I WOULD like to make these points to the Prime Minister.

When Mr Brown appeared on television following the announcement of so many losses of Labour seats in the local elections, he looked very dejected and said that Labour must now go forward.
I disagree. Mr Brown should stand still, look at their record over the past years in office and find out how much public money has been squandered on such disasters as the passport changes, the CSA, payment disasters, and the Defra muddle over farm payments.

Then there was the much heralded introduction of a computer system linking doctors' surgeries and hospital appointments, which failed miserably, not forgetting the loss of valuable (and personal) records for which junior staff were blamed.

Mr Brown should now make sure his advisers really think through their introductions, and make sure they will work and be of benefit, before the whole thing flounders within a few weeks.

I am sure readers will contribute their examples of inefficiencies – perhaps too many staff, untrained for their jobs, and inadequate records
of the movement of data,
when such records are private and personal.

How can any MP enjoy such high salaries (and perks) for such inefficient work?

From: Ruthven Urqvuart, High Hunsley, Cottingham, East Yorkshire.

I MIGHT just have a bit in common with Gordon Brown. Our fathers were devout priests, and we both profess to be "private people", and
not especially effective at communicating in the "public arena".

However, the similarity ends there, as at least I always endeavour to respond to a question with an answer, which was never the case during Andrew Marr's interview with him on Sunday.

It's no good just listening, Gordon, you've got to "hear" as well, and try to act accordingly on the combined advice of your esteemed colleagues and the public you represent. As a non-academic, I do believe that, invariably, a little wisdom is worth much more than a lot
of knowledge!

From: Phyllis Capstick, Hellifield, Skipton.

IF Gordon Brown really intends to listen to the people of this country, we now need the right kind of actions, not similar empty words uttered by his predecessor.

Tony Blair told us so many lies, and deceived us in so many ways, all to his own advantage.

The former leader of the Labour Party (supposedly for the working man, but in reality for themselves) owns six homes, the latest reported acquisition being a mansion priced at £4m.

From: Barrie Frost, Watson's Lane, Reighton, Filey.

SELLING Britain's gold reserves at a knockdown price; raiding pension funds of £5bn each and every year; imposing penal rates of stamp duties on house purchases; applying swingeing inheritance taxes on family homes; introducing so many stealth taxes they cannot be listed; wasting billions of pounds on consultants, quangos, failed computer and military systems; heaping praise on our troops then failing to provide proper equipment and medical care; professing to sympathise with the plight of flood victims but ensuring a windfall in VAT receipts from flood damage repairs is grabbed; allowing the fiasco over late farm payments to continue; profiting in huge tax revenues from high fuel prices with no concern for the haulage industry; reneging on the promise of a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty; abolishing the 10p tax rate and penalising the lower paid; ensuring council underfunding would make council tax bills double; encouraging mountains of red tape, paperwork and bureaucracy both in private and many key industries; allowing uncontrolled immigration; waging a war in Iraq; slavishly following every daft interpretation of the Human Rights Act; presiding over cushy prisons and spiralling gun and knife crime; refusing to finance more prisons.

No, Mr Brown, it's not just a couple of recent political blunders or other world problems which has resulted in voter rejection, but it is more than a decade of mishandling of Britain's affairs by the Government, in which you had a major part, which has led to the judgment by the electorate.


Property market good for the long-term

From: Andrew Beadnall, Partner, Beadnall Copley, Market Place, Wetherby.

I WRITE to object to the use of the headline and terminology of your front page lead story (Yorkshire Post, April 28) of "negative equity"
and "tumbling house prices" – which is simply not factual.

The definition of tumbling is to "fall rapidly in amount" and "fall headlong" – this is not the case in the property market where, at worst, reports indicate some house prices have seen a reduction of only one per cent over the last 12 months.

With an average house price of £200,000, this equates to just £2,000; balanced against the incredible gains over the last few years, where house prices have doubled, this is negligible. Reputable sources believe the property market will hold firm this year with some predicting an increase of up to five per cent by January 2009.

Talk of negative equity is sensationalising an issue that is possibly facing only a small proportion of the population; in the case where people have a 100 per cent mortgage and have bought in the last year, the potential losses are very minimal. However, the property market should always be seen long-term – with people moving on average every six to seven years, they will always see good capital growth and return on investment.

As an estate agent, I obviously have a vested interest in wanting to see positive news about property, but that is not my sole concern. The market does not work in isolation and incorrect, "bad news" headlines and stories that don't reflect the facts have repercussions on the economy as a whole.

The only issue with the property market at the moment is confidence and this has been knocked by the scaremongering of sections of the media who evidently favour the glory of bad news to the responsible voice of
factual reason.


Why I am proud of the example set by my son

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

DAVID Quarrie is absolutely right: "Most of us (the indigenous UK population) would prefer that (immigration) hadn't happened" (Yorkshire Post, May 6). Most of "us" would also like to bring back capital punishment and the birch.

Mr Quarrie reports that close to 80 per cent of people he talks to up and down the country share his view of immigration. His experience resonates strongly with mine. Over the years strangers, acquaintances and even friends have not only spoken negatively about immigration but also made racist and homophobic remarks with the presumption that I share their views.

Coldly, if somewhat cravenly, I have always changed the subject. Unlike my son who, offended by the racist chatter of a London cabbie, alighted long before his destination and paid the bigot off. I am proud of him for that.

Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown, predictably the most impressive member of a recent Question Time panel, revelling in his freedom from accountability, spoke a truth that no active politician dare utter; that is that some things are too important to be left to the populace; that the majority is not always right, otherwise we would still be hanging people.

Incidentally, on a lighter note, your correspondent quaintly cites "cleanliness" as one of the features of British life that has been compromised by immigration. I am bound to report a discussion I had with a Nigerian friend many years ago about the relative merits of the shower and the bath. Showering was better, he asserted, because, after a few minutes in a bath, you are sitting in dirty water.

As an indigenous Brit, I thought that was something of a counsel of perfection.

Finally, I am reminded of the old Australian joke: "If you want to hide something from a Pom, leave it in the bathroom."