BRAVE MOTHER'S TRUE ACT OF LOVE

5/12/2004

I cried when I read your remarkable story about Heather Gemmen, who was raped at knifepoint but still decided to have the baby when she discovered that she was pregnant.

She says her little girl Rachael reminds her of the startling beauty that can emerge from utter ugliness.

Heather and all her family are quite remarkable. It shows there are always people worse off than you and whose actions would soften the hardest of hearts.

Elizabeth Clarke, Manchester.

What a shame that House of Commons Speaker, Michael Martin's wife can't get a good night's sleep because their freebie accommodation is so close to the Strangers Bar overlooking the Thames.

With drink sold at such cheap prices it is no wonder that the place is busy until the small hours. It really is a case of one law for the rich and another for us mere mortals.

Tom Baxter, Sutherland, Stirlingshire

I was outraged and disgusted to read that US troops, with the approval of President George W. Bush, are secretly using the highly-controversial napalm gas to eradicate the remaining rebels inside and around Fallujah.

If any country needs to be investigated for Weapons of Mass Destruction, it is the United States, which obviously has no qualms about using them to satiate Bush's hunger for revenge. He is as guilty as the enemy he seeks to destroy and needs to be stopped before he wipes us all out.

Miss S Abassalty, West Byfleet, Surrey.

New rules will mean that all major electrical jobs must be carried out by a professionals or checked by the council - a real kick in the teeth for DIY enthusiasts.

It will be easy for some unscrupulous electricians to hold people to ransom and demand far more than the job is worth.

Hand-in-hand with this legislation should be a set scale of charges, with severe penalties for those found flouting them.

J.Noakes, Dereham, Norfolk.

TEACHER Pam Orchard was right to suspend the bullies who set upon a pupil.

And those who stood and watched are just as guilty. I can't believe that parents would stand up for their children who had behaved so disgracefully.

Sally Vincent, Brighton