COLUMN INCHES

Views of some tabloid columnists on the continuing war in Kosovo.

THE DAYTON Peace Agreement was signed and has, as I predicted, consigned many thousands of Albanians to hell ... Milosevic and his wife are the product of dysfunctional families ...

I'm no military strategist but I cannot believe it was beyond the wits of the international community to deal with one vengeful and ambitious couple before they were allowed to unleash more mayhem. Violence inevitably breeds more violence ... And on and on it goes.

Jenni Murray, Express

IT'S HARD not to be moved by the pictures of Kosovan refugees streaming out of the war zone, especially the terrified kids. But have you spared a thought as to where they'll end up?... Make no mistake, they're headed here.

Soon you won't be able to move for head-scarfed women clutching wide- eyed babies and holding out their hands in your direction. Of course, the majority have been through a hell we can only imagine, but does that mean we have to swamp our already over-burdened welfare state?

Dawn Neeson, Daily Star

WHEN I was in Zenica at the height of the Bosnian war, an interpreter told me prophetically: "I am a Croat married to a Serb and I cannot accept closed ethnic communities. But the more there is danger that you are killed, the harder it is."...

In desperately short supply is wisdom from our politicians. They embarked on a dangerous bombing mission to prove to us that they were intrepid and fearless, but it's led to more bloodshed, more greed and more suppression.

Lynda Lee-Potter, Mail

FROM MY living-room window I look out on my own bit of tree-lined suburbia. Over the road I see smoke billowing from a recently renovated listed building where many of the inhabitants are foreigners. Suddenly, people flock outside, clutching bags - some of them barely clothed, as if roused from sleep without warning. The place is seething now with police, troops and paramilitaries in sinister masks shouting at the frightened figures scurrying away...

Well, of course, this isn't really happening here at all. This is a scene played out in my own imagination, within the confines of a safe existence. But are the homes in Kosovo we see burning on the telly so very different to our own?

Sue Carroll, Mirror