Like many people, the only.

I AM a midwife and I trained during the 1980s. I have to admit I am ashamed of the profession and the direction in which it has been heading for the last 20 years.

The downfall of nursing in this country came about when the training was moved into universities. Nursing skills and how to care for people should be learned on wards, but now much more emphasis is placed on tutorials and text books. Reorganise the training and hopefully we will see happier, better-equipped and more professional nurses.

BM, Felling. FOREIGN lorries, especially from the former Eastern Bloc, are causing problems on our roads. Many are overloaded and badly maintained, and our ports can refuse them immediate access to our country. Our roads are in a deplorable condition with countless pot holes caused by heavy traffic transporting goods which should go by rail. DM, Bensham, Gateshead. I TOTALLY agree with the comments made by PL, of Wylam, regarding flights from Newcastle to Budapest, Copenhagen, Krakow, and Berlin being withdrawn (Vent Your Spleen, August 27). These destinations are popular places and services should be re-introduced. AR, Newcastle.

IN RESPONSE to Lee Tyler's piece in Vent Your Spleen (August 28), I would ask why 90% of the working-class population should work and pay taxes to support the other 10% who profit from their labour in order to keep them in a luxurious lifestyle.

We go back to the Marxist analysis of the situation in that a minority are a parasite on the backs of the working class and I do not think Lee Tyler's perception of the reality of life stands up to scrutiny.

TC, Jesmond. IN SATURDAY'S Chronicle there was an article about a hospital ordeal for a 91-year-old war veteran. I'm nearly 82 and I've had quite a lot of experience of hospitals and I've never yet met a bad nurse or doctor. They've all treated me very, very well.

Of course, I'm talking about Newcastle hospitals because they are the ones I've been in most. All the staff have been very helpful to me. The nurses have always been very good and so have the doctors. I can't praise the NHS highly enough.

JL, Newcastle. I WOULD like to comment on the suggestion by Mary Wilson that pensioners entitled to free bus travel should pay 50p towards the concessionary fare (Your Shout, August 26). There seems to be another couple of people who would do the same.

I wouldn't mind a small wager that these three people that have been commenting in the Chronicle up to now get some kind of rent rebate, pension credits or reduced council tax. Like many people, the only free thing I've had in my life is the pensioner's bus pass and I've no intentions of paying for it.

HC, Gateshead. PG, of Killingworth (Vent Your Spleen, August 27), mentioned Americans boycotting Scottish goods in the wake of the Libyan bomber being released. He is obviously an ignorant man who doesn't realise that people in New York were supplying weapons and funds to the IRA in the 1970s, which killed hundreds of British troops and Irish civilians.

Sending al Megrahi back to Libya may be wrong, but it's Scottish law. Think back to what Americans did to us.

JF, Gosforth. I AM surprised at the furore over the proposed high-speed rail link missing the North East. Where have these people been in recent years? If they look at the shipyard work being transferred to Scotland, you realise the Government knows it can ignore this part of the country altogether and people will still go out in their droves and vote Labour come what may.

GL, West Denton.

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