POLICE

CHIEF police officers are looking to change traditional policing methods such as officers pairing up to go on patrol (Echo, Sept 6).

As a retired police officer I would dispute that this is traditional policing. In the 1960s police officers would patrol in pairs in towns only between the start of their shift, 10pm, until the public houses closed and the streets were emptied.

Once this was achieved the officers split up to check their vulnerable properties.

I appreciate with the introduction of nightclubs the streets are not emptied before midnight and I see sense in officers working in pairs during night shifts.

However, the availability of 24-hour armed response vehicles, the Air Support Unit, not to mention slash-proof gloves, stab-proof vests, better batons and handcuffs and especially the use of gas to disarm violent people should make up for this.

Gone are the days of relying on a heavy torch and a whistle bunged up with fluff.

When I see, constantly, officers doubled up in their vehicles at quiet times of the day in quiet areas I cannot understand how the lack of manpower is used as an excuse by senior police officers.

It isn't lack of manpower it's lack of management of manpower that is the problem. - Name and address supplied.

COUNCIL PROMISES

I READ with interest the plans that have been highlighted for Guisborough by the leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, David Walsh.

I note the words used, "pledged to fight", "plans to scheme in the pipeline". No actualities, no definites, just vague projects with no start date or promised money to carry them out.

I bet if you ask people in Guisborough what the council has done for them up to now, their view will be "precious little".

What they will say is that the townsfolk have put an awful lot of hard work and their own money into making their town attractive to businesses, visitors and residents; in many cases actually doing the job of the council which already levies the second highest council tax in the land.

The same applies to Saltburn, which I am very proud to represent. If it were not for volunteers who, year after year, have worked to make the town a credit to the borough, Saltburn would be a sad, seaside town, not the interesting, busy, beautiful town it is today.

It is Saltburn's people along with their strong community spirit that instigated and fought to gain most of the grants to improve and attract money to the town.

This 'good news only' council conveniently forgets what communities do for themselves when it tries to associate itself with success stories in which it sometimes played a very minor role.

I sincerely hope its plans come to fruition but if they do not, it apologises to Guisborough for building their hopes up. - Councillor Barbara Harpham, Saltburn Ward Councillor.

I AM writing about the planned closure of Kirk Merrington pre-school scheme in April 2001 because of the withdrawal of funding by Durham County Council.

This is after the same pre-school scheme that received a top class report from education watchdog Ofsted.

In both the manifestos of the national and Durham County Labour Party there were undertakings to increase the number of pre-school places available and instead we see them being cut.

Durham County Council says that it is not closing the pre-school only withdrawing funding.

This type of sophistry does not fool anybody, this is an example of another broken promise by Labour. - Martin Jones, Secretary, Spennymoor Branch Liberal Democrats.

EGYPTIANS

UNLIKE E Moralee (HAS, Sept 6) my reaction to Sarah French's uncritical promotion of Lorraine Evans' book speculating that the Scots were really Egyptians (Echo, Aug 30) was one of despair.

I'm not, in any way, doubting Lorraine Evans' academic credentials in Egyptology but, let's be honest, she could have had a whole armful of 'ologies' but, if she had not been a famous model and now "PR person to the stars", she would not have got a mention.

I doubt very much that Ms Evans' 'pharoahs at the bottom of the garden' theory will stand much scrutiny.

In the sad society we live in now, when worship of celebrity is the compulsory religion, any book by a "celeb" is a "must" read, whatever the subject. The rest of us only get to expound our pet theories over a couple of pints at the bar.

I doubt very much that we, in Britain, are descended from the Ancient Egyptians. They had a much better sense of perspective and a much better grip on reality.

Their gods had much more substance than ours. - V Wood, Yearby, Redcar.

SOCIETY

PETER Mullen's recent columns make interesting reading.

There's even quite a lot of it that I agree with. Too much brain-dead TV with various presenters and so-called audience participation.

But where does this all come from? Peter would like to think that it's a drip down from the 1960s "permissive mentality" and "the anything goes" society.

The real answer is much more recent. Peter has always been impressed by the results of the Thatcher revolution. Here is Thatcherite free market philosophy in a nutshell.

Deregulation of everything so everyone's a consumer or a producer in a free market global economy. The result - a freefall in decent standards so that everything appeals to the lowest common denominator.

After all, there's famously no such thing as "society" so any individual can have everything they want and, as long as it sells, this is what we are fed. Some are too young to remember anything else while others accept whatever spin the newspapers, TV, radio, politicians or so-called "experts" put on what is happening. The rest of us are inclined to be cynical and to disengage from the celebrity media circus.

Peter Mullen is rightly concerned about the in-your-face culture but he should stop kidding himself about where this all started. - D Atkinson, Darlington.

SCHOOL DINNERS

RE your article (Echo, Sept 5) Do school cooks need education?, am I the only person in the entire universe who did not have awful school dinners?

Having started school in 1964 (Langley Park Infants) I have no memories of lumpy custard/mashed potato etc. School dinners were always nutritious and well balanced.

The puddings were a delight and chips were a very rare occurrence. - Anne Cain (nee Fletcher), Langley Park.

COUNCIL HOMES

CAN anyone on Darlington Council tell me how it can get a huge grant to demolish houses and rebuild part of Firth Moor Estate and yet cannot get a grant to update the homes for the elderly?

Why does it keep mentioning en-suite facilities when the homes in the private sector do not have facilities either?

Does nobody stop to think what this upheaval is doing to these elderly people and the staff who are losing their jobs?

Also what is going to happen to these five buildings and all the contents worth thousands of pounds?

I think the council should think again how the town's finances are being wasted. - J Moss, Darlington.

THE DOME

EVEN more millions of lottery money is to be wasted on the Dome while at the same time a miserly £4m is given for research into prostate cancer which claims the lives of thousands of men every year. - TE Crook, Bishop Auckland.

POLITICS

WITH an election probably only a few months away the media is indulging in a frenzy of rumours and blatant speculation.

The Mo Mowlam affair is a classic example. In Northern Ireland she lost the confidence of the Protestants and Tony Blair had no option but to replace her.

There is no doubt Mo Mowlam is an engaging personality and it is easy to see why she is so popular, but in politics this is not always the prime requisite for high office.

She will find it a lot easier to express her views without the restraint of collective responsibility.

Personalising the tension between Mr Blair and his ubiquitous chancellor is another example of the media making the news.

Remember Nigel Lawson and Mrs Thatcher?

Mr Hague has the disturbing propensity to jump on every little bandwagon that comes along and of course the inevitable result is that he does not know where he is going.

All I can say to the electorate is the Government is not broke so why change it. - Hugh Pender, Darlington.