CHERIE BLAIR: SOMEONE please tell me the Prime Minister's wife has been misquoted.

To even dare to suggest that terrorists and suicide bombers have "human rights" is surely a dangerous statement.

I would have thought that anybody who believes in mass murder and the maiming of innocents of any creed or colour automatically waives the right to humane treatment.

My support of the Labour Party ended before the recent atrocities in our capital city, which were a result of the inept way in which the Government has tried to stem the endless tide of freeloaders and illegal immigrants entering, nay swamping, our country - a by-product of this being the unfortunate shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by police.

The question is, how many more potential bombers/terrorists are crossing our lax borders with ease, lying low until it's time to strike?

I fear for my children growing up in such dangerous times. Heaven help us if Mrs Blair takes on the would-be bombers' cases after their recent arrests, she just might get them "off the hook" .

Wake up Tony, time to show the wife who wears the trousers. - Andy Wheeler, Darlington.

DANGEROUS TIMES: I BELIEVE that the invasion of Iraq and the deaths in London are directly linked.

New York was attacked because of its support for a number of regimes in the Middle East. Before 9/11 there were already major grievances about US foreign policy: the situation in Palestine, the sanction and bombing of Iraq and the presence of US troops on Saudi soil.

Without UN approval and with the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, America and Britain showered the most deadly bombs on the heads of civilian men, women and children in Baghdad.

The British public are not stupid. Over two million marched for peace and declared that such a war would bring upon us precisely the type of attacks that have taken place in London.

War still rages in Western occupied Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden has not been captured and US and British casualties grow day by day.

Tony Blair said he wanted to make the world a safer place. Many of us predicted that he would make Britain an immeasurably more dangerous place. He has done just that. - James Fitzpatrick, Gateshead.

NAME GAME: RE Redcar and Cleveland's Council's Yorkshire Oath (Echo, July 29). I would like to ask a question of Chris Abbott, our LibDem councillor: if Cleveland is fictitious, how come he and his Liberal Democrat colleagues are in a coalition with the East-Cleveland Independents? If Cleveland doesn't exist, surely it can't have an "east" .

I think a lot of people in Brotton, Skelton, Skinningrove, etc would argue that East Cleveland does exist. So when Abbott says: "The name people come up with for local government should not determine their heritage" - surely, for the people of East Cleveland, Cleveland has some resonance?

However, the real nonsense on this issue began when the Liberal Democrat, Tory and Independent coalition decided to spend a fortune on changing all the council's stationery to say Yorkshire instead of Cleveland on the town hall address. Yorkshire - not even North Yorkshire. Apparently North Yorkshire is an abomination as well.

In all, a very expensive and bizarre policy. - Kevin Popper, Redcar.

I WAS intrigued to discover that the North Riding still exists, as declared by Redcar and Cleveland Councillor Chris Abbott (Echo, July 29), and that he suggests Cleveland does not.

Quite often I find people and publications refer to North Yorkshire when they really mean the North Riding, but it is very rare to hear or to read of North Riding as a current name.

However, the name Cleveland was not a recent invention and has been in use at least as long as the name North Riding. Even now, Cleveland is in regular and widespread use, eg Cleveland Fire Authority and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. The area where I was born and bred is commonly described in the media as East Cleveland.

If Coun Abbott wished to pour scorn on an unsuitable name then perhaps he should turn his attention to Tees Valley, a distinctly dubious and modern invention of local government. - Simon Chapman, Saltburn.

GREENPEACE: I WOULD like to draw people's attention to ways in which they can support Greenpeace.

Greenpeace is looking for new active supporters throughout County Durham to help support its international work to protect the environment.

People can help the organisation campaign on such issues as climate change and the destruction of ancient forests, promoting solutions to these threats to the planet's sustainability.

Interested people can choose to get active in many different ways, from helping out with leafleting to e-mail campaigning, talking to the public or taking direct action.

If you would like to get more active with Greenpeace, please call me on 07779571230 or e-mail melissawilson@orange.net - Melissa Wilson, Greenpeace Area Networker (County Durham).

HOSPITAL PRAISE: MANY thanks to the nursing staff, doctors and consultants of Durham University Hospital.

The treatment is superb, but Durham is so very short of staff. Also a special thank you to the domestics who keep everything spotless.

Where are the extra 10,000 nurses the Prime Minister promised? Perhaps in London, certainly not in the North-East. - L Rayner, Coxhoe.

ARRIVA BUSES: What a wonderful company is Arriva, caring only for the public and providing a top class service. If you believe Liz Esnouf that is (HAS, July 26).

The truth is that they have stopped the 235 service, leaving Kelloe with no daytime buses, in retaliation against residents who complained to the Traffic Commissioners about the dreadful service since Arriva took over the route four or five years ago.

We can no longer visit doctors, opticians, hospital patients or shops by bus. We cannot even draw our pensions or post a letter. Younger people cannot travel to and from work between Kelloe and the Trimdons.

It is difficult to believe, but true nonetheless, that when both national and local government are trying to get people to use public transport, Arriva has removed, at a stroke, the only public link between Coxhoe/Kelloe and the Trimdons.

Ms Esnouf can use any carefully constructed cover story she wishes but none is plausible. The only rational, logical conclusion is that plunging us back into the 19th century is an act of vengeance by a huge business against a small, elderly community. - JW Scott, Kelloe.

PENSIONS: THIS year most people have shown gratitude for the veterans of the last war.

So why not show gratitude in a more positive way so that all pensioners who reach the age of 80 get an increase in their old age pension?

After all, it will not have to be paid for very long. - E Reynolds, Wheatley Hill.