MICHAEL HOWARD: FELLOW pensioners beware. Michael Howard could very easily, by reason of your apathy, become our next leader after the election.

He has stated his intention to reduce public spending by billions of pounds, but doesn't state where from.

I think he will remove our present tax-free lump sum payments, free prescription charges and eye tests, pension credits, travel and council tax concessions.

These measures will not put a penny of extra money in our pockets but will place thousands of pensioners above the tax threshold and thousands more into a higher tax bracket.

If pension issues are of interest to you, then you must be old enough to remember the 18 years of previous Tory rule. - Alan Benn, Bedale.

TONY BLAIR

WHEN elected in 1997, Tony Blair had the opportunity of becoming the greatest peacetime Prime Minister in the history of British politics. He had the necessary drive, ruthlessness and popularity to achieve this.

But he allowed himself to be seduced by Bush. The result was Britain's involvement with the Iraq War.

The electors of his constituency have a golden opportunity to drive home the message that most politicians seem to have forgotten: that they are in Parliament to carry out the wishes of the electorate.

Voting against him and the Labour Party - just this once - would mean that Mr Blair and his ilk would be suitably punished and the people of Sedgefield would go into the history books as the first body of electors to unseat a Prime Minister. - Name and address supplied.

PORT SUPPORT

THE recent calls by PD Ports Director Martin Pellow for a national strategy for ports are welcome for Teesport and Teesside.

While they come at a time when there is no national strategy for development of ports, it indicates for the first time there is a serious commitment being made to invest £300m in a deep sea container terminal here, creating thousands of port-related job opportunities.

Areas like South Bank are desperate for jobs and investment and, as Mr Pellow has said, would benefit greatly from a strategy which better allows us to take our share of container traffic from the Far East.

Investment by the Government and rail industry on Teesside would assist that process.

The regeneration of the south bank of the Tees through a ports strategy would have a massive impact on communities like South Bank and I hope all our MPs, local authorities and regeneration bodies will get behind the opportunity we now have. - Pearl Hall, Labour councillor for South Bank.

GERMAN DELIGHT

YOUR correspondent I Dunn said that his brother-in-law was ignored in Greece because the locals thought he was a German (HAS, Apr 15).

Why? I go to Germany many times a year, and the German people are very friendly towards foreigners, or "guests" as they call us.

Germany is one of the most beautiful destinations I have ever visited, and it is, without doubt, the cleanest country that I have ever had the pleasure to visit.

I fly over to Berlin several times a year on business and the locals are extremely helpful and friendly towards me. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

COME ALONG

ARE readers aware that perfectly good family homes are earmarked for demolition and development in Eaglescliffe?

Copsewood, on the corner of Yarm Road and The Avenue, is already the subject of planning applications for residential developments and now, on the opposite corner of The Avenue, The Bungalow and Glenrea are subject to similar plans.

Developers intend to put in an application for 30 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom private sheltered apartments.

The developers are to hold a meeting on Tuesday, April 19 between 2pm and 8pm at the village hall in Yarm Road.

I would urge readers to attend. The developers should be made well aware of the concerns of local people. My feeling is that perfectly good family homes should not be demolished, ruining the character and charm of our town. - Derek Campbell, Eaglescliffe.

INJURY SHOCK

I READ that Graeme Souness thought that fate had conspired against Newcastle in their defeat by Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

To lose three key players through injuries must be heart-breaking for any football team, but how must the parents, or other loved ones, of 18-year-old Charles N'Zogbia have felt to learn this young man had been obliged to play on with a suspected fractured collarbone?

Has an item of silverware become more important to Newcastle than the whole future of a young professional footballer?

Surely an empty trophy cabinet is better than an empty seat in the changing room.

Had a more serious injury have been caused to N'Zogbia by a robust tackle from a Lisbon player, how would Graeme Souness have lived with himself, knowing that all he had to do was take the young man off the field of play? - DC Elsom, Annfield Plain.

IMMIGRATION

MUCH alarm about immigration has been generated on the basis of a report by the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) which predicted that, by 2031, the population will have increased by 6.1 million people, 3.6 million of them immigrants.

This is based on the assumption that net immigration will continue at the present level of about 130,000 people a year.

This does not pretend to be a realistic assumption. The author of the GAD report says: "We are certainly not saying that immigration will remain constant - at any level. Whatever else happens, migration will doubtless continue to show the unpredictable year-to-year fluctuations it has in the past."

These fluctuations have been tremendous and, for decades, more people were leaving the UK than coming in. Some would have us believe that the recent reversal of this trend is due to loss of control of our borders, but it is more likely to be symptomatic of Britain's relatively strong economy, as enterprises find it necessary to recruit from abroad.

The numbers arriving as refugees or economic migrants will also be affected by poverty and war in other countries, and it is to be hoped that the international community will learn to deal more effectively with these problems. - Pete Winstanley, Durham.

WIND FARMS

I AM afraid that Dr Court's letter (HAS, Apr 9) does not answer my question but merely repeats the reasons used by the wind energy industry to justify the use of wind farms.

I had asked if anyone could prove or show that, when a wind farm is producing electricity, a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions actually does take place somewhere in the overall production system.

His letter does, however, raise another question.

Since carbon dioxide is a gas which is lighter than air, why is it quantified in tonnes?

If this is the correct terminology, then just what form does one tonne of it take? - J Routledge, Durham.