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I AM writing in the aftermath of the Hatfield rail disaster.

When I was younger we had plate-layers going up and down the tracks mending as they went. Do they not have them any more? Just a thought. - K Craig, Northallerton.

HOUSEWORK

THE Office of National Statistics has produced a really amusing survey (Echo, Oct 14). It highlights the fact that women spend longer doing housework than do men. If they were paid for it, says the survey, the cost to the country would be considerable.

Since when has the average housewife ever been paid for bringing up the children, keeping the home clean and tidy, cooking the meals and a whole host of other things? Of course they save the country billions of pounds by not claiming wages or by paying someone else to do the work for them. If women were paid a fair wage simply for being housewives, it would be one of the greatest revolutions in the social structure of the country there has ever been. Most would earn a fortune. - Miss EA Moralee, Billingham.

SMOKING

WRONG again Mr Ball (HAS, Oct 19). The anti-smokers, as you describe those who have lost family and are against smoking, do not object to high tobacco tar.

Everyone knows that death through high tar will come sooner, so it is doubtful if you will convince the European Union not to ban adverts.

Very few smokers object to any sort of tar cigarettes. What they rightly object to, and their rights should be observed, is that smokers constantly exhale smoke which those nearby have to re-inhale, and then they might well have to suffer lung damage from those uncaring smokers that you insist should have the right to smoke. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.

PATRIOTISM

ONCE again the left wingers are trying to destroy the identity of the United Kingdom with branding our proud history and the word British racist.

The only racists I know are those within the Labour Party with their anti-British views. How many other governments throughout the world want to change their greatest historical moments with a more multi-ethnic theme? None.

Our courageous ancestors who fought for this proud land will be turning in their graves to these idiotic socialist views. Stand up and be counted fellow patriots and air your concern. - Christopher Wardell, Darlington.

CHRISTIANITY

WAS Harry Mead acting as devil's advocate when he wrote his column The God Who's on All Sides (Echo, Oct 18), or was he writing as an atheist?

A third alternative for the reason he wrote as he did was perhaps a genuine search for answers which he has so far been unable to find. Perhaps he has been asking the wrong questions?

When Christ lived on earth he did not turn stones into bread, jump off high towers, or become a powerful world leader. Instead he lived a simple life, proclaiming his gospel of love. Many of his contemporaries ridiculed him for it and in the end he was crucified by those he came to save. Mankind has, and always has had, free will. After 2,000 years of hearing that loving one another is the most important message of life, people still turn to violence and hatred. - Helen Brown, Ripon.

HARRY Mead (Echo, Oct 18) suggests that a Christian is self-centred for wanting to go to heaven.

Does he realise that a true Christian is a model citizen and neighbour; he does not steal, murder, rape, get drunk and disorderly or break his family up and cause endless heartache to others like many who worship the false god of self.

He talks of primitive tribes going about their business in simple dignity. Does this include tribal warfare, devil worship and cannibalism?

He dismisses the second coming which the Bible states will be preceded by war, disease, weather extremes, famine, immorality, sodomy, occultism, an increase in science and knowledge, various sects and new age, and signs in the sky.

Yes Harry, the scene is set. - William Mawston, Rushyford.

DOG DIRT

FROM the Pennines to the beaches, there is not one area in County Durham that is free from the disgrace of dog dirt, where children can safely play.

The only solution is to make all dog owners pay. We have licences for televisions, cars, etc.

If every animal was licensed at £500 per year, the work of cleaning up the area would become self-financing. An owner should be fined and fined heavily if their animal is found fouling the area outside the boundary of the owner's home.

If dogs are found roaming the streets they should be impounded, and after a week, if not claimed, they should be destroyed.

If all this sounds rather draconian, we parents would say that, if faced with the choice of our children's safety or your dog's filth, our children's safety wins every time.

It would also help if our councillors were to at least try to enforce the by-laws.

To be environmentally aware is to be able to make hard decisions. - RP Bainbridge, Crook.

ST CUTHBERT'S HOME

I would like to be contacted by anybody who had a child at St Cuthbert's Home for Waifs and Strays, Darlington, in the years 1933-1945 or who was a pupil at the Holy Trinity School, in Greenbank Road or Darlington High School for Girls in those years or after.

Perhaps somebody remembers my mother and her two sisters. Margaret (known as Peggy), Myrtle and Joy Nixon. Myrtle Nixon attended the girls' high school.

I would be thankful for any information about my relatives or the home. - Sylvia Finch, Cantone Brina 58, Casale Popolo 15033, Casale Monf (AL) Italia.