I AGREE with your comment (Echo, Apr 25) that the promised money to fund the NHS is needed most in certain areas. I also think some of the nursing staff have cause to complain about wages. If they were paid a decent wage they wouldn't leave and then the NHS would not have to find more nurses.

My daughter has been an auxiliary nurse for six years. She works as hard and as long as trained staff but she is at the lower end of the wage scale. She loves her job and would love to do her training, but can't afford to.

She just manages on her monthly wage, but has no social life and has not had a holiday for five years. She can't afford it.

So yes I suppose she could be classed as one of your moaning minnies, but I think she has good cause. - Name and address supplied.

RECENTLY spending a few days in Ward 14 at Darlington Memorial Hospital, contrary to all the misgivings relating to the NHS, I have nothing but praise for the treatment I received.

Every member of the staff was so responsive to whatever the need, coupled with a sense of humour, which in itself is a great healer. No praise is too high for a team of great ladies. - Frank Neagle, Willington.

FRENCH ELECTIONS

THE success of Jean-Marie Le Pen in the French presidential election should be of concern to us all. Unless the politicians start to listen and take note of what is going on, Europe and those of us in this country will one day face the wrath of our foolishness.

It has something to do with the way we are treating many of our citizens so that the likes of our bureaucrats can live in luxury that is causing hardship and poverty to many people. - John Young, Crook.

HYPOCRISY enters into the so-called shock at the success of Le Pen in the French elections. Neo-fascist governments already exist in Israel and Italy, not to mention the US with its menu for unleashing war upon Iraq, etc. Hitler would feel at home in some social circles where individuals, too cowardly to label themselves as neo-fascists, are promoting exactly such doctrines.

The generation of those with first-hand experience of war and the Holocaust is passing into history; Heath, Healey and George Bush Senior are now retired politicians. Few young Israelis can know what the Holocaust means, so they are more likely to unleash their own Holocaust against the Palestinians.

But if right-wingers, and this includes Tony Blair and George W. Bush as well as Le Pen, are so gung-ho about war and militarism, let them get into the front line themselves first, rather than agitating from their safe prime ministerships and presidencies - E Turnbull, Gosforth.

BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY

AS Industrial Chaplains in the Northumbrian Industrial Mission working in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland we are not without considerable dismay that the BNP plans to field nine candidates in next week's elections.

Working as we do on behalf of the churches, we engage with the economic and social life of the region and are therefore deeply concerned that a party which encourages intolerance, hatred and division is seeking to represent the people of Sunderland and Gateshead, and so to participate in the governance of our region.

The North-East has a long tradition of being a welcoming and inclusive community and we urge people to think critically about the values of those whom we may choose to represent us. The policies they promote and the decisions they take will inevitably affect the communities in which we live - for better or for worse.

We should be warned by the extraordinary events in France brought about by voters' complacency. It is vital that we rise above the current apathy and use our votes for the benefit of our local communities, as well as for the future of the region in all its rich diversity. - The Chaplains, Northumbrian Industrial Mission.

EUROPE

ROBIN Ashby uses the Governor of the Bank of England's argument that the high interest rates that harmed the North-East were worth paying to help the South-East (HAS Apr 24), to mock the fact that allowing the European Central Bank to set interest rates would be detrimental to the economy.

How much more difficult would it be to set an interest rate that would suit all the very diverse economies within the Eurozone?

He states that European interest rates have been consistently lower than those in the UK. The euro's fans use this argument just because euro interest rates happen to be slightly lower than ours at the moment because they have been recovering from a recession while we have growing steadily since we left the ERM in 1992. Japanese interest rates are zero because they are in a major depression, would Mr Ashby like to join the yen?

The important thing is that we keep control of interest and mortgage rates so we can set them at the right rate for Britain.

Only Ireland and Spain have mortgages cheaper than the UK. The fact is that British long-term interest rates are the same as for the euro because the markets have confidence in the independent Bank of England. Setting too low an interest rate would lead the economy to overheat which would lead to inflation and an erosion of the UK's competitiveness and eventually a recession. Surely that would not benefit British business.

The British economy is doing well outside the euro and business is benefiting from the economic stability we have achieved.

The quickest way to ruin this would be to give up control over our economy by replacing the pound. I don't call wanting the best for our country's economy "downright unpatriotic". - Steve Maughan, Council Member, Business for Sterling North East.