RURAL AREAS

I READ with interest MEP Stephen Hughes' comments on the Institute for Public Policy Research's (IPPR) Future of European Structural Fund report (Echo, Apr 25).

IPPR fully supports the need to target both urban and rural deprivation, but rural areas benefit from a different European funding stream, the Rural Development Programme.

It is reform of this programme that holds out the most hope for rural areas. At present, this money is used to fund revenue transfers for agriculture and forestry rather than broader economic and social investment within our region's rural communities.

To secure rural economic vitality, greater reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is needed, transferring financial resources from farm supports towards broader measures that benefit all workers and residents.

IPPR North fully recognises the major deprivation within Country Durham and Tees Valley and is about to launch research looking at the importance of integrating rural, social and economic matters into regional priorities.

The report, A New Rural Agenda, will be launched in early June at an event with MP Jim Knight, Minister for Rural Affairs. This report will highlight the economic contribution of rural areas, the European challenges that face rural areas, as well as other social and economic challenges that are a pressing priority for all policymakers in the North-East and elsewhere. - Jane Midgley, Rural Research Fellow, IPPR North.

CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOUR

SHOULD violent children face legal action? The consequences of not taking action are unacceptable; but the way in which the issues are addressed is vitally important.

We hear much of the loutish behaviour of youngsters with hoods and, yes, there are issues about children and the lack of parenting boundaries. But society has a responsibility to children because quite often there are factors and influences that are external to the family, which impinge on behaviour.

Dealing with violent children is not as easy as taking legal action. It is about looking at the behaviour and seeking to change it. This is the ethos of the Asbo. Legal action on its own is not worth the words on the document unless there is a plan to achieve a change in behaviour.

A great deal rests upon the child or young person, but parents have to be involved.

The real challenge for the future is for a return to some traditional values, many of which still operate in modern family life. Unless we tackle the issue of children's violent and unruly behaviour it will be an issue that will continue with future generations. - Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe, Durham.

SPOT ON

IT is quite absurd of Eric Gendle (HAS, Apr 15) to suggest that creationists believe the sun goes round the earth, etc. Such beliefs were doubtless once common, although they were no more wide of the mark than the orthodox view among evolutionists and atheists until recently, that the universe is without beginning or end.

We now know, of course, that it began in a dense fireball more than 16 billion years ago and will eventually end in the same way: ideas that are in perfect accord with Bible-teaching - only it may seem that the Bible, with its accounts of a six-day creation, is wrong about the time involved.

Is the Bible really wrong on this point, though? Not if read carefully, or if checked against the latest scientific research. Thus, Einstein teaches that time flows at different rates for different observers; also that intense gravitational fields compress time perceptibly.

Now, in the beginning, with everything confined to a single point, gravity would have been so intense that from God's perspective the subsequent 16 billion years would indeed have been condensed to approximately six days.

So the Bible turns out to be spot-on after all: an unerring guide to the truth, scientifically as well as spiritually. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

HEATING PRICES

WITH reference to gas and electric home heating I, being a pensioner, was with Stay Warm which Powergen manages, and which no longer gets subsidised by the Government.

It came to my attention in January, when my 12-month contract with Stay Warm was due for renewal, that the amount had gone up from £54 a month to £68. I decided to change companies and have now saved the £14 a month extra which I would have had to pay Stay Warm.

Many pensioners have complained to Powergen about fees going up so much as Stay Warm was solely for pensioners' cheaper heating.

I rang Stay Warm to ask about this matter. Their reply was that last year the Government stopped its subsidy to the company.

They still call themselves Stay Warm. I have written to Tony Blair about this matter. Many vulnerable pensioners want to know what to do and, meanwhile, they carry on with Stay Warm paying higher prices. - Mrs S Bradshaw, Richmond.

TOP CLASS TREATMENT

MY husband, Ken, has just spent 11 days in Ward 51 at the Memorial Hospital, Darlington, and two weeks at Eastbourne Care Home in the town.

The treatment he received in both places was absolutely first class. The care in Ward 51 was tremendous. All staff were wonderful, the cleanliness good, and nothing was too much trouble.

Eastbourne, was an eye-opener, almost like a small hotel. Again, nothing was too much trouble, and the food, though not perhaps home cooking, was superb.

My husband is nearly 86, and has had a healthy life. We expected hospital to be a bit of a shock. But all we can say is a very big thank you to all concerned. We couldn't have received better care anywhere. - Jean Ramsden, Darlington.

EXCELLENT MONARCH

I WAS a schoolboy at the time of the death of the Queen's father, King George VI, and can remember our class being called into assembly to hear the news on radio.

The BBC's John Snagge made the announcement and although the King had been ill some weeks previously, the news of his death was unexpected.

At the beginning of the Queen's reign in 1952, there was much talk of the country entering into a new Elizabethan era. Sports events were held in my village to mark the occasion, along with free trips to the cinema for us schoolchildren to see special colour films of the Coronation.

Now that she has reached the age of 80 the Queen can reflect on the fact that she has been an excellent monarch, and one who has carried her people with her. - L D Wilson, Guisborough.

McCARTNEYS PRAISED

WELL done BBC. Well done Heather and Paul McCartney for the TV programme on April 19, The McCartneys Against the Fur Trade.

Heather's one expose has done more to highlight the cruel fur trade than any one of us has in ten years. Shame on those who make money out of misery and, worse, those who buy fur products knowing full well how they were obtained. - Marjorie Embling, Crook.

WASTE DISPOSAL FACTS

HAVING read Brian Fiske's letter (HAS, Apr 21) on the future of waste disposal in Darlington, I was left wondering where he obtained his information. There was not one jot of truth in the whole letter. Let me set the record straight.

Firstly, no decision has been made on the future of Darlington's waste disposal method. The Cabinet meeting received a report that gave the pros and cons of various possible methods for waste disposal. But, no decision was made.

Secondly, the Cabinet meeting was not held in secret - it was a meeting open to the public. The Press were present, as were some Tory councillors, although no Lib Dem councillors bothered to attend.

Thirdly, the report is not secret. The meeting was in public, and so the reports are public - in fact, they are still available on the council's website.

So, was Darlington Lib Dem press officer Brian Fiske deliberately trying to mislead Northern Ech o readers, or do the Darlington Lib Dems need to get themselves a better informed press officer? - Councillor Stephen Harker, Darlington Borough Council cabinet member for consumer and environmental services.

TRAFFIC MISERY

I AM constantly informed that Darlington is a "Town on the Move". But here I am in the latest traffic delay, created by our council in Thompson Street East.

In the past, traffic could filter left on to North Road, but now, since the recent changes, the traffic lights allow only three to four cars to turn left down North Road before changing back to red.

Locking the filter lane at Thompson Street East will cause more traffic to flow down Fitzwilliam Drive/North Road junction.

It would appear that the traffic engineers wish to limit local traffic entering North Road in order to speed up the traffic on that main thoroughfare.

Whatever the plans and alterations made to North Road, the main bottleneck is the Northgate roundabout.

How ironic it is that the new bus routes send hundreds of buses a day onto the roundabout, adding to the congestion and so compounding the problem. The traffic engineers must be sick. - R H Brook, Darlington.

FEETHAMS FUTURE

LET none be deluded, if houses are built on Feethams, the town will lose an amenity of enormous importance.

For example, Feethams has historically been the home of professional football in Darlington.

If the present or future owners of the club were to pull out, and the new stadium were to close or change use, where would the town club play?

In short, any development of the Feethams site would be extremely short-sighted and should be opposed by all who care for the town. - Stuart Howard, Darlington.