I COULD not help reply to Mrs K Dobson's letter (Echo, July 3). I would like to bring to her attention why Sheila Ellis was elected along with the other Independent councillors.
The residents of Houghton are sick of the promises made by the local Labour councillors, that were never fulfilled.
It was not because of her involvement with "Rats" alone that she was elected. It was because Labour voters wanted something done for Houghton, as they were sick of being the forgotten residents who could not rely on the support of our local Labour councillors.
They never tried to prevent the waste tip from being closed. Why? Because the revenue it brings in to Sunderland Council coffers. The residents of Houghton over the years have given to Sunderland Council millions in council tax and have received nothing in return.
Before the recent elections, the residents of the area in which I live received a personal letter from our local Labour Councillor, Mr Lawson, using first name terms of the householder and their spouse. This I object to, likewise so did other residents.
After Sheila sent out her communication on the local issues, within two days we received aother leaflet from ex-councillor Lawson what he and his party had done for Houghton, to quote: "Secured a commitment to provide a new recycing centre for the Coalfieds and an on-street recycling point on Houghton Broadway". This is to be in front of our beautiful church.
Those electors that did not cast a vote did so because I believe they were disgusted in the way the Labour Party has deserted Houghton.
Mrs Ellis and the other Independents will give their support to all the people of Houghton and district, but will have a hard task ahead of them because of the ruling Labour-controlled Sunderland Council.
Name and address supplied

Hospital TV shocker
MY mother has been, of late, quite often in Sunderland Royal Hospital. I just had to write for someone to hear my utter disgust at the overcharges and unreliable service of the bedside TV and telephone that is available, or should I say can be afforded.
Firstly you have to register the station at your bedside – hard luck if you are moved to a different bed or be discharged leaving any non-refundable credit. Your name is registered to that station and when your family or friends ring your name is quoted to the caller, it takes 1min and 3seconds to be connected to the patient. You are encouraged to stay on the phone for five minutes to give the patient an extra one hour free TV viewing – whoopy doo.
The customer helpline is as much use as a chocolate fireguard. they must be robots reading from a set menu. One even said that he was unable to change the user personal name due to data protection (we are talking about a pensioner using this hi-tech thingies as my mum calls them). I had to go into the hospital ward/bedside to change the name – clever stuff though, because when the name was changed all credit in the TV was wiped out.
Wouldn't you think that when a person is frequently in and out of hospital a log would be kept of
any credit they previously left when discharged?
Let's be honest, most of the patients who cannot afford this service are pensioners,who cannot afford to watch the TV at the rate of £7 for three days viewing – regardless of whether your TV is on one or 24 hours per day – three days is what you get!
I understand that the old ward TV did cause a lot of disagreements but surely some fat cat should realise what it is costing our pensioners to watch TV – especially the lonely people with no visitors. And get this – they can use the Internet! How many pensioners are able to?
Someone must listen and address this problem.
Margaret Armstrong,
East Boldon Road,
Cleadon

More are in debt
RELATIVELY little attention is given to the vast number of people with mortgages, but who do not intend to move. A major cost facing many of these homeowners is the increase in their mortgage payments once their fixed rate terms are at an end.
An average two-year fixed mortgage has risen above 7% for the first time in eleven years. Locally, a further complication has been the demise of Northern Rock as a lender. This bank was a popular and competitive big player in the mortgage business in this city.
Whoever the lender, this is a problem and experts are saying that higher mortgages costs are forcing more cash-strapped borrowers into voluntary debt management plans, with applications for individual voluntary arrangements rising by 34% since the start of the year.
In a few months there has been a changing economic climate and who is to blame we can leave for another letter. Very careful thought now has to be given as to what people can pay when their council tax is being assessed. Gone should be any general assumption that because people are owner-occupiers means they are comfortable financially and ready-payers.
My own party recently proposed a motion in council which in its conclusion stated "that Council Tax bills in Sunderland do not rise in 2009/10." This was not accepted by the ruling Labour Party. I have mentioned some points which convince me they were wrong.
Coun Michael Dixon,
Conservative Housing Spokesman

No wonder they call us Treasure Island
WHEN a person is claiming Disability Living Allowance for sciatica and a bad back then competes in a tournament in Cornwall; a drug addict disabled with psychosis from using drugs then given drugs to wean him off cannabis; then other people are given £60 weekly payments to wean them off alcohol. I bet that would cut their intake. When Stupidity is of sufficient explanation there's no need for any other.
No wonder the Europeans named this country Treasure Island.
When I pick up a paper and read some MP fails to declare payments to nannies, gardeners, kitchens, mortgages and their wives employed as secretaries instead of a student given these jobs, it looks like pragmatically justifiable fiddling. Some of these politicians think they were anointed not appointed.
One I used to hear say if I have time I will get around to it. I think a lot of them should be serving time. Other people buying their way into the House of Lords, most of these people believe in energy conservation, mainly their own.
What I think should happen soon is for a larger room for both houses to sit and the Head of State to flush these chambers and get rid of some of the stools within, or have I the stupendous capacity for believing the incredible?
Kim Martin,
Seaham

All parties involved
J WATSON (Echo, June 30), complained about the contents of my previous letter where I drew attention to a number of senior Conservative politicians who defied David Cameron by continuing to abuse the taxpayer funded MPs expense system.
J Watson appeared ignorant on the subject when inquiring why I had not mentioned any Labour names.
With a little bit of research they would have found out why it was unnecessary to include Labour MPs. Because I had written earlier (April 2) that with MPs' expenses we had a deep-rooted problem within the House of Commons which involved all political parties.
For J Watson's benefit, the reason for my unbiased comments was to highlight the fact that even a political party leader cannot bring his greedy MPs to heel by stopping them riding on the expenses gravy train.
W Quinn,
Millfield,
Sunderland

It's our dad
REGARDING the photo of the news vendor that you printed in Saturday's Echo. I would like to confirm that this is definitely our father, William Thompson Anderson, who died 06.06.67.
My two younger sisters brought their copies of the photo into the High Street Echo Office (all the family have a copy of this particular photo). I, myself, took family photos into the Pennywell Office, one of which was the original photo taken by the Echo.
If the reader, John Jobling, who believes it to be his uncle, would care to contact my sister on 0191 5520651, she is willing to arrange for him to see the original photograph.
Mrs Sheila Wayman,
Berwick-upon-Tweed