MY father and four of his brothers fought fascism in the war and two of them were killed.

Unlike many on the loony left in the North-East – including David Miliband, the son of a Communist father – and the media, I am not against Paolo Di Canio’s appointment.

No doubt they would not be causing all this fuss if Di Canio had said he was a Communist, despite the fact that Communist leaders of Russia, like Stalin, and Vietnam, Pol Pot, slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent people.

I wish Di Canio luck as he will surely need it.

John Armstrong, Bishop Auckland.

ARE these people like David Lindsay for real (HAS, Apr 2), talking about the American ownership of Sunderland FC?

Does he not realise we all live in a multi-national and multicultural society today. Everyone has a different view and different beliefs. What kind of car does he drive – could it be German or Japanese? What bank does he use – could it could be Spanish?

Does he use water out of the tap because Northumbrian Water is owned by the French? What energy company does he use – could it be German?

A lot of people still remember the world wars, does that stop people buying German or Japanese products?

As for the Durham Miners’ Association Dave Hopper jumping on the band wagon, if he wants to take his flag out of the Stadium of Light, let him.

Has there ever been Tory voting managers at the club? If so, then why didn’t he take his flag then.

And as for David Miliband, did he think it was okay for his boss to shake hands with Colonel Gaddafi? He didn’t leave his job when Tony Blair did that, unless he had different beliefs back then.

As usual, it’s always religion or politics that cause the trouble.

Paolo Di Canio has been appointed as head coach. Let him get on with his job and I, for one, will still be going to watch my beloved football team no matter who is in charge, because all I’m bothered about is what happens on the pitch.

LW Miller, Durham.

I CAN’T help but feel somewhat irritated by the gross hypocrisy from two stalwarts of the working class here in the North- East. One is a soon to disappear MP and the other is hanging on to the position of general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association.

In the case of the former, David Miliband, and his decision to resign as a non-executive director of the football club, does he honestly think that the working class families of South Shields really believe that he has served the club “so well” for truly selfless reasons? Wasn’t that service part of his attempted ticket to become leader of the Labour Party?

As for Dave Hopper’s demand for the return of the Monkwearmouth banner to Redhills, I would like to know how many of the ex-miners of County Durham he approached before making his – hopefully – democratic decision. I would also like to remind him that many of the former colliery villages are hotbed targets for extreme right wing groups in these times of financial and employment hardship, or has that not come to his attention?

I’m sure most of the men in those villages don’t need to be reminded of the sacrifice that their grandfathers, fathers and uncles gave by another official who does “very well thank you”

in a position of dedicated service to Durham’s miners.

Some might accuse me of cynicism and of supporting the appointment of Paolo Di Canio.

No, I am simply fed up with self seeking, self-important officials and public servants banging on drums to keep themselves in the public eye when in actual fact they are simply looking after number one. Is that not why they entered public service in the first case?

Alan Jackson, Tudhoe Village, Spennymoor.