DEAR JO.

Free travel pass a

vital lifeline

PLEASE Mr Welsby, BR chairman, don't take concessionary bus and rail travel passes away from pensioners and the disabled (Daily Mirror, April 12).

My neighbours are both in their eighties and would be completely housebound if that happened.

Their one luxury is to visit a local shopping centre twice a week to buy groceries and chat with other old folk. Without a bus pass they would be unable to afford this outing.

Thousands of pensioners served this country during the Second World War, enabling you, Mr Welsby, to be born in freedom.

Please think again and remember that these passes were guaranteed by the Government.

Geoff Almond Stanmore, Middlesex

THERE has been much talk about BT's huge profits and customers complaining about line rental charges (Dear Jo, April 15).

When I moved house I kept the same number and was charged pounds 39 for a takeover charge. It's good to talk, but even better to read the small print.

Bob McCormick Stanley, County Durham 

CONGRATULATIONS on the Mirror's continual exposure of fat cats who get an easy life at our expense, and unelected quangos which rule our lives.

If Tony Blair could get rid of these abuses of democracy he would gain the whole-hearted support of the people.

G Owen Barnsley, Yorkshire

Mad to pick on tough guy Max

MY old school fellow Max Hastings is too much of a gentleman to respond to your disgraceful article (April 17).

May I therefore take up the cudgels on his behalf? To call Hastings (the distinguished offspring of two highly distinguished journalists, Macdonald Hastings and Anne Scott-James) a "notorious Tory toady" is quite ludicrous.

He has always been (and remains) a man of enormous integrity, whose opinions are entirely his own.

To call Hastings "shy" is equally ludicrous. He is, as you must know, an extre-mely tough character who has never been afraid to say what needs saying to anyone, irrespective of rank, title or background.

To describe him as a "keen military historian" and then to attempt to marginalise his very considerable achievements in this field by adding that his first published work was Ping Pong In Peking is simply pathetic.

To say that he "won fame" by "yomping" into Port Stanley makes light of an extraordinary brave action which could easily have cost him his life.

I am perfectly aware that your grubby sense of humour means that you won't print this letter. But at least you will have received it.

Yours cordially,

Richard Perceval Graves, biographer, Ballygarven, Co Cork

DI-CEY, TONY

SO Princess Diana thinks that Labour Leader Tony Blair has charisma. He should be wary of the compliment from this man-hungry young woman.

Ron Herbert Sudbury, Suffolk

F WALKER'S letter about his razor reminded me of a radio phone-in.

A caller boasted of using the same blade since 1940 and asked if he qualified for the Guinness Book of Records.

He was told he might qualify as the meanest person.

R J Smith, London SW12

FIONA Webster's article, Don't Keep Mum With Dad, said it all last Friday.

My dad, Arthur, has just come out of hospital after a triple heart by- pass operation and has been very sick. However, this made me realise how much he means to me.

Now on the mend, he will hopefully be feeling better and return to work soon. I am sure a lot of daughters and sons out there feel the same as me, but sometimes forget to say to their fathers: "You're the best dad in the world."

Maxine Newell, Basildon, Essex

Why we all run round in circles

YOU asked how come athletic events are run in an anti-clockwise direction?

The majority of people are right-handed and favour the right side of their body.

Consequently they have a longer right stride than left.

By running anti-clockwise, the left leg is on the inside of the track and has less ground to cover.

The effect of this is seen in open spaces, such as deserts, where people walking with no landmarks will eventually return to their starting point as they have been walking in an anti-clockwise circle.

Bill Smith Runcorn, Cheshire

YOU asked how come one year of a human life is said to represent seven in a dog?

The average life expectancy of a human being is said to be 70 years whilst that of a dog is said to be ten years. Thus dogs age roughly one year to our seven.

Liz Manning Cosham, Portsmouth

HOW come two weeks is known as a fortnight?

D Messenger Stockenchurch, Bucks

HOW come we say "tit for tat" and where did it originate from?

Jeff Barlow Stoke-on-Trent

HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE

I WAS surprised to read (Daily Mirror, April 12) that Commons clerk Philip Hensher has been sacked for bringing the House into disrepute. I thought that was exactly what MPs have been doing for years.

Allan Haythorne, Rotherham, S Yorkshire