26/03/05

I dropped off my elderly passenger and parked outside houses where it was two hours only. I had to put £3 in the machine which did not have change, and then I noticed another machine at half the price.

I had to return during the interval to move the car after two hours. Another nightmare.

It certainly spoiled the afternoon. It will be a long time before I return to Darlington. - A Tait, Billingham.

THE Darlington Society of Arts is entering the 84th year of existence during which time members have contributed substantially to the cultural life of the area.

Our annual exhibition provides an opportunity for the public to see the results of our work.

Unfortunately, the closure of the Art Gallery in Crown Street without a suitable alternative is having a negative effect on what should be a pleasurable pursuit.

I understand that the Myles Meehan Gallery situated in Darlington Arts Centre is not available to be used for exhibitions by the Society.

Can it be explained publicly why this is the case and why a suitable exhibition area cannot be provided? - Arthur Hughes, Darlington.

SHOPPING

AFTER the reopening of the refurbished United Co-op store in Catterick Village, I wondered who pays for the work. Last week two litres of milk was 93p. Now it has gone up to 109p. Farmers have to refurbish their dairies but cannot increase their prices like this. - J Donaldson, Richmond.

ANIMAL WELFARE

I'VE just had a nightmare experience, travelling home from King's Cross on a packed commuter train, filled to overflowing with students breaking up for their holidays. Sitting jammed in between people's legs on my tiny suitcase, I felt hugely stressed, claustrophobic and panicky.

But I had time to think: this must be a bit like being a battery hen, packed in together so tightly that she cannot move, flap her wings, forage or do any of her complex natural behaviours.

I escaped after two hours, but she can never escape. Nor does she have anything to sit or perch upon - nothing but bare wire mesh cutting into her feet. Hens in a battery cage equate to five humans crammed into a telephone box for the whole of their lives.

Our animal-loving country still keeps millions of these gentle creatures in cruel battery cages. The EU has banned them from 2012, but the industry is mounting a powerful campaign to overturn this ban with slightly improved cages, (the so-called "enriched" cage).

However, not one single hen would be kept in any cage, if the public did not buy battery eggs. - C Tweddle, York.

IN the run up to the hunting ban, pro-hunters declared their "concern" for the plight of their hounds should their "sport" be denied them. They emotively paraded their children, on horseback, apparently distraught at such a prospect of having the hounds destroyed.

It is high time people realise that Marjorie Embling's (HAS, Mar 16) experience of the treatment of dogs bred for hunting is all too common.

The type of people who take pleasure from chasing, terrifying and - if they are having a really good day - killing an animal, care no more for their horses or hounds than they do for the quarry or the countryside.

We must learn that we do not have a God-given right to use and abuse any animal just because we have the capacity to do so. - D Anklam, Durham.

FOLLOWING people's attendance at the open day at East Durham and Houghall Community College to see new born lambs (Echo, Mar 13), I would suggest that the next open day should portray the slaughter of the lambs. That is where most, if not all, of these little sentient beings are destined.

Perhaps the visitors should hear the pitiful cries of the mothers and lambs when they are separated. Perhaps they should know of their journey to the abattoir and, of course, of their final fate.

As a vegan and animal welfare/rights supporter, it appalled me to read about the visitors to the open day at Houghall. Apart from any fellow vegans or vegetarians, they are thorough hypocrites. They apparently love to see, hold and feed the lambs which are shortly destined for the slaughter house and then dinner plates accompanied by mint sauce. - Susan Prescott, Northallerton.

GARLIC

MY HUSBAND has recently had two concerts ruined because the person next to him had been eating garlic and had shared the smell with everyone in close proximity.

I am a smoker but only within the confines of my own home because I know that if I lit up in a public place there would (rightly) be a huge outcry.

I would be very embarrassed I had caused this offence. Not so the garlic eaters. They see it as their right to inflict their obnoxious habit on everyone else.

I have therefore decided that I am going to exercise my right, as do non-smokers, to protest strongly to anyone who causes me offence by inflicting the smell of garlic on me. - PA Aspinall, Crook.

COUNCIL ELECTIONS

WITH local elections coming soon, it is heartening to see independent candidates standing in several wards. It is vital for good local services that there are people elected who have no party line to toe. One party dominating a council always results in the views of others being ignored.

The regeneration of Billingham town centre is a case in point. Fortunately, the townsfolk were prepared to stand up and fight and have finally made their voices heard. What a shame they had to go to such lengths to make the council drop the unwanted plans.

When the election comes, let us hope those who will genuinely represent the people are elected and that people don't vote just for one party or another. Being independent frees a councillor of party politics. - EA Moralee, Billingham.

FREEDOM

THE Euro-sceptics' campaign against Brussels has been destroyed by Tony Blair's new laws of house arrest and detention without trial.

These dangerous new powers are the proof that Euro-scepticism has been firing in the wrong direction. All forms of government need to be watched very carefully, and Mr Blair's large majority has proved that the greatest danger to our integrity and liberties is in fact the enemy within, ie: Parliament.

Its shoddy collection of time-serving party hacks is content to pass what is, in effect, neo-fascist or neo-communist legislation, of which such figures as Stalin, Himmler or Pinochet would have been proud.

Mr Blair and his cronies not only trample upon our freedoms, they have made this country into a pitiful toady to the war-like ambitions of the US.

The sooner we come under the EU constitution the better. It is not an ideal set-up but it is the best hope for retaining our few remaining human rights. - E Turnbull, Gosforth.