PETROL PRICES

RECENT publicity about the price of running our cars is about to show this Government the strength of the disillusionment of the British public.

The 1997 election was an election of Labour promises, and what did they promise - everything to all people. But they did not stop to ask what were the expectations of those people.

Consequently, there are now a number of very dissatisfied and disillusioned members of the public.

Tony Blair has made a statement that if petrol prices are cut then everyone requiring hospital treatment will suffer.

Of course he and Gordon Brown blame the Conservatives for increasing fuel prices, but these price rises were in line with Europe.

We cannot hope to compete with our European partners but they take advantage of our disability.

In 1990, our fuel was 4p more than Germany whilst Ireland was 3p more than UK. In 2000, we are 29p more than Germany and Ireland.

Hospital waiting lists have continued to grow under Labour yet Mr Brown's coffers are full to overflowing.

John Prescott wishes petrol to rise further so that he has plenty for his transport plan. I wonder if Mr Brown will give him enough to repair the roads or will he just be able to get enough to repair the bus routes while the cars' speed is regulated by the holes.

Set the date of the next election Mr Blair. We are all waiting to vote again. - Marjorie Simpson, Yarm.

LOTS has been said and written about the injustice of petrol price increases, but nothing has been said about the most unfair aspect of this situation.

The majority of cars on the road, particularly those doing long distances, are company cars. So why do we not hear companies moaning about petrol prices, the way hauliers complain about the price of diesel.

The reason is that companies are allowed to put their petrol purchases as expenses against their company tax calculations, and of course if needs be they can pass the costs onto the public through their product and service prices.

Another point that favours company cars is that most companies can re-claim the VAT element of the petrol price.

A further disquieting point is that garages, apparently, can supply up to ten per cent less fuel than purchased, without contravening regulations. So you can pay for ten gallons, only get nine, and pay tax on ten.

It is time this back door taxation, which only affects private car owners, was scrapped. - J Thomas, Wolviston, Billingham.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

THE Government's advisory body on health treatments, NICE, proposes to stop prescribing the new beta interferon drugs for people with MS.

This is heartbreaking news for people who have been waiting for treatment, sometimes for years, as a result of the postcode lottery.

NICE does not argue with the scientific evidence that these drugs work, but says that this is not enough to justify the cost.

While the drugs are expensive, so is MS. And NICE does not recognise this. Most of the cost of MS attacks does not fall on the NHS, but on local social services and housing departments, on employers, social security and on the families of those affected.

I am 44 years old and have had MS for 21 years. I have managed to live with MS until the last five years, when my relapses became more regular.

I can't do anything on a whim. My life has to be well planned so that I can get a rest in the middle of the day and get to bed early. I had to retire from work.

Recently, I was assessed as an ideal candidate for beta interferon. Can you imagine my distress when I heard the decision from NICE?

I think this ruling is a great injustice. There are no other treatments for MS that alter the course of this terrible disease, and the Government has played cat and mouse with MS sufferers since it first licensed beta interferon five years ago.

If readers feel strongly about this too, they can help by writing to say so to Alan Milburn, Secretary of State for Health. - Mrs MC Glass, Colburn Village.

LAW AND ORDER

THE feature article on Zero Tolerance (Echo, July 4) was interesting.

It is a good idea. There is only one snag. There are no policeman.

I haven't seen a policeman in five years. A bus shelter was built recently in our village, complete with seats which were bolted down. Within a fortnight the seats had been ripped out.

Tony Blair can police Kosovo. He is talking about sending men to a world police force. Yet he cannot police Britain.

Policemen are issued with truncheons which they dare not use. They would be sued for brutality. What will happen is that this country will finish up in a state of anarchy. Then you will get a dictator who will put people to the wall.

What we need is someone with backbone at the top. The British used to have it. - Jim Ross, Rowlands Gill.

PETER MULLEN

AS a spin doctor for God, Peter Mullen is an obvious failure. When I read his right-wing diatribes, which display his manifest hatred of the Prime Minister, I realise why people continue to leave the Church in droves.

Such outpourings by anyone, but particularly a so-called man of God, are really pathetic.

A cleric exuding so much hatred of his fellow man is surely the antithesis of the statement God is Love. - A Brown, Darlington.

MODERN POLITICS

THE Tories are delightedly spinning a tale about New Labour spin.

But they are merely trying to divert our memories away from the dreadful Thatcher years when jobs were lost, unions were bashed, and there were wholesale closures of industries, shipyards, steelworks, and coal mines.

The truth is the Tories are frustrated at having very little to complain about and so are grasping at straws. - FM Atkinson, Shincliffe.

HEALTH SERVICE

TONY Blair wasted half a million pounds on a questionnaire to ask what he should do with the NHS because, after three years of spin, he did not have a clue.

The answers he got back were amazing. People want more doctors and nurses and faster treatment. What a surprise!

Tony Blair, out of touch? Impossible. He was never in touch. - Michael Fishwick, Thornley, Co Durham.

GALA MEMORIES

I AM a student studying mining in County Durham, with particular reference to Durham Big Meeting (Miners' Gala).

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone, ex-miners or otherwise, could tell me anything to do with the Durham Miners' Gala or mining life in general.

Anecdotes, administration notes, memories and feelings about strikes, union and political causes, tales about daily life in the coalfields or social life will be useful.

Any other stories, no matter how seemingly insignificant, daft or abstract, will really help me. - Sonya Curle, 15 Ross Terrace, Ferryhill, County Durham.