WHY is it that the leaders and managers of this region are seemingly content to play second fiddle to the whims of the Government and its concentration of real investment into the South-East corner of England?

Take Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley airports, for instance. Rather than fight the case for bringing global connections directly to this region they are happy to hope that we might get an extra slot into Heathrow, thanks to its recently-announced third runway.

No wonder this region is becoming a set-aside region, destined only to get by with the dwindling European handouts we have been getting for the past 20 years.

David Preston, Darlington.