IRAQ DOSSIER: I HOPE that members of the House of Commons Foreign Select Committee find it difficult to sleep each night after their brutal, bullying interrogation of Dr David Kelly.

Watching this on television, I was appalled at the way this obviously gentle, reserved and respected scientist was subjected to a form of questioning more reminiscent of the Gestapo or Spanish Inquisition.

If they have any decency at all, every committee member, but particularly the Chairman, must do a lot of soul-searching regarding the role they may have played leading to Dr Kelly's sad death.

Roy Hattersley is quoted as seeing nothing very wrong in the way the select committee behaved. If so, I believe he should also take a long hard look at his standards of behaviour.

I'm expecting to see a number of resignations. - Maurice Heslop, Billingham.

LAW AND ORDER

THE foundation of all law in this country is based upon the maintenance of the Queen's Peace. This is the one fundamental law, so fundamental that it can justify a citizen in making an arrest.

Yet when we have TV pictures of weeping residents of troubled estates saying their lives are ruined by noisy and violent neighbours, we also have our complete array of nerd judges saying how powerless they are to do anything, prior to being wheeled off to their next round of free first-class meals at first-class hotels.

I suspect that an authoritarian government, such as the Singapore government in the days of Lee Kwan Yoo, would have had such judges publicly caned if they had pleaded inability to act, with the whole power of the state behind them.

If they are so useless, their salaries should be suspended until they have found legal justification for action. That would take them five minutes.

Troublemakers who have been warned could be arrested for contempt of court and their houses confiscated.

It is not lawful for the Queen's peace to be breached while a new-thinking judiciary twiddles its thumbs. - John Abrey, Durham City.

TONY BLAIR

SHOULD Tony Blair go? I think Tony Blair should go for three reasons:

1. He should never have taken our troops into Iraq.

2. Everything he voted against in Opposition he has more or less done in Government.

3 I don't want him to beat Harold Wilson's record of four General Election wins.

Harold was my hero, as was Barbara Castle. You won't get men and women like those again. - John Hoodless, Darlington.

ROYAL FAMILY

I would prefer this country to be a republic, though I feel no sense of antagonism towards the monarchy.

It is admirable the way the Queen has served in her capacity, and it is a plus for the Royal Family that they stayed in this country during the war, and did not leave for their own safety during the blitz.

But to my mind there is an overwhelming case against the monarchical system that would still hold if the reforms suggested by the Fabian Society were to be implemented.

I believe that everyone at the top politically should be there because they have been elected and can be removed at another election. I believe that functionaries should be selected according to ability. Hereditary succession has no place in what I think should happen, any more than nepotism.

The Queen is the pinnacle of a social hierarchy of status and privilege. I do not see this as something which fits in with a society made up of equal citizens. The future of the institution will become more and more anachronistic.

I would like to see it ending amicably and in a dignified manner. But before we can do that we need to agree on what sort of republic we want. The Australians were right not to rush straight into a republic without first agreeing how it would be organised.

Finally, I would like to see there would have to be a referendum. At the moment there is no head of steam for such a change, and in the meantime the mild reforms suggested by the Fabian Society should be considered. - Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.

FARM VEHICLES

I HAVE just read a report in your newspaper about the National Farmers' Union (NFU) calling on its members to show consideration for other road users and allow traffic to pass. This obviously applies to tractor drivers in particular.

I regularly travel from my home in Etherley to Durham City and I have lost count of the number of times I have ended up in a queue of up to two miles in length behind a tractor chugging along at 5-10mph. These tractor drivers are either insensitive or thoughtless, because not once have I experienced one pulling over.

The NFU should emphasise that it can be a road offence not to do so after a certain time and distance. Whether this would have any effect remains to be seen, but I would welcome the police taking more action when they see lengthy queues. - WD McInnes, Etherley Grange.