survive.

Yet, we still see the very expensive idiotic grin of Elton John advertising the qualities of parcel post.

Ironic that a company facing such losses can afford to pay such an expensive star. It's a disgrace to all the hard-working, low-paid post office workers facing the redundancy cull.

We hope the person concerned who sanctioned this expensive star is one of the first redundancies to be made.

In the same vogue, we have the National Lottery paying Billy Connolly to laugh all the way to the bank.

Congratulations to B&Q and Halifax for having the common sense to use their own staff in their commercials. - N Kellett, Co Durham.