WHY oh why do we have a monument to an anti-working class, Eton-educated bully dominating the market place in Durham?

The statue was unwanted by Durham Council back in 1861, and they tried to have it stationed on Palace Green.

The university wouldn’t agree, and so the overblown statue of this cruel, nasty individual was plonked in the Market Place.

The Third Marquis of Londonderry, for it is he who sits swaggering on top of the horse, was a pit owner of the worst kind.

He refused to allow his mines to be inspected, and at a time when young children were toiling in his pits, opposed raising the school leaving age to 12.

Londonderry was against trade unions and broke strikes in his pits by bringing in Cornish tin miners.

During the strikes, he sent letters to Seaham merchants, threatening to evict any traders who supplied striking miners with goods.

The statue in the market place was commissioned by his widow, and paid for by his equally rich friends.

It has nothing to do with the people of the city, other than serve as a reminder of the struggle previous generations had to gain even the most basic rights in the coal mines of Durham.

It needs to go.

Paul Tomaney, Langley Park, Durham.