He talks about the moral bankruptcy of today. I find this rich coming from someone who worked for a leader of a government which had the morals of an alley cat.
It beggars belief that someone who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jonathan Aitken and Jeffrey Archer, can even think about lecturing us about morals. The Thatcher government heaped misery on millions of decent, hard-working people. It decimated the country's manufacturing base and helped to create the underclass.
The majority of the people affected were the very ones who had voted the Tories in. Bernard Ingham quite rightly calls President Mugabe a racist thug but has he forgotten Pinochet?
Has he also forgotten that his employers helped arm Saddam Hussein and the corrupt African regimes he mentions?
I would like to point out here that I don't think the present government is much better and I have come to realise that people like Sir Bernard and politicians who reach the top don't have a conscience. Please tell me how they sleep at night. One reason, maybe, is that they trot to church every Sunday and ask for forgiveness?
It is obvious to me that corruption in politics is not confined to the old communist countries or the despots of the developing nations.
Napoleon once said, "Men are led by boys."
How true.
Promise someone a knighthood, a gong or a seat in the House of Lords and it's amazing what he'll do for you. Sir Bernard ridicules the European Union and the United Nations along with the Commonwealth.
Music to the ears of your readers, after all, these institutions are run by foreigners.
Tolerance is not a word that is much understood by the likes of Sir Bernard.
I have read a lot over the years and I have tried to be objective in my views but I can't get away from the fact that Sir Bernard and your newspaper represent a party and philosophy which is motivated by greed, and selfishness and always claims the moral high ground.

Our shameful position on war against Iraq
From: RA Scatchard, Sheriff Lane, Eldwick, Bingley.
Before writing this letter I waited for two events, the first of which was the Labour Party conference and the second the US Presidential election.
As one of the vast majority of British people and millions of people throughout the world who were against the war in Iraq, I was hoping that Tony Blair would do the honourable thing and resign as Prime Minister at the conference and that George Bush, who bears equal guilt with him for the war, would be defeated by the Democrats.
They both offer pathetic, inane excuses for their unpopular war: it got rid of Saddam and his two sons but that was not worth the loss of one single American or British soldier's life, together with the lives of American and British civilians.
And let us not forget the thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children who have been killed or maimed for life – and the killing continues.
There is no possibility for Blair and Bush to escape the facts relative to this war which historians will eventually report at length: they ignored the United Nations refusal to support the declaration of war, and they refused to accept the recommendation of the highly-respected weapons inspector, Hans Blix that he and his team of inspectors should be allowed to return to Iraq to continue their work, which on the last occasion had met with a certain amount of co-operation and success.
About six weeks after the commencement of war, Bush appeared on American TV and with a controlled grin indicated that the war was ended. What rubbish! The war was not ended and is not ended. Fighting will continue for some time to come causing tragic and needless loss of life.
America deserves a President who is respected throughout the world, such as Bill Clinton, and we deserve an immediate change of Prime Minister. Blair should resign immediately as suggested by Lord Healey.
Fashions in education
From: RJ Marshall, Wingate Avenue, Keighley.
Based on half a century of personal experience in education – as a schoolboy, undergraduate, post-graduate, teacher and A-level examiner, I suggest the Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke is quite correct to state that Prince Charles is old fashioned.
However, he has (seemingly) neither the honesty nor perception to concede that "old fashioned" is not a synonym for "wrong" or "bad".
At one time honesty prevailed. It was acknowledged that there were failures, in academic terms, among schoolchildren.
Some, through no fault of their own, were destined to remain semi-literate; others achieved their full potential by passing O-levels; others failed to gain university places because their examination results were not good enough.
The old-fashioned virtue of honesty led to these distinctions between students being made without fear or favour.
Perhaps, too, Prince Charles is, as Mr Clarke avers, out of time Perhaps, like others, he is of a time when parents endorsed, or even augmented, teachers' discipline, instead of challenging it.
Perhaps the Prince remembers a time when the vast majority of schoolchildren could work out the square of a number without recourse to a calculator; write sentences with impeccable grammar, syntax and spelling and could speak without the frequent interpolation of "sort of" and "y'know".
It might even be that the Prince would like to return to a time when classics were taught in our schools, rather than live in an age in which pupils are denied that privilege.
Finally, the Education Secretary says the Prince does not understand what is happening in our schools.
Might it be that His Royal Highness understands only too well and that Charles Clarke, the emperor of education, resents the astute comments about his new clothes?
Britain can thrive on euro
From: Jo Stirling, Lamneue Terrace, Rodley, Leeds.
Eurosceptics may well criticise me for defending the euro but recent figures from national statistics offices show that the eurozone economy grew by two per cent in the year to June, with Ireland leading the way.
The much-maligned German economy grew by two per cent in that period, with France at 2.9 growth and Spain 2.6 per cent.
Of course, growth is also up in Britain, where the economy expanded by 3.7 per cent, faster than in all Eurozone countries except Ireland and Greece.
However, in the three years to June 2004, Eurozone member Spain and the UK both saw growth of just over seven per cent, like Finland.
Greece was up by over 11 per cent and Ireland the star performer on more than 16 per cent.
Like Britain, Ireland sensibly vetoes tax harmonisation but benefits from its privileged status as the only English-speaking state in the Eurozone to attract foreign multinational investment.
So having the euro is in no way a handicap in promoting growth.
Productivity is higher than in the US in seven of the 12 Eurozone economies, and higher than Britain in nine of the 12.
So the important point is that although economic reform in Europe is rightly a priority for the government, inflexibilities in other European economies are not a problem for British business, any more than for the successful Irish.
If our continental competitors are indeed tied up in red tape, British and Irish companies will be better placed to succeed – especially for us once the handicap of using a separate currency is removed.
G Wakefield can also be reassured that his £1,000 would retain its full value, but just become about 1,400 euros.

Turbines a fresh wind of change for good
From: M Taylor, Stannington Road, Sheffield.
Few would disagree with the need to protect the environment from pollution or to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, increasingly imported from the finite resources of other countries – hardly a secure prospect.
The impact of wind turbines is benign; they do not pollute or contaminate the land, and they are one way in which farmers can diversify and avoid having to close down.
I do not suggest that wind farms are a universal panacea, but they represent a technology which should be used and developed, along with other solutions, if we are seriously concerned about such things as global warming and climate change.
Most objections centre around visual impact. From the moors above Sheffield one can see a vast panorama of some 25 miles or so, spoilt by three monstrous conventional power stations with their attendant pall of polluting gases. From the same vantage point, wind turbines would be almost invisible to the naked eye. At the other end of the scale, when viewed from close quarters, it is clear to see why eight out of 10 people approve of wind turbines, with their graceful shapes and relatively minor impact.
Whilst I can understand the apprehension of objectors, I note that only the tips of the turbine blades should be visible from Harthill, so any visual intrusion is minimised.
On a properly planned and constructed site, other considerations such as noise, or the strobe effect should not be an issue, and the energies of objectors should perhaps be directed towards working with developers to achieve these ends.

A Yorkshireman's cry from the heart for autonomy
From: DS Wilson, Harrowby Road, Leeds.
It is surely a considerable relief to all Yorkshire people that the voters in the so-called North East Regions rejected the proposals for a North East Assembly on the terms offered.
Such a development as presently constituted would mean that those parts of the North Riding of Yorkshire which were lost to County Durham and the new "county" of Cleveland would have become ever more entrenched in an alien environment. Likewise, proposals for a North Western Regional Assembly would perpetuate the territorial losses endured by the West Riding, when various townships were politically re-located to Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cumbria (etc?) on All Fools' Day 1974.
As a Yorkshireman, I have never regarded myself as a citizen of Yorkshire and Humberside, still less Yorkshire and the Humber. I am a Yorkshireman, nothing added, nothing taken away: Yorkshire comprises the three Ridings and the Ainsty of York. That is the entity for which I may welcome a Regional Assembly but only if that means considerable disassociation from involvement in the governments of England, Britain, the UK, the British Isles and Europe.
With the Yorkshireman's characteristic attention to his brass, I could only countenance a Yorkshire Assembly if, in giving it powers superseding those of England, the UK, the EU and such, it took less of my hard-earned money than the existing hierarchy does.
I would, of course, welcome many aspects of a self-governing independent Yorkshire: our own currency, our own language, our own oil, our own gas, our own coal, our own produce, our own cattle, our own sheep.
All ours to do as we wish with without interference from busybodies beyond the county's borders and sea areas. Not to say we wouldn't continue trade and barter wi' 'em.
The author, politician and broadcaster formerly known as Mitchell had much to say on the topic – I refer, readers, to the polemic aspects of "Teych Thisen Tyke" of the 1970s. Moderating the language slightly for the present day multicultural cosmopolitan, my cry must be "when will these culturally-impoverished sub Doncastrians ever learn to get themselves off our backs?"
Yes, let's have an independent Yorkshire – but let's have the proper Yorkshire, not one with bits chipped off, lumps missing and a chunk of Lincs grafted on.

Points
Flying in the face of reality?
From: Mrs P Schofield, Park Lane, Blaxton, Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
I recently received a letter from Caroline Flint, MP, asking me in my capacity of a parish councillor if I would support a campaign to stop climate change.
She goes on to say that one of the main causes of climate change is the high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
I find this request from her rather contradictory because she supported the development of an airport at Finningley. Does she not know that every time a large aircraft flies, it deposits a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?
War dates
From: Anita Dawson, Church Street, Burton Tidsea, East Yorkshire.
Everyone seems to be accepting that VE Day and VJ Day occurred in the same year – 1945. In fact VJ Day did not happen until 1946, therefore halfway between the two would be mid December 2005.
Also why is Tony Blair so anti celebrating our victories over the Germans and against honouring some of our dead heroes without whom, especially the few in the Battle of Britain, we certainly would have lost the war well before VE Day or VJ Day?
Fire with smoke
From: A Ogilvy, East Parade, Heworth, York.
Regardless of whether individuals smoke cigarettes or not, they should be concerned by another attempt to restrict individual choice and personal freedom.
Those who own or manage premises should have the choice of whether to allow smoking there or not. Cigarette smoking is a question of personal choice and should not be restricted by petty government dictators or bureaucrats.
Fall guys
From: R Littlewood, Hazlehead, Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
I don't think the anti-hunt Labour members are actually anti-toff or pro-fox.
They are simply worried that someone may fall off his horse and sue.
Buck stops here
From: W Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York.
Local democracy is ill-served by government regulations which encourage the delegation of councillors' duties and responsibilities to unelected members.
I recently wrote to the chairman of the Planning Committee of York City Council to express my concern. He wrote back informing me that he had asked an officer to reply on his behalf.