BRENT EAST: THERE will no doubt be a flood of letters commenting on the Brent East by-election. Thousands of Labour voters stayed at home in protest over the Iraq war.

The lesson for the Government is quite simple. Abandon the policies on tuition fees and private finance in the NHS but most of all Tony Blair must, if he is to retain any credibility at all, turn his back on George Bush and his far right administration. - H Pender, Darlington.

HEALTH SERVICE

PROBABLY the greatest act of any government was the creation of the NHS and I am really surprised by the actions of those people who wish to hinder Tony Blair's efforts to improve our present health service.

The Prime Minister wishes to create super hospitals, which he has named Foundation Hospitals, but his critics vehemently oppose this, claiming that this will make some hospitals better than others.

It sounds unbelievable but the Premier is being criticised because he wishes to make some hospitals better than they already are.

This is equivalent to a football supporter saying: "This attempt by the manager to improve our team must be stopped at once. Sack the manager!" - JB Stones, Durham.

NEW ADDRESS

I READ (Echo, Sept 19) of a new village, East Shore in County Durham.

How strange of the developers not to realise what's in a name.

Property prices in Huish Escopi, Cricket Malherbie (both Somerset) and Ryme Intrinsica, Purse Caundle (both Dorset) are ten per cent higher because of the wonderful address.

Could there be a more beautiful name for a village than Vane Tempest? The residents should demand a rethink. - D Hodgson, Richmond.

EUROPE

ONE can understand the feelings of Dave Pascoe (HAS, Sept 11) on total withdrawal from the European Union, because the founder of the UKIP required a continent of different states to accrue his wealth.

The argument of being governed by an unelected, unaccountable and largely corrupt bureaucracy has been a thing of the past since we started having elections for MEPs who, every day are being given more powers to make the new democracy work for all the people who will eventually reside in the European Union.

A small army of bureaucrats has been required to process their needs to ensure they receive all their entitlements as prescribed by our politicians. The manufacturing industry has been slowly contracting while at the same time, the prison population has expanded, thereby ensuring more bureaucrats are gainfully employed.

Farmers, fishermen, coal miners, shipbuilders, steelworkers, textile workers have almost become extinct species because we cannot compete financially with the rest of the world, yet the UKIP still want to cast our island adrift in the stormy waters of the world economy.

The sooner we join, the sooner we will give our country the opportunity to participate in bringing peace and prosperity to millions of people, not only in the EU but also throughout the wider world. - T Conlon, Spennymoor.

HUNTING

JOE Townsend (HAS Sept 18) complains that the Countryside Alliance poster showing a nurse in hunting gear did not feature a plumber.

I think there's a very sound reason for not involving plumbers in that discussion: being a huntsman, whatever else it implies about someone, is not necessarily incompatible with their being a plumber.

With nurses it's different. Nursing is a caring profession and if there's anything less caring than pursuing a terrified animal to the point of exhaustion and then enjoying the spectacle of it being torn to pieces by dogs, I don't know what is.

And if that's how the nurse in the poster gets her kicks then she's in the wrong job.

I also question Joe Townsend's claim that "hundreds of thousands" go hunting.

It's a rich man's game, which makes me also question the basic character of this publicity material. - T Kelly, Crook.

IRAQ

APPEARING on Newsnight recently, Edwina Curry reminded presenter Jeremy Paxman that she wasn't contracted by the BBC and that there were fewer constraints on her than there were on Jeremy Paxman, an employee of the BBC (now under scrutiny).

And, just like countless more voters, Edwina Curry feels that Tony Blair should never have OK'd the Iraq War and that there was no solid - and there still isn't - reason for going to war.

Precisely Edwina, my own thoughts exactly. And just how many soldiers' lives has the Iraq war cost, to date? And there'll be more to come, regrettably. - AH Lister, Guisborough.

CLEVELAND POLICE

I CANNOT believe that the toothless Cleveland Police Committee is asking for yet another inquiry, this time regarding 'Cash for Guns', after the costly failure of the last inquiry, involving Ray Mallon.

Surely it is a bit obvious that it will lead to nothing. - C Young, Thornaby.