Sir, - I refer to to Helen Johnson's letter (D&S, Aug23).

Sadly, we are hardly living any longer than our forebears. Today, a man aged 45 has a life expectancy of only two more years than his 1920 counterpart. In 1930, heart disease was so rare that only a specialist could accurately diagnose it - today the man on the Clapham omnibus can tell the difference between angina and heart attack. Heart disease is our biggest killer, yet the death rate from it is falling, unfortunately only because the cancer death rate is sky rocketing.

During the war years, the health of the nation actually improved on its low-fat, unprocessed chemical-free diet, yet during Vietnam, autopsies on boys as young as 20 showed arteries already beginning to clog. The so-called diseases of old age are beginning younger and younger. By 60, hardly our twilight years, nine in ten of us can now expect arthritis.

I don't believe we have a "national collective neurosis" about food, but clearly, here in the information age, there are more people discovering the benefits of eating sensibly. This appears to be a worry to the food processing industry, particularly in the USA, where they employ medically-qualified apologists to decry those who advocate good nutrition as "food faddists".

Big money is at stake here. We have a choice; we can buy processed food, eat chemicals, then get fat and sick as in America, or buy "real" food ingredients and supplement with minerals and vitamins, as sadly, soil no longer provides adequate minerals. If we choose "real" unprocessed food, the balance of power would shift from the food processor to the food producer, or farmers, as I like to call them.

Your body is effectively a chemistry set, start putting in the things that it needs and stop putting in the things it doesn't; hardly rocket science.

Rik Dent

The Kennels,

Low Street,

Little Fencote.

War on Iraq

Sir, - My late father used to say, "If you want to know why there's a war, look at who's making a profit." In America the web of financial interests of the Bush family and other Republicans show that they are heavily involved in the arms industry and would indeed be likely to gain financially from any increase in military expenditure.

Possibly President Bush would also like to prove himself in the eyes of his father by finishing the war that his father couldn't - that is something for historians and psychologists to discuss.

It is up to the American people to judge the President's actions - we have no votes in that election. We do, however, have the right and duty to challenge our politicians and demand that not one member of the British Armed Forces is ordered to fight in order to simply improve the American economy and ensure re-election for President Bush.

At present we can see confusion and dissension within the ranks of Tony Blair's New Conservatives (oops, sorry, that was a Freudian slip, I mean "New Labour"). We can't even see the Conservatives wherever they are these days.

Thank goodness that Menzies Campbell and the other Lib Dems are there as a voice of common sense to insist that the profits made from any war with Iraq are not forged from the tears of grieving parents of British military personnel.

ROBERT ADAMSON

Parliamentary Spokesperson for Darlington Liberal Democrats

PO Box 96,

Darlington.

Work in progress

Sir, - Transco and Enterprise conducted a pipe renewal exercise in Sleegill, Richmond earlier this year. The work - I use the word loosely - started in early January and was completed about 15 weeks later at the end of April.

Some days men turned up and some they didn't. Sometimes they turned up, and went away again after an hour or so. There seemed no great urgency to complete the job despite the inconvenience to residents - noise, dust, etc - and vehicle users.

From your report (D&S, Aug 23) concerning the works in progress at the foot of Gallowgate it sounds as though the same modus operandii continues to apply.

MICHAEL J SHARPE

Sleegill,

Richmond.

Risk not justified

Sir, - While Britain's European trade is growing reasonably strongly compared to the Eurozone countries, our trade with the rest of the world is growing faster.

New OECD figures show that over the three years since the launch of the euro, Britain's exports to the rest of the world have increased by 26.5pc compared to an increase of 23.5pc to the Eurozone. On average, euro members' exports to the rest of the Eurozone grew only 19pc over the same period.

Pro-euro campaigners have argued misleadingly that joining the euro would help British exporters. However, all of the supposed benefits of the euro for exporters have to be offset against the cost to exporters themselves in terms of increased domestic instability.

A study by Oxford Economic Forecasting in April 2002 shows that the UK would be likely to experience greater volatility of output, inflation and unemployment in the Eurozone. This increased domestic instability would harm exporters along with the rest of the economy.

Furthermore, research consistently demonstrates that the proportion of UK trade done with the Eurozone has topped out, having reached its peak in 1992. The euro lobby claims that enlargement of the Eurozone will counteract this trend. However, even if the proposed 12 central eastern European countries join the euro (unlikely to happen soon), these countries combined account for only 2pc of UK trade, so enlargement is unlikely to reverse this trend.

Given this evidence, we cannot justify risking Britain's trade success on a political element called the euro. We currently have the best of both worlds - we are in Europe but thanks to having control over our economy we are able to continue to increase our trade with the Eurozone and the rest of the world.

STEVE MAUGHAN

Council member,

Business for Sterling North-East.

Chameleon

Sir, - Among the letters criticising Richmondshire District Council for publicising the claimed cost to the ratepayers of Mr Borman's continued harassment of the council, there appeared one from Ann French condemning the man as an arrogant, vindictive bully and proclaiming that "Mr Tabiner is doing a good job."

The lady seems to have forgotten that at the council meeting on April 23 she took the floor to criticise him for the spending on the team building exercise and subsequently had a letter published in your column on the same subject.

She claims to be descended from Adam and Eve, perhaps she also has some genes inherited from the chameleon, enabling her to assume the most appropriate mantle to suit the matter in hand.

JOHN CARTER

Yarborough Close,

Tunstall,

Richmond