IN RESPONSE to your story on Scrum V presenter Graham Thomas being taken off air (WoS, Feb 12). If he has broken the guideline of his contract then so be it.

He was, after all, only speaking from his point of view.

Though Gareth Thomas was representing the team, I think personally he needs to look at his own image. Captain Marvellous uses the Ayatollah salute after every try he scores, which is a Cardiff City thing.

Many people outside of Cardiff are quite agitated by this, which does work up the crowd, especially when a lot of supporters are under the influence.

As captain he should be above it all, but I can't see him dropping this salute.

He could go and salsa dance with the corner flag if needs be.

Perhaps Gareth wasn't the correct person to be seen getting on his high horse over such a trivial matter.

Andrew Daniel, via e-mail

THANKFULLY, Wales v Scotland and France v Ireland saved a dismal weekend of rugby.

Both teams played rugby as it was meant to be.

England, however, reverted to their rolling maul, ball-up-the-jumper routine and bored the pants off everyone except Nigel Oveland, who wrote in last week.

Everyone knows that running rugby with flair has always been alien to England.

If the writer who says he's from Cardiff would take off his rose-tinted glasses and mount his chariot, perhaps he could think up a better anagram for a name (I love England) when he heads back over the bridge free of charge.

John Evans, Treorchy

I AM writing in response to your article entitled 'Union Funds BNP'.

The first paragraph of this article stated: "Workers who sign up to a new union will be funding the extreme far right British National Party."

I am a member of the National Executive of the Solidarity Trade Union. Our political fund is not yet established.

When it is established who receives grants from it will be decided directly by our members. You quote one of our officials, John Walker, expressing his personal opinion that the BNP should receive support from the fund.

As our membership is drawn from a variety of political persuasions there is likely to be considerable debate.

It is of course possible for any of our members to opt out of the political fund and in the case of those who live in Northern Ireland they have to opt-in. Your statement is therefore inaccurate on a number of different counts. My personal view is that the union should only give money to charities and lobby groups in those areas of interest to Solidarity. I would need to see a proven track record of support for workers' rights before supporting a grant to any political party.

Patrick Harrington, National Executive Solidarity Trade Union

MY WIFE and I were glad to see Wales on Sunday on February 4 draw attention to pneumococcal meningitis, a serious form of the virus but one that often goes unnoticed next to its more well-known neighbour, meningococcal meningitis.

Our son Bryn had this when he was six months old and we were shocked to discover he had meningitis, which we mistakenly thought would be preceded by the appearance of a rash.

Some of the most peculiar symptoms are the hallmarks of this form of meningitis, including the arching of the back in young babies.

Of course one of the reasons why it is so dangerous to the under fives and babies in particular is that they are unable to express themselves and as parents you are reliant on looking for maybe the more common symptoms that are often mentioned in the media, such as the rash.

We were very lucky that my wife - through a gut feeling, maternal instinct, call it what you will - sensed something was very wrong and we got him to hospital in Newport in time to be treated.

We are also fortunate that Bryn has appeared to have not suffered any of the horrific side effects common in this illness.

He has since been inoculated against the bacteria, although the chances of him getting it again are probably slim, but it is common practice to already inoculate anyone considered to be in a high risk group (and previous sufferers fall into this category).

Lloyd Williams, Newport

IT IS a fact that the biggest arms dealers in the world are America and Britain.

In view of this, how can they claim to be the policemen of law and order in the world?

The arms trade funds poverty, terrorism and war. We sold Saddam Hussein military equipment in 1986, when Margaret Thatcher was in office, and now affairs in Iraq and the Middle East are a disaster.

A prime example of how terrorism can flourish.

T Jones, Cardiff