Readers' letters

DANIEL Smy (Echo letters, January 28) is too quick to condemn the Lib Dems for their calls for a local income tax, which from where I stand is a fair, just, effective and cheaper solution to the problems of council tax. He claims it has all the disadvantages of the poll tax. He is wrong. The key problem with the poll tax was that everybody had to pay a certain figure irrespective of their financial circumstances. That, Mr Smy, is exactly what is wrong with the current council tax. People on low and fixed incomes have to pay the same as everybody else, though their resources are limited or fixed and the council tax continues to rise inexorably out of all proportion. What Mr Smy should be praising about the local income tax idea is that it has the main advantage of the poll tax - i.e. that the burden of paying for all the local services would not just fall on two people per house, but on everybody who is earning. Much fairer, don't you think? More people paying will lower the individual contributions, and as local income tax is a much cheaper tax to collect, that burden on local finances will be lifted. The resultant savings in benefits to those currently struggling to make ends meet could release even more money back into the community. The Lib Dems' policy as it stands has estimated that a rate of 3.75 per cent would be needed, but not on the first £5,000 and nothing over £100,000. By my reckoning people earning up to the average local wage of £20,000 plus would pay less than they do now, and those people earning over £25,000 would no longer be subsidised by pensioners and people living in poverty. Mr Smy claims that people are not concerned about the type of tax - only the amount. Our experience on the doorstep is that many people detest the council tax because of the amount they have to pay, and that universally people are willing to pay taxes if they are fair and result in the quality of services that they expect from a civilised society. There will always be winners and losers in any change, and there will undoubtedly be some anomolies thrown up that will need to be addressed in detail when this policy is implemented, but of the three main parties I would back the Lib Dems every time to err on the side of fairness. DAVE RICKARD Vice Chair West Dorset Liberal Democrats Martinstown

I HAVE WORKED HARD FOR MY HOME

THE recent letter from Jack Biggs, who you frequently feature in 'Letters', has probably angered many single pensioners with the suggestion that those who choose to remain, in his words, in three or four bedroom houses after the birds have flown the nest "may be just as responsible for exorbitant housing costs as second home owners". Well, Jack Biggs, I am one of those single pensioners, and I choose to remain in my home where I have lived for 37 years. Why? Beause I am happy here, it's how I want it. I have nice neighbours, it's a nice quiet area, it has a driveway for me to park my car, and occasionally, I have family who visit me and stay with me. I have worked hard for my investment. In conclusion Jack, I hope you enjoy your ground floor flat as I enjoy my three-bedroom house, but please leave the preaching for the ecclesiastics. At least that's off my chest! DICK BORTHWICK Clarence Road Weymouth

TERROR CASE PRISONER WAS NEVER AT OUR SCHOOL

I FEEL I must take issue with the Echo story of Thursday, January 29, about Stephen Smyrek, imprisoned in Israel for terrorism offences. Mr Smyrek has never been a pupil of Thornlow Preparatory School, which was established in January 1998 following the retirement of Mrs Jocelyn Crocker as the proprietor and headmistress of Thornlow Junior School. Mr Smyrek was in fact a pupil at Thornlow Senior School, which closed in July 1998. He left in 1987. RUPERT FOWKE Headmaster Thornlow Preparatory School Weymouth

LOTS OF BIRDS DIE IN NETS

I refer to the article by Matt Dickinson about birds being caught in fishing nets and dying (Echo, February 2). This virtually invisible net fishing has been happening for many years. I find it hard to believe that the chief fisheries officer says it has only happened two or three times in 12 years. Perhaps he should get out more! The netting starts in the autumn - some of these nets float on the surface. They are set one day and collected the next day, sometimes being left all day. The birds have to feed to survive, usually on sprats, whitebait, sand eels, and once they find food this attracts more birds. What chance have they got? This incident reminds me of the dolphin deaths. We know the cause of death - fishing - but what is done? Portland is a renowned bird watching area with many visitors and tourists. If this continues happening the tourist trade could decline. NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

I HOPE CENTRE STAYS OPEN

MY NAME is Corinna Kay Hobson. I am eight and a half and every week I attend the Weymouth Outdoor Education Centre. I really enjoy it every week and I am feeling sad because the county council may be going to close it down. I really wouldn't like it if they did because they've always got something exciting to do. I just really hope that they don't close it down next year. CORINNA KAY HOBSON Weymouth

A LESSON IN HOW TO SELL YOUR RESORT

I READ with interest the article about Lanzarote in the Echo Magazine last Saturday. It did not mention the charming and laid-back resort of Playa Blanca, where we spend at least a month every winter - nor the fact that you can fly there very conveniently from Bournemouth. Incidentally, each morning as I walked through the town I noticed that all the shopkeepers and caf owners had washed down the area in front of their premises. There was not a piece of litter in sight. Nor was there any graffiti, billboards or chewing gum stuck to the pavement. Someone even walks along the beach picking up discarded cigarette stubs in a shrimp net. How about that, Weymouth? DAPHNE E PONT Weymouth

LET'S NOT GET QUITE SO CARRIED AWAY

I note with interest that the Echo has published at least three letters from Name and Address Supplied either advocating corporal punishiment, castigating 'do-gooders', or both. Do these extreme views really reflect the tide of opinion in our town? Have we become so desensitised to violence and injustice that we now think it acceptable to visit it on criminals and the socially excluded? Undoubtedly criminals should be firmly punished and taught the error of their ways, but we should also be looking to accept the excluded back into society, without thrashing them within an inch of their lives. I sign myself, naturally, NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED Weymouth * That's enough Name and Address Supplied, thanks. Letter writers are referred to the note below about the Echo's approach to the publication of names and addresses - Editor