NO SMOKING

RESEARCH published in the British Medical Journal last week showed that 30 people a day are killed by exposure to second hand smoke.

This is yet more evidence that it is time for truly comprehensive protection from second hand smoke in all enclosed public places, without exemptions.

Doctors, nurses and medical research experts all agree that second hand smoke kills innocent people. Those who deny the link are always people who work for or receive money from the tobacco industry.

Cancer Research UK has just launched a website www.cancercampaigns.org.uk, which allows the public to email their MPs directly to lobby for the right for all to work in a smoke-free environment. The Government has a real opportunity to make a huge step forward in public health - comprehensive smoke-free workplace legislation could save more lives more quickly than the discovery of a new anti-cancer drug. - Professor Alex Markham, Chief Executive, Cancer Research UK, London.

Bishop Auckland

CHRIS Lloyd spoiled an otherwise excellent article by his sick reference to the recent tsunami disaster (Echo, Mar 5).

To equate a Labour defeat in the Bishop Auckland constituency at the forthcoming general election with the underwater earthquake that led to the tragic deaths of scores of thousands of people in several countries and the destruction of hundreds of towns and villages, is monstrous and sick.

As a local councillor for nearly 38 years who has lived and worked in Bishop Auckland for most of my adult life, I am practical and honest enough to say that it would be a shock if Labour were to lose one of its safest seats. But not remotely like the shock that led to the deadly tsunami waves.

Not only are the Liberal Democrats doing better than ever, the political situation is more volatile than it has been for over 60 years. With the public so disillusioned and distrustful of Labour and Tories alike, the LibDems are the only realistic alternative. We could well cause a "shock", nationally and locally. It's up to the people.

By writing off the Bishop Auckland result as a foregone conclusion, the Echo is adding to the disdain the public has for the political process. - Chris Foote-Wood, Bishop Auckland LibDem candidate.

I FEEL saddened for the Bishop Auckland Labour Party regarding the all-women candidate shortlist, but it merely highlights that the local Labour Party is only strong in numbers. In the face of another one of this focus-group-driven inclusion and diversity tripe that has nothing to do with democracy whatsoever, the local party was found wanting when it needed to stand firm.

When pressured from the centre they cowed in a corner.

We should now fully realise that Labour members put their party before the people, their own so-called importance ahead of fighting like tigers for "real" democracy.

I think the executive of the local Labour Party should have created a rebellion among the membership. Instead, I'd sack them all for displaying the most jellyfish like action ever witnessed.

This town needs better representation than this. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland Conservatives.

ROYAL MAIL

THE Royal Mail's monopoly is due to cease next January when the letter delivery market becomes fully liberalised. I wonder how many people remember when the same thing happened to the telephones many years ago. Do you remember the different coloured phone boxes appearing in the street, and how long they lasted?

Eighty per cent of the daily 83 million posted items are from big businesses (Echo, Feb 19) and this is where the competition will be.

The Royal Mail, which presently has a legal obligation to deliver to every house in the country, will need to cut costs in order to compete.

Will Royal Mail's competitors be required to go to the same lengths? Where are the supermarkets, banks and the public transport in the rural parts? In some places there is only the Royal Mail left and this will not be able to continue when the free market comes in.

It should not be forgotten that the Royal Mail Group plc is publicly owned as HM Government is the sole shareholder. Therefore you should be asking questions of your MP as to what is being done in your name to the Royal Mail. - Name supplied, Spennymoor.

WINDFARMS

I AM not convinced by the arguments put forward by P Wilson (HAS March 1) about the growth of windfarms.

The driving force behind the dash of the multitude of companies now submitting proposals to build windfarms is not a desire to save the planet or combat global warming, but simply a wish to make money.

Due to the Government subsidies available they cannot fail.

Without the subsidies and the legal requirement that suppliers must buy the power which they produce at an inflated price, they would not get involved.

There is now mounting evidence that windfarms are an expensive and inefficient way of generating sustainable energy and that they do not make much effort in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

If we allow the trend to continue we will end up with our countryside dominated by industrial structures of very doubtful benefit.

Peter Mullen's article (Echo, Mar 1) makes good sense. - J Routledge, Durham.

HOMOSEXUALITY

WE must, says the Reverend Paul Walker (Echo, Mar 3), put our faith in freedom.

No Sir, we must put our faith in fundamentals of Christianity based upon the unchangeable, timeless teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mess we get into when men endeavour to modify, ignore, the true foundations of Christianity to fit in with their own particular whim or modern trend. You can't do it.

If you take away the foundations the whole structure collapses. You might as well throw Christianity out of the window. - Tony Moss, Northallerton.

THE Rev Paul Walker makes me hope for more people to speak out against the use of religion and texts as weapons against others. For example:

1 The Muslim girl who exploited religion and media to destroy her school's already Muslim-friendly dress code places herself in far more moral danger than if she had worn the prescribed uniform quietly and modestly.

2 No self-styled "Christian" organisation should go unpunished for threatening a cancer charity if the charity accepts donations from certain donors.

3 The Archbishop of Canterbury is trying to re-colonise the US by demanding that New Hampshire "repents" of its gay bishop. What right has Dr Williams to mock the conscientious selection procedures of a foreign diocese?

4 It is equally unkind that Dr Williams got his friend and colleague Dr Geoffrey John thrown out of the bishopric of Reading merely because Dr John is gay.

We need to be alert to every instance on which the fine words and robes of religion are twisted into a tattered cloak of spite and nastiness. - E Turnbull, Gosforth.