SUPPORTERS criticising Durham County Cricket Club because we have only won one out of the first five games should look to the positives, of which there are many.

Let us get rid of the one negative first. Of the 23 contracted players, ten are injured.

Of the 11 cricketers playing against Yorkshire, nine were local boys, nurtured by Geoff Cook through from juniors. Only Jon Lewis and Martin Love were not locally born. The six youngest averaged just over 21 years and the team average just over 24 years. How does this compare with other counties?

Internationals: not counting England's first team and Paul Collingwood, count back over the last three years, how many players from each county have represented England at all levels? I would be surprised if DCCC does not come out top - step forward Geoff Cook and his team once more.

So can I appeal to all supporters to get behind the team? Remember these young keen cricketers only lost one game by two runs and another by 23. And please note their fielding. - John Wilson, Durham.

MAYORAL ELECTION

Hartlepool'S second monkey incident has attracted worldwide publicity and looks like being as long remembered as its first.

Electors who voted, and those who did not, made a collective decision about Hartlepool's future.

The outcome of the mayoral elections in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough has brought well-deserved embarrassment upon the Government and may force it to have second thoughts about the necessary reform of local government.

Once the referendum produced a majority of 373 votes in favour of the mayoral option, Hartlepool Council was obliged to find a way that the ill-thought out scheme handed down by Government could be made to work.

In general, Hartlepool is well served by its council staff. I applaud the role that Brian Dinsdale as chief executive has had in making England's smallest unitary authority potentially one of its top performers.

As leader of the council, Bryan Hanson had a coherent strategy in preparing Hartlepool to become a unitary authority and starting it off. Since his removal, Hartlepool Labour Party has had none.

For the last two years, the Labour councillors have been a single-minded opposition totally focused on regaining what they regard as their right to rule. Any constructive contribution they might have made to the wider interests of the town has escaped me.

Responding to a clear signal from voters that Liberal Democrats and Hartlepool Conservatives should set aside political differences and work together, we have in the last two years, without ever having an overall majority, made Hartlepool's situation better than we found it. That has meant hard decisions but I believe history will show we got most of them right.

Not everyone in local politics is motivated by self-interest or vanity; the job satisfaction can be reward enough. For those who accept the responsibility or public office it may have to be. Putting the achievement of lasting solutions before short-term popularity often brings personal sacrifice. For me, it has been the constant misrepresentation, denigration and insult that came with the job.

I am grateful to those electors who gave me their first preference votes. As Leader of the Council, I have done my duty to Hartlepool. - Councillor Arthur Preece, Hartlepool.

HEALTH SERVICE

I AM one of many people who is appalled and shocked to learn that vital services such as post natal, epidural, medical input and maternity will no longer be at Bishop Auckland's new hospital.

Patients from as far away as Weardale will have to travel to Darlington, including emergencies. How many tragedies will it take for the powers to see sense and bring these lifelines back to Bishop.

No wonder the NHS is in a mess. Let's see the power of people work for people, especially children. - Mary Armstrong, Crook.

TRUANCY

COLUMNIST Ruth Campbell (Echo, May 3) condemns the Government for threatening to cut the benefits of those parents who allow their children to truant.

In defence of these feckless parents, she goes on to query what they will do for money if they lost their benefits.

"Will they steal?" she asks.

The answer to this question is quite simple: all they have to do is take their children to school, same as I did and the same as all responsible parents do.

To see that your children go to school is much easier than stealing. Another good way to obtain money is to work for it. - T Bowyer, Peterlee.

LABOUR GOVERNMENT

YOUR comment (Echo, May 1), asserts that Tony Blair is an honest, caring, decent man. While suggesting that honesty is above the criterion of what we expect from government, there is a case of being vague and inconsistent.

The suggestion of more money being delivered may be true, but for many the benefit is marginalised between those who have benefited and those who have not.

There are many pensioners who have been given extra but there are many young people who have been deprived of a decent wage. They are forced into cheap labour schemes and small businesses have to foot the bill.

We are continually informed unemployment is at its lowest for many years, yet we are not told how the figures are being manipulated.

Then we are told industry is doing well, yet we see the demise of industry every day and it seems we are relying on foreigners to give us a job. What happens when they decide to pull the plug? Just ask the workers of the Weardale cement works.

We see the lowest turnout at an election since 1918, yet a Government gets in with a thumping majority. That's cause for concern.

This country and its democracy is walking a tightrope and the economy could be the cataclysm that will see the downfall of Tony Blair and cause the citizen another cycle of pain and hardship. - John Young, Crook.