TALIBAN PRISONERS

HERE we go again. Lefties pandering to the terrorists. Poor lads locked up for the petty crime of destabilising the world!

Where were the do-gooders when the same men were persecuting their own people and totally humiliating the women of their nation?

Having prepared the RAF's Tornado aircraft prior to the Gulf War, I will never forget working round the clock and grabbing a bite to eat in the Mess during the night, and listening to the tannoy announce two jets had failed to return, and the naming of the missing pilots.

Not one more bite was eaten that night. There was just a grim determination to get the jets ready. Again, British lads sorting out other people's problems.

Who can forget the faces of airmen Peters and Nichol on Iraqi TV? What about the Geneva Convention then?

When I joined, 16 of the 18 in our room were County Durham lads.

These lefty Labour MPs purport to represent me, a working man. But the fact is, and always will be, they would be happy to send me where trouble lies, but would never stand by my shoulder. - J Tague, Bishop Auckland.

SINN FEIN

TONY Blair's invitation to the Sinn Fein MPs to come and have comfortable offices in the Palace of Westminster and granting them allowances of £107,000 a year is, to me, the greatest act of treachery in British history.

Thank God Churchill was Premier in the Second World War. Tony Blair would have had Goering and Himmler in No 10. And Hitler at Buckingham Palace. - Jim Ross, Rowlands Gill.

FAITH SCHOOLS

RECENTLY Ashok Kumar MP cautioned against faith schools.

Now the Prime Minister has called for better understanding between religions and the Archbishop of Canterbury has opposed exclusively Christian schools.

Yet the Government promotes faith schools and the law requires mainly-Christian indoctrination in schools. Time for change?

It might help understanding if all schools taught comparative religion and non-religious ethics, with no one religion taking more than 20 per cent of the time for it. The place for religious "instruction" is in the churches.

I suspect the popularity of faith schools owes something to them being better off and parents being desperate to avoid sink schools. - Mike O'Carroll, Northallerton.

HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING

MUHAMMAD Ali is reputed to be the greatest heavyweight champion of all time.

I wondered how does one define greatness in such a brutal profession? Joe Louis proclaimed that, at his peak, he would have whipped Ali.

Even Ali admitted that Joe really was the greatest, having defended his crown 25 times. It's arguable that either of them could have beaten the awesome Jack Johnson.

Of the three, no doubt Ali did the most to champion his cause, highlighting the down-trodden black population, while Johnson, through his supremacy, always seemed to aggravate it.

Joe, who couldn't have done more for his country, especially after he annihilated Max Schmeling when facism was on the rampage, was beaten unmercifully by the tax man. Sadly, all three saw their fortunes squandered, with Joe and Ali carrying on far too long.

Gene Tunney, against all the odds, took the crown from the great Jack Dempsey, defended it twice and retired with his brain intact and a fistful of dollars, married a rich heiress and became a successful businessman. In spite of his immense wealth, he never recovered from the heartache when his daughter Jean was charged with murdering her husband. However we define greatness, there seems to be a price to pay for it. - D Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

RAILWAYS

WHEN reading about the modern state of the railways, I think back to 1947, two years after the war.

The Government found money to nationalise the mines, railways, shipyards, docks and they fell into place like a well-oiled machine.

I think we are putting too much emphasis on speed and not enough on having a well-run, safe track.

One thing I learned in the pits was more haste less speed, and there are two words in the dictionary all the people would be better off without - speed and greed. - WH Cameron, Brandon.

MIDDLE EAST

PETER Mullen, in telling us that "there is no such state as Palestine" (Echo, Jan 8), is splitting historical hairs. That part of the Middle East, now called Israel was, before the First World War, part of the Turkish Empire. Turkey picked the wrong side in that war and, as a result, Britain was mandated Palestine (now called Israel).

The mandate was to provide for a "Jewish National Home" without damage to the interests of the existing population.

After Hitler's war, for which the Arabs were in no way responsible, there were 600,000 Jews, 1,100,000 Moslem Arabs and 150,000 Christian Arabs.

I suppose Peter Mullen would find it acceptable to dispossess people from their own land to make way for people dispossessed from so-called Christian countries? Not content with that, Israel has subsequently annexed and settled the West Bank of the Jordan, several hundred square miles of land without so much as a "by your leave".

How can Israel do this? Because it is mainly armed and financed by the US.

It sickens me when Peter Mullen rants on about the arms ship that was intercepted in the Red Sea. He may not have noticed that the helicopters and tanks that kill Arabs in Palestine are American made - and probably American financed.

The future looks bleak indeed. - W Collinson, Durham City.

BATTLEFIELD TOURS

AS the holiday season approaches, may I remind you of the work of the War Research Society, the battlefield pilgrimage tour organisation, for which I am the local contact.

Since it was formed by a group of retired and serving police officers, the society has grown rapidly and is represented throughout Great Britain and in many countries abroad.

The number and scope of the tours is always increasing and we now cover both World Wars in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Italy; Singapore, the Bridge over the River Kwai, and the South African Boer and Zulu Wars.

Our experienced team of couriers and guides includes lecturers with specialist knowledge.

We can assist in tracing war graves and carry out additional research if required. Tours are tailored to meet the wishes of those travelling and nowhere is too out of the way to visit.

Financial help can be given in some cases to assist a visit with us and photographs can be taken for those unable to travel.

The War Research Society is entirely dedicated to remembrance of the courage and sacrifice of those who fought.

Further information and a tour brochure will be sent on receipt of an addressed A5 envelope and a 44p stamp. - Andrew Naden, The War Research Society, The Lodge, Wensley, Leyburn, DL8 4HN.