EUROPE: IN September 1939, I remember the faces of my parents as we listened to the prime minister saying that we had declared war on Germany. My reservist father was gone within days.

As an eight-year-old, the full meaning of the event was not readily apparent but an inquiring mind and a desire to read enabled a breadth and depth of understanding over the years. It became clear that the people in command who took actual circumstances into account, rather than what they had been routinely trained to do, reduced the loss of life and achieved objectives.

Winston Churchill was such a person. He understood that being able to take account of complex issues is important in maintaining peace.

He said: "If Europe united is to be a living force, Britain will have to play her full part as a member of the European Family."

He and others recognised that it can take years to bring about mutually beneficial changes in complex systems. Last week Paddy Ashdown underlined the gains made in the Balkan area in the ten years since EU intervention, but pointed out that it might take another ten years to bring about a fully peaceful climate.

During the last year many people put forward narrow single issues as reasons for withdrawing from the EU. To maintain our trading position we would still have to pay our dues just like Norway and, like Norway, we would not be able to play a part in EU decision making.

Winston's statement is as valid today as it was in 1947. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.

WEAR Valley District Council wishes to celebrate Councillor Chris Foote-Wood's nomination (not election) to the EU Committee of the Regions by flying the EU flag over Crook.

The nomination was made by the North-East Regional Assembly. Anybody else care to make the connection? EU, Regional Assembly, EU Committee of the Regions.

We are told that there is no "secret regional agenda". Well, strictly speaking, that's true. The Government's regional agenda can't really be described as "secret", as some elements of it have technically been in the public domain for a long time. But it is "secretive", as nothing is widely advertised until the moment is ripe.

So rather than "secret", better adjectives might be: secretive, surreptitious, underhand, sneaky, dishonest, sly, Machiavellian, stealthy, deceitful... and EU-inspired, of course, although that hasn't yet found its way into Roget's Thesaurus. - Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland Conservatives.

WHAT is this union of European countries about? Whenever finance is concerned the much talked about unity goes out of the window and national interest takes over - apart from our country which seems content with its net contribution of billions a year, and now gives away almost 30 per cent of its budget rebate for one vague promise.

One of the main losers in this betrayal looks like being the English farming industry. France, the leading beneficiary, already receives six times more in rural development support than we do and the rebate loss can only increase the difficulty of competing with imports from abroad.

When will this Government realise that, in an increasingly volatile world, with food reserves now at new lows, instead of handicapping our farmers at every opportunity it needs to fully support them?

When will this Government start to look after England's interests instead of pandering to the rest of Europe in particular and the world in general? - John Heslop, Gainford.

CAMELOT

LADY Luck's smile is beaming for Camelot, despite what TV ad "experts" who have branded her a turkey seem to think ("Lady Luck is not so lucky", Echo, Dec 16).

They may not approve of her or Barry the unicorn, but 70 per cent of the adult population continues to play the National Lottery, and Lady Luck is presiding over the longest period of growth in the National Lottery's history, as we have bucked the international trend for sliding lottery sales.

Camelot is responsible for some of the biggest selling products in the UK. Our latest sales figures show a rise of £55m in six months - and £17bn has been raised so far for good causes, funding more than 200,000 individual awards.

Turkey? Our players clearly think she's a cracker. - Jo Kenrick, Marketing Director, Camelot Group plc, Watford.

REGIONAL ASSEMBLY

CHRIS Foote-Wood has rather missed the point (HAS, Dec 20). The regional assembly referendum was really a political con trick.

Until we had the debate prior to the referendum, many voters in the North-East were not fully aware that there was already in existence an unelected assembly; when they voted by a huge majority against an elected assembly, most assumed that the unelected body would be disbanded.

Many people are astounded to realise that it still exists.

The Government, of course, was not willing to give the electorate the chance to vote on whether or not they wished to keep the unelected body - it's pretty clear that the result would be another emphatic "No".

It is undemocratic to have an unelected assembly making decisions on matters such as planning. If the public dislikes the assembly's decisions, we cannot get rid of it.

Why should housing for, say, Alnwick, be decided in Newcastle by unelected people from, say, Barnard Castle or North Shields? Such matters should be handed back to local authorities where we do have the chance to vote at local elections.

No wonder voters are disenchanted and don't bother to turn out at elections - people feel their wishes in the referendum have been flouted. - Archie Turnbull, Chathill, Northumberland.