IRRESPONSIBLE: Newcastle's Labour MP published his annual report last week.

Dear Sir,

Figures released this week show that Staffordshire Police are failing to investigate 35% of reported crimes, or an astonishing 29,832 crimes in 2008/09.

Dear Sir,

This week we got a taste of what Sir Christopher Kelly’s report on MP’s expenses may say when it is published next week.

Dear Sir,

Over the bank holiday weekend I read ‘A Vanished Landscape’, the 1930’s childhood memoir of the historian Paul Johnson, who grew up in Tunstall.

Dear Sir,

I disagree with Mr. Kevin Raftery’s letter to the Sentinel of 26 August, apparently condoning the decision of the Scottish Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill to release Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

Dear Sir,

Yet another good local business has fallen victim to the economic crisis.

Dear Sir

26 November, 2008

If Gordon Brown was looking for a legacy, then he found it in the pre-budget report: bequeathing us a mountain of debt to rival only that incurred in defeating fascism in World War Two.