Hear All Sides

INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

THE front page comments (Echo, Jan 4) of George Reynolds and Angus Hynd can not go unchallenged by those workers who produce the bulk of the nation's earning power.

Mr Reynolds is spitting out his dummy in these enlightened times of a more just society. Today, the possession of power through money has a lesser grip on the values of those who administer justice.

Mr Hynd will do well to remember that the legal profession protects society against those who believe their wealth and power buys everything, including their version of justice. - CS Simons, Bishop Auckland.

THE decision by George Reynolds to scrap his factory plans (Echo, Jan 4), on the grounds he is dissatisfied with the employment laws in this country and finds the hassle not worth it, is cause for concern.

But I do find Mr Reynolds' reasons a little inconsistent. He has said he will concentrate more on Darlington Football Club, which it would seem is the cause for his pique in the first place.

And while I do understand his frustration at the tribunal's decision, it seems to suggest George Reynolds caused his own downfall because of his own inability to understand employment law, or else his own ego thought he was above the law. - John Young, Crook.

DRUGS PROBLEM

THE alarming report (Echo, Dec 27) that 48 per cent of callers to the National Drugs Helpline are from youngsters aged 11-19 shows that the anti-drugs message is just not getting through.

Of course children will experiment, especially if there is an element of dare and bravado. Every help must be given to the police and other agencies to remove pushers and dealers from our streets, schools, clubs and wherever else they lurk, preying on our young people.

Much more needs to be done to convince children of the dangers of experimenting with a drug of any kind. - A E Moralee, Billingham.

I AM appalled at New Labour's stance on lethal narcotics. This is naked moral degeneracy that the British electorate should discard.

I hope that foreign governments who still oppose cannabis will be energetic in mobilising public opinion and leaving the world in no doubt about the dangerousness of David Blunkett's policy.

I would not be surprised if social malaises, like drug-related crime, eventually prove this great nation's downfall.

The time has come to end this attack on our society's health. Can any reader provide me with a rational explanation of Blunkett's logic? Chronic cannabis use is proven to induce violence, cancer, emphysema and bronchial asthma. So why legalise something that is only going to harm?

It is apposite for observers to attribute sinister, even communistic designs to the policymakers at Labour HQ. - Aled Jones, Bridlington.

THE fight against the drug problem makes one wonder just how this evil can be brought under control. Addicts will steal money from their own parents, never mind strangers, just to pay for drugs to satisfy their addiction, but it will not cure them.

One can see just how it affects people when one considers that tobacco smokers try, and generally fail, to break their addiction, so it must be even harder for heroin, cocaine addicts, etc to be cured. Putting them in jail for the crimes they commit merely takes them away for a short while then they return.

Suppliers of the drugs are often addicts themselves who need the money to get their own supply, and again jail does not seem to cure the problem.

Would it not be better to try another method? If a person was confirmed by a doctor to be an addict needing treatment they could be sent to a registered clinic and given a dose of their drug by medical staff and not charged for it. Would that be better than having to steal other innocent persons' property which is usually many times the real cost of the drug they need? It would also allow the police more time to tackle real criminals. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

THE EURO

TONY Blair asks us not to run away from the euro, not to mention we're being chased by it.

Why should Britain take such an irrevocable step when we deal with the rest of the world as much as we do with Europe.

The pound is an international currency and should remain so. We have already seen member states suffering from the folly of harmonising tax and interest rates.

The idea when a member has a downturn the rest will come to its aid has to be seen to be believed. When Britain took the disastrous decision to join the ERM which culminated with the financial holocaust of Black Wednesday, the Bundesbank, which could have helped ease the situation, did not lift a finger, which goes to prove if you cannot put your own house in order, no one else will. - Douglas Punchard, Kirkbymoorside.

ANY currency can be used in this country by a willing buyer and seller. Even barter is legal.

So Dr Britton of Darlington is misguided in thinking that the euro (or the dollar or the zloty) is illegal in the UK (HAS, Jan 5).

Similarly, he is way off beam in the opinions he ascribes to the Governor of the Bank of England. The "five tests" will show if joining the euro is in Britain's interests. If it is, Parliament and people will decide.

But informed decisions need proper information, not innuendo and false fears. - R Ashby, North East in Europe, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.