EXECUTIVE SALARIES: FAT cats should be judged and rewarded on related performance and merit, not for failure.

BT is an example of one of the biggest scandals on fat cats' payouts for failure.

Some people are still on the gravy train elsewhere, getting fatter. - N Tate, Darlington.

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

LOCAL Government and Regions Minister Nick Raynsford must be living in a dream world if he thinks there is any interest in regional government by the general public in the North-East. There is none (Echo, May 18).

Only those who aspire to office try to keep the pretence of some semblance of interest.

The last thing the North-East needs is yet another talking shop with yet more politicians.

Increases in council tax are high enough without an additional amount being added to pay for regional assemblies.

If the Governmnt were honest it would drop this proposal. Unfortunately, because it wants it to happen it will pursue it and try to force it through. - K Peacock, Hurworth Place, Darlington.

THE NORTHERN ECHO

CONGRATULATIONS to The Northern Echo on once again being named North-East Newspaper of the Year.

I remember the paper winning this award previously.

In the individual awards this time it was a fine achievement by the paper to have so many of its staff honoured.

Every morning I walk into town and buy The Northern Echo and recently arranged with the newsagent to have a copy reserved for me. - LD Wilson, Guisborough.

ONE NORTHEAST

HOW rich of our extremely able and hard-working local Labour MPs to line up and attack the Regional Development Agency, One NorthEast, for what they think as a largely under-achieving organisation (Echo Business, May 20).

The people of Weardale and the wider Wear Valley, facing many acute problems, may have reason to doubt the progress of One NorthEast, but local MPs, whose ability to stand and watch is second to none, really take the biscuit with such hypocrisy.

The forerunners of One NorthEast, the NDC and TDC, may have been cavalier but they got things done and made things happen. While the present organisation faces stiffer times, I wonder whether they are smothered with infamous Labour bureaucracy. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland Conservatives.

NEW LABOUR

ISN'T it about time that the grass root members of the old Labour Party took the party back from Tony Blair, his cronies and all the unelected advisers who now run this country?

Since New Labour came to power, after swamping the Conservatives in the last two elections, Mr Blair has sought to run this country as a mirror image of the US. He sees himself as an elected president, not as the person appointed to lead the party he is supposed to represent. It would now appear that the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, told him that any changes implemented by Britain and the US in Iraq after the armed conflict there would be illegal if not agreed to by the United Nations.

President Bush has chosen to ignore the UN before, during and after the conflict and Blair has fallen in line with the American President's commands. In doing so he has put sections of the British people at risk from terrorist groups.

One can only hope that any changes they do implement in Iraq work better than the ones that Blair keeps imposing on the British people. Hospitals are still struggling to meet all the changes he demands from them, consultants being the latest section he is now trying to impose his will upon. His appointed head of railways seem to think that if you reduce the number of trains available to the public and allow the train operators to increase fares you are improving the services on offer.

If Mr Blair wants to be some form of president he should stand down from the position he now holds and see if he can convince enough of the people to agree a change to the way Britain is governed. It would also curtail the way he sees fit to run the country if the British people had a Bill of Rights, which was one of New Labour's election promises. - Peter Dolan, Newton Aycliffe.

OLYMPIC GAMES

I BELIEVE that the Government is right to support the bid to host the Olympic Games of 2012 in London.

Already a space has been found that could be redeveloped. It would provide employment in a part of London that needs it. We in this part of the country have no monopoly in social distress caused by the structural changes in the pattern of employment.

From what I have heard in conversation there are two problems some have with the decision.

One is the perception that everything seems to go to London. It is asked why not have the games in another part of the country? This is not really an argument against this country hosting the event, and it could be argued that we should offer it to Manchester who hosted a successful Commonwealth Games. But those who want everything brought here would probably oppose Manchester too.

The other concern is about the cost, and the transport constraints in London as it is now. It would require a great deal of investment, and the investors would have to be confident about the outcomes.

Surely the investment to improve the links across London are needed anyway.

I see London as a place with a lot to offer visitors from all over the world. I am proud of my roots in the North, but I enjoy going to the capital. I can see no contradiction in a Northerner having a great affection for London. I think that if the right man or woman is put in charge we would host a successful event in London and it would give a much-needed fillip to our national pride. - Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.