IMMIGRATION: I SUPPORT Pete Winstanley and Helen Smith (HAS, Feb 22). It is such a pity that fears over asylum are being stoked up so shamelessly by sections of the media and the political classes.

No mention is given of the tax money which successful refugees pay back into the economy and which outweighs outlay on asylum by some £800m - a sum which pays for a lot of schools and hospitals, doctors, nurses and teachers. And a lot of pensions too.

No mention is made of the 2004 UN report on torture in 115 countries around the world, or the fact that many refugee crises in the world are caused by conflicts partly fuelled by British-sold arms. Have we no moral responsibilty to these people?

As we watch a Dutch auction between Labour and a Conservative party led by the son of a refugee who would have perhaps died in a Nazi death camp, as to who can be the most draconian, I fear that hatred is being deliberately stirred up for commercial reasons by sections of the media and to win votes by politicians. As a country I hope that we can pull back from the abyss. - Peter Sagar, Newcastle.

I RECENTLY attended a meeting of people seeking asylum in Stockton. On a bitterly cold and wet evening, the room was packed. Two young men came from Togo, a small African dictatorship where human rights violations and the unexplained deaths of opposition political activists are commonplace. With their families, they fled and made their way to our country, where they now seek asylum. If returned to Togo they believe they would be killed.

These men were gentle, amusing and well educated. They would contribute immensely to our society and culture if allowed to stay. Yet they are people some of our politicians and newspaper editors seek to demonise for their own advantage.

I challenge anyone to come to the Stockton International Family Centre and meet the people there. Don't accept the bigotry of others who seek to play the race card for their own advantage - come and see for yourself. You will find honest, decent, industrious people who have much to contribute and to whom we should show the traditional British virtues of tolerance, respect and fair-mindedness. - Mike Barker, LibDem candidate for Stockton South.

P Winstanley's reassurances (HAS, Feb 22) could have come from the Home Office itself. They are the soothing platitudes issued by that department in an effort to allay public fears of immigration out of control.

An independent research group called Migration Watch UK was set up in 2001 under the leadership of a retired British diplomat with a view to gaining a clearer picture of the situation, and to lobby government for a managed immigration policy, which Britain has clearly lacked for many years.

The group is non-political, non-racist, has no connection with government, and is funded only by donations.

It is not for me to repeat the numerous startling facts and figures they have already published, many of them gained from Government sources, but Mr Winstanley could hardly remain so sanguine after a study of the Migration Watch UK website. - Bob Jarratt, Caldwell, Richmond.

THE ECONOMY

I READ in Business Echo (Mar 1) that due to errors in accounting the Treasury has received an unexpected boost of £2.1bn. They have been double counting some spending on roads for more than six years.

Then I see that South Tees Hospital has a shortfall of £25m and North Tees a shortfall of £6m.

I don't suppose for one minute the Chancellor would consider... wishful thinking. - Peter M Campbell, Spennymoor.

ESCOMB

IN RESPONSE to your correspondent's letter from Escomb (HAS, Feb 21), Wear Valley council recently undertook a survey that identified the condition of all its homes and this survey is used, together with local information from repairs staff and customers, to produce a programme of works.

The correspondent feels that they "have not been asked" about such works to their homes. The council carried out an extensive period of consultation with all its customers in February 2004 through its newsletters and website, where customers could comment on a draft programme of future works. Unfortunately, nobody from Escomb took this opportunity to comment.

Finally, the council is accused of only caring "about run down areas" and forgetting Escomb. In the last five years this council has replaced roofs, windows and central heating systems at our customers' homes in Escomb at an average cost of approximately £3,750 per property. Within the remainder of the district, the average cost of works is approximately £2,300 per property.

I trust this clears up the situation. If your correspondent wishes, they can contact me at the council offices. - D Milburn, Head of Business Support, Wear Valley District Council.

PETER MULLEN

IT IS becoming rather tedious to have to suffer Peter Mullen's repetitive ramblings about global warming (Echo, Mar 1).

Why does Mr Mullen align himself with George Bush and his oil-producing friends instead of the considered opinion of the world's climatologists?

He calls people worried about global warming "fanatics". I would suggest that he is the fanatic in his refusal to consider the evidence, to refuse to think of the Third World countries such as the Maldives which will disappear with rising sea levels, or what will happen to the inhabitants of Bangladesh, who already suffer from massive flood events.

He might also like to consider what will happen to this country if the Gulf Stream stops and we have a climate like Newfoundland with icebergs floating in the North Sea every winter.

Unlike scientists who are willing to admit they are wrong if the evidence shows it, Mr Mullen is never wrong. - Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe Middlesbrough.

SNOWBALLING

SUSPENDING three boys from school in Newton Aycliffe for throwing snowballs (Echo, Feb 24) may seem at first as overdoing things. After all, we don't see that much snow and the temptation for children to play with it is very strong.

However, the school was clearly trying to teach the pupils a lesson in self control and obedience. They had been told that because of previous problems with snow play, pupils were not allowed to throw snowballs. The suspended boys disobeyed. It was therefore quite right for them to be suspended.

If pupils cannot obey simple, some may say petty rules, how can they be trusted to obey more serious, important ones? - EA Moralee, Billingham.

AS I approached a group of snowballing teenagers in Shotton Colliery, my windscreen was hit. I braked on the slippery road and got out.

I walked back and told them that what they were doing was dangerous. They took scant notice.

The next day I read in The Northern Echo that a lady had suffered whiplash injury due to snowball-throwing youths.

Surely there must have been adults who could have prevented it or at least called the police. I missed a parked car by a couple of feet. A death could easily have happened. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.