30/01/06

While my sympathies are with the Blair family regarding this issue, it would be pompous and unjust for Mr Blair to point the finger at plotters whilst he is in the full knowledge that both he and President Bush were plotting to bomb the headquarters of al Jazeera TV station in Qatar.

This would have resulted in the deaths of many innocent people who hold a different interpretation of events unfolding around the world within a country not at war with the US or UK. - Mark Anderson, Middleton St George.

STADIUM PLEA

FOR some time now there has been rumours circulating regarding Darlington FC once again making substantial losses. If this is the case what future is there for the club?

We have been down the same road before with George Reynolds and are now seemingly in the same position. How can a club of Darlington's size, with the fan base we have, survive in the stadium that we have?

Feethams should be redeveloped as a football stadium, with more income than the cricket club, it makes sense.

A smaller stadium would be more manageable financially, there would also be an increase in the atmosphere and instead of having 4,000 people outnumbered by seats, it would seem more homely than the current "home" which is totally lifeless and a drain on club resources.

With the financial burden being less, the manager would have more money for players of a better quality.

For anyone saying this is not a viable option, you're wrong. The land the current stadium is on could be sold on to developers for a substantial amount of money. It is the only option if the club has a future. - David Dickson, Darlington.

LOO AND BEHOLD

YOU are doing very well thank you, if you are able to drop into your conversation 'second homes' and 'a villa abroad'. Some rejoice in three Jags and three homes. Cruising and exotic holidays also score well.

Coming down the ladder a bit, six, five, four bedrooms. How many en suite? How many toilets? We are in the single toilet set with two bedrooms. Sigh!

We only have to go back in our lifetime to remember a long, cold, sometimes wet, trek to the bottom of the garden and the earth closet. Night soil men emptied the contents through a trap door at the back and wheeled it up the garden to the waiting cart.

We left it as long as it was safe to do so, specially in bad weather or after dark.

The local newspaper played an important part, leaving an item of news where it couldn't be read, after it had been rumpled up to make it softer. If newspaper was in short supply, orange wrapping papers from the fruit did almost as well. Those were the days. - George Appleby, York.

ENGLISH MATTERS

THE debacle of sex offenders working in English schools highlights how ineffective our Government is on English matters.

Obviously, by concentrating on the EU, Iraq, Iran and other international affairs, the UK Government neglects England's domestic policies.

English regional assemblies are unworkable and unwanted, begging the question: "What is John Prescott for?"

Lord Baker's long overdue Bill allowing only English Votes on English Laws (EVEL) broadly follows official Conservative party policy. However, it is as equally unworkable as regional assemblies. Existing tensions between the nations that comprise the UK, caused by unsatisfactory devolution, would be exacerbated. Gordon Brown's feeble flapping of the Union Jack and desperate drone for "British unity" exposed these tensions.

This leaves the only feasible solution being devolved parliaments for England, Wales and Northern Ireland with the same powers as the Scottish Parliament. A smaller UK Government, with perhaps the same number of MPs as we currently have Euro MPs, would oversee UK foreign policy, defence and budgeting.

A proactive executive focusing on England's needs will replace our UK government plodding from one disaster to the next, always reacting to events and never in charge.

People living in England are less concerned about "another tier of government", but are crying out for an effective tier of government to solely control England's affairs. Love it or hate it, at least the Scottish Parliament gets things done in Scotland, the rest of us deserve the same for our own nations. - Stephen Gash, English Democrats Party, Carlisle.

LONDON WHALE

THE sad story of the northern bottle-nose whale that found its way into the River Thames and died before it could be returned to the open sea, captured the hearts of many people.

At WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, we have had many calls from people who want to know what they can do to help whales and ensure another animal does not end up in such unfortunate circumstances.

The question that we need to ask is was this incident just a freak of nature or should we be concerned that human activities might have somehow caused this, for example displacing it from the deep ocean? It is certainly true that whales, like other animals, can be frightened and even driven by loud noise or other disturbances.

So, it is at least appropriate to raise concerns about the possibility that human impacts in the deep oceans may be affecting them. We should now ask our Government and political representatives what effective protection is in place for these animals.

So, if you want to do something practical to help the whales please write to your MP or MEP and ask them what is being done to protect the whales of the deep seas from all the noise and disturbance that we are creating there. It would also be helpful at this time to ask them to encourage our senior ministers to talk to their opposite numbers in Japan about that nation's expanding whaling activities. - Mark Simmonds, International Director of Science WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

RESPECT

NEW Labour's Respect agenda will have been received with a weary sigh by many.

We seem to have heard the same collection of gimmicks repeated endlessly by Tony Blair over the past nine years.

They never seem to work and the problems of anti-social behaviour, binge drinking, drugs, vandalism, violence and low level crime continues to get increasingly worse.

Perhaps the reason for this is that Labour thinks it can impose respect by pulling levers in Downing Street. You can't make young people respect their communities unless you encourage them to first respect themselves.

Young people need to be given opportunities to build their self esteem, self confidence and self worth. If they value themselves, they will value society.

The best way to do this is through genuine community partnership working - local people and local schemes which can engage young people while weaving them into the social fabric of their communities.

New Labour must learn that 'respect' starts with 'self respect' and provide the investment and power for local communities to make it happen. - Michael Fishwick, City of Durham Conservatives.