EUROPE

THE danger of a single European currency is clearly shown by the decision of the European Commission to take legal action against the EU's governments, for allowing France and Germany to break the rules governing the euro.

With a single currency, countries are supposed to follow strict rules on government spending and borrowing. If member states flout the rules, then the whole single currency policy is undermined. After all, the European Commission has only this week confirmed that a single currency only works if all members are forced to follow a "one size fits all" economic policy.

We should be grateful that the UK has not abolished the pound and joined the euro. If we had, then the UK would be being taken to court for failing to follow European economic policies.

Outside the euro-zone, Britain has one of the strongest economies in the world. We should never throw this away. - Jeremy Middleton, Conservative European Candidate, North-East Region.

CONGRATULATIONS to theatrical group Oddsocks Productions, who attempted to bring the complex world of European funding to life (Echo, Jan 16).

May I be so bold as to clarify a popular misconception. "European money" is not magical free money.

The simple point is that we pay to belong to the EU club. A club that hasn't had its accounts signed off for the past nine years by the European Court of Auditors because of the amount of fraud and corruption.

The complexity arises in attempting to get some of that money back and the amount of hoops that have to be jumped through to receive some money is worthy of a Billy Smart Circus double act. And only for projects that meet with EU approval.

It is a point to note that many people are now seeing through this "European money" charade and are replacing their rose tinted spectacles with fine tuned 20-20 cynicism. - Neil Herron, Sunderland.

IRAQ

HOW angry I feel at hearing that Sergeant Steve Roberts was not wearing protective armour when he was killed "in the line of duty".

Surely for every man in this situation it is a basic safety requirement and anyone in the field of battle should have this protection without fail.

I work for a local construction company, who if they were to send their men on site without safety hats would be prosecuted.

I absolutely agree with Sergeant Robert's unfortunate widow, who calls for Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon to resign - he's the man at the top who's responsible.

We fall over ourselves to feed, house, and clothe asylum seekers yet we cannot find the money to equip our army properly - what a state this country is in.

Do gooders, can we have your response please? - Mel Auton, Ingleby Barwick.

BIRD WATCH

I WOULD like to appeal to readers of The Northern Echo to help the RSPB with a survey of garden birds in the North-East of England, to be carried out during the weekend of January 24-25.

The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch is now the world's biggest survey of its kind. Last year, about 8,000 people in the North-East were part of the more than 300,000 nationally who took part in the survey, which helps the society build up a picture of how well our common birds are doing.

Alarmingly, since 1979, when the first Big Garden Birdwatch took place, the RSPB has seen the average number of starlings seen in gardens plummet from 15 to just four and house sparrow numbers more than halve from ten to four. Both of these species have now been declared birds of high conservation concern.

By taking part in the survey, you will help us find out how these birds are faring in local gardens this winter.

You don't have to be an expert to take part. Simply spend one hour sometime during the weekend counting the birds in your garden, and record the highest number of each bird species seen at any one time. The morning is the best time to look, when the birds are out and about feeding after a cold winter night.

For further information on how to get involved visit the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch where an online survey form will be available from the weekend of Big Garden Birdwatch.

Alternatively, Big Garden Birdwatch survey forms can be obtained by phoning 0870 601 0215 (calls charged at national rate).

Last year, a record-breaking 314,000 people took part in Big Garden Birdwatch and we hope the 2004 event will be even bigger. The more people taking part locally, the better our information will be. - David Hirst, Information Officer, The RSPB, North of England Region.

COUNCIL TAX

AS pensioners and others prepare to demonstrate against excessive council tax, and the Government threatens to cap further rises, we are reaching a crunch point when hard questions will have to be faced about the funding of public services.

To compound this, it is the councils with the less affluent populations that must provide more services and therefore raise more revenue. Northumberland County Council's current dilemma whether to close old people's homes to keep council tax down is typical.

Sure, there are issues about efficiency and cost-effectiveness, but the Government and the tax-paying public must accept that we cannot have first quality public services without fair taxation, which means higher rates of income tax for middle to high earners, backed by comprehensive co-operation within the EU and beyond to thwart tax avoidance.

Britain's total tax revenues, at 37 per cent of GDP, are drastically below the level, at 45 per cent and above, of comparable EU partners, such as France, Belgium, Austria and Sweden. These countries all have much better public services combined with comparable or better real quality of life prosperity. - Nic Best, Green Party European Election candidate, Morpeth.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

THE Boundary Committee for England read with interest North Yorkshire County Council's estimates of local authority restructuring in the county (Echo, Jan 14).

The committee's estimates are those associated with the "costs of being in business". That is to say, the recurring costs new unitary local authorities would incur, regardless of the level of services being provided to residents.

Independent consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers provided the estimates. They are based on financial data, which the Audit Commission has audited, supplied to the committee by North Yorkshire local authorities.

Other costs and savings resulting from any local government reorganisation, such as those referred to by the county council, will be heavily dependent on the policy decisions taken by the elected councillors of any new local authorities that are created.

Accordingly, they cannot be used for cost modelling purposes, without making assumptions about decisions to be taken by authorities that may be established some years in the future. - Archie Gall, Director, The Boundary Committee for England.