Letters

A FEW months ago, Nissan secured a nice £40m hand-out from the Government by using moral blackmail. The threat of job losses and production of the new Almera going to a different country were the main reasons given.

Now, we have yet again an attempt to influence the UK-elected Government to take the UK into the EU.

Head of Nissan Carlos Ghosn asks: "Why do you want to take a currency risk with the pound if you have the possibility of being risk-free in the euro?"

I would have thought that a man in his position would know that the pound is stronger than the euro. A very good reason for us to avoid the change.

Back in the 1970s, we had a referendum on whether we should stay with the European Common Market, we stayed. Now we are governed by Brussels with interference on many of our ways of life. What has this got to do with Common Market procedures?

Is it any wonder that a lot of people are watching people like Messrs Blair, Hague or Kennedy and wondering when we can expect to be sold down the river? - ME Harris, Darlington.

MOST people pay taxes and are entitled to a say in how those taxes are spent. At election time, the Government is answerable for how it has spent them.

To gain power, each party outlines its spending priorities for the future term. That is British democratic politics.

We have grown complacent of this hard-won freedom and often vote out of habit and trust. This trust is currently being abused.

The MEPs and the Council of Ministers have never had to present their plans to the people whom they are supposed to represent. Neither do the Commisioners, who initiate those plans, have to worry over the success or failure of what they do. Consequently, the European Parliament is undemocratic and dangerous, having grown into a corrupt, expensive, law-making, job-creation scheme for politicians and civil servants.

We buy from Europe more than it buys from us so we needn't be so "grateful" for our exports. Neither do we have to be in the EU to trade with European countries. Implying that we must and will thus lose trade and jobs is not the first lie resorted to by so-called pro Europeans. - Charlotte Bull, Darlington.

I NOTE that some companies, generally with foreign interests or foreign-owned, say that not being in the euro costs jobs. What a load of nonsense.

The truth of the matter is that the euro has dramatically dropped in value compared to the pound, thus increasing the cost to Europe of our products.

However, we can afford to reduce the price of our exports to Europe as the things that we wish to buy from Europe are also reduced in price due to the low value of the euro.

The pound is actually weak compared to the dollar, but you do not hear the Americans complaining about the strength of the dollar.

Do you remember when we last joined the ERM? After nearly ruining this country in a matter of weeks, we had to pull out to save our economy from total collapse.

A common currency requires that all the participating countries have the same tax rates and this would mean that, as one of the more productive countries, we would be subsidising the countries of eastern Europe.

Vote for the party that will keep us out of the euro, so that we can still control our own economy, while continuing to trade with the rest of Europe. - RW Alexander, Darlington.

DRUGS CRIME

A SENSIBLE front page article and a well-written editorial (Echo, May 22) which did not go into the realms of sensationalism, as some publications deliberately do, launched a campaign against drug dealers. I commend the paper for doing this.

However, on the same day, the paper carried a report on a trial in which the judge saw fit to place a heroin dealer on probation for 12 months. Until these people in authority join the real world, see for themselves the horrific effects of these substances, and then hand out appropriate sentences, the rest of us are fighting a losing battle. - AM Archbold, Sunderland.

PARKINSON'S DISEASE

WITH an election pending, now is the time to insist that all parliamentary candidates listen to the serious issues that affect the daily living of people with disabilities, and particularly those with Parkinson's Disease.

There are over 120,000 people in the UK with Parkinson's who deserve to have their voice listened to by those seeking to represent their views in parliament.

Most parliamentary candidates have been sent a document Agenda for Progress, which sets out my society's priorities for the next parliament.

It is hoped that all the candidates will study this document and those that are elected will consider it their duty to implement it. - L Palmer, The Parkinson's Disease Society, Cleveland Branch.

DONALD CAMPBELL

WORLD speed record breakers on water and land are rare and demand exclusive types of courage. In Britain we have had Malcom and Donald Campbell, Henry Seagrave and John Cobb. And in more recent times, Mr Noble who is still with us.

To really admire a person of courage, one has to imagine being in their situation of the courageous deed. Once inside the small, cramped space, away from crew and well wishers, with the canopy secured and the controls in front of you, the feeling must be one of isolation and loneliness, coupled with the thoughts of responsibility of proving the worth of those who prepared the machine for the record attempt.

I well remember Donald Campbell's words when he gave a televised interview at Coniston. He said that, in his view, the British were the salt of the earth and his main concern was to keep the world water speed record a purely British affair.

He risked his life many times over the years to keep it that way and his last act was to die with that aim in mind. Donald Campbell and his type are people that Britain can be very proud of. - GH Grieveson, Richmond.