I cannot understand the argument between those who feel it should be for market trading, against those who feel it should be used for entertainment.

In my view, it should retain maximum flexibility and be used for both!

It should be possible to use it totally for one activity, and then totally for the other.

The only way to achieve this is by adopting the Continental model for market trading, ie, by traders driving up, creating their trading stall, doing their day's trading, packing up, and driving off, to leave an empty square.

This method seems to work in Bruges, Gent, Brussels, Padua, Toulouse, Antwerp and even in Northampton for the farmers', French and Italian markets.

Many of these locations have weather that is no better than ours!

I would also hope that we will steadfastly preserve our architectural heritage and draw up a long-term plan to exploit the Market Square.
Joe Castello,
Earl Street, Northampton.

Nurse behaviour was a one-off
Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust would like to respond to an article in yesterday's Chronicle & Echo about an inappropriate image being posted on the Facebook website by a member of staff earlier this year.

We were extremely disappointed on discovering the image, and took steps to have it removed immediately.

However we would like to make clear that the nurse involved was not pictured topless.

The staff involved were disciplined, and we issued a reminder to all staff that we expect them to maintain patient confidentiality and professional standards at all times.

I would like to reassure the public that this was an isolated incident and is certainly not typical of the behaviour of our nurses.
Helen O'Shea
NGH chief executive.

Editor's Note: The hospital was given every opportunity to respond to the allegations made in the article in the lengthy build-up to publication.

The only statement issued was the one published in full yesterday.

It has now been confirmed the nurse was 'inappropriately dressed'.

But the hospital has still not made it clear in what way was it inappropriate or what the picture showed.

Disaster recipe
The present council's plans for Northampton market must be reconsidered, as must the way in which they intend to move traders around.

Moving a market around is a recipe for disaster.

After every move the market drops traders and those traders who are left drop customers and everyone, including the council, is left much worse off than before.

The "civic space" they made last time they moved the market has brought no more footfall or customers into the market, nor the town centre.

So now they want to make it twice as big. What for? Twice no more customers is still no more customers.
Eamonn "Fitzy" Fitzpatrick,
Ridgeway, Northampton.

Use zeal to clear roadside growth
I refer to your piece in last Friday's C&E covering the removal of private signs on the public highway, due to the county council's safety concerns.

This prompts me to suggest that this zeal should be redirected to the following areas, which I believe should rate higher priority in efforts to address safety on our highways:

Clearance of the roadside growth obstructing so many traffic signs, whether they be speed limits, warnings of potential hazards such as bends and junctions, or direction signs.

They are all safety-related, yet many are partially or totally obscured by trees, bushes and weeds, most of which are growing on verges which, as part of the public highway, are the responsibility of the council.

Clearing of drain gullies at the side of the roadway.

The previous practice of regular cleaning of these important features of the highway seems to be a thing of the past, judging by the number which have become totally blocked, or unable to function effectively in wet weather.

I recall a recent C&E photo, taken at the time of the fatal accident between Milton Malsor and Blisworth, showing a blocked drain and water extending across the road adjacent to the crossroads in Milton.

Such traffic hazards and many so-called "flash floods" could be prevented by regular maintenance procedures.

Come on County Hall, how about using your powers to really target highway safety!
G Sturman,
Summerfields, West Hunsbury, Northampton.

Roof tax will fall on home buyers
With the housing market in free fall and estate agents laying off staff, I wonder how the £20,000 roof tax on new dwellings will help to sell houses in Greater Northampton?

It won't be the house builders or fairies who end up paying the money, but the poor devils who will have to find the extra £20,000.

And this in a time when mortgages are going to get more difficult and expensive to obtain, due to the credit crunch!

It might work in Milton Keynes, where London rates of pay are universal and the facilities provided are light years beyond that enjoyed by Northamptonians, in the first place.

It's the Government that wants this town to expand, so it should pay for the infrastructure and social housing that goes with it, not the private house buyer.
John Wright, Port Road, Duston.

World needs a Day of Prayer
The world economy seems to be in meltdown, banks are failing and share prices are plummeting.

Unemployment figures are rising sharply, businesses are closing down and inflation is pushing millions of people into poverty.

Pension funds and investments are crashing and a cold winter of discontent is looming, with the threat of strikes by unions and public sector workers seeking higher wages.

Britain is at war on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan and there is a danger of a new front opening up with Russia, should they choose the option of invading Georgia.

Our world is rapidly changing and there are no real certainties any more in the affairs of mankind.

Surely, now, it is time for us all to pray together?

Jews, Christians, Muslims and anyone else who believes in the Father of all creation, whether we call him God, or Allah or Jehovah, surely now it is time to lay aside our divisions and join together in doing the one thing that we all have in common.

We need to pray and we need to do it together as a diverse, multi-faith, multi-cultural, multi-racial, collective family.

Five years ago, I wrote to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, suggesting that we have a Day of Prayer for all faiths in our nation.

His reply said that "it could be possible but that it would need the support of all the churches before such a petition could be presented to Her Majesty the Queen".

As a divorced father of three children and now a granddad, and as an ex-con living in a council flat, under threat of eviction from my home, who is barely surviving on a part-time job in a pub where I am paid the minimum wage, it is hard enough to support myself, let alone gain the support from "the churches" to join in with a campaign for a National Day of Prayer.

However, my situation in life does not negate the validity of the concept of a Day of Prayer, nor does it stop me from seeing the importance of all faiths joining together to participate in such an event.

Furthermore, what I also see is that this idea does not primarily need the support of all the churches for it to happen.

It truly only needs the support of any person who prays.
John Cox,
Dairymeadow Court, Thorplands, Northampton