Policeman could not defend self

THE attack on the Houses of Parliament and the public on Westminster Bridge, was horrible, and frightening that a man in a car and armed with knives could cause so much mayhem.

Why was the policeman who died, and defending the most high-profile target, left with nothing to defend himself but his devotion to duty? It was wrong on all counts and, at the same time, gave a propaganda boost to the terrorists.

RAY KENYON, Stocksfield majority for the sake of the few in old Labour strongholds in the south east of Northumberland. Year on year we are seeing the quality of services diminishing and overspends reaching unprecedented proportions.

The obsession of councillors to have their names and faces on billboards in Ashington town centre shows their true colours and aspirations. They recently replaced the offensive ugly billboard monstrosities with new ones because the public had defaced them. (They couldn’t take the hint.) How much did that cost? Absolute vanity. This administration’s obsession with focusing on the things which will get them re-elected rather than serving the most vulnerable people within our community is nauseating and needs to be challenged by a credible “public serving” party (or parties) in May. We need a change.

P CAIRNS, Northumberland

RESPONSE from Grant Davey, leader of Northumberland Labour group: I’d like to set the record straight – since 2010, national government have stripped £192m from the county budget. Since the Labour-led