I ALWAYS get annoyed when reading contributors' letters stating that the Labour Government has achieved nothing for anyone, particularly the lower paid who by definition need Labour most.

I get annoyed because those making the comments must have had it so good prior to 1997 that they assumed every one else did so, too.

Well, I have news for them. The good life they enjoyed was not enjoyed by millions of others prior to 1997.

The test is quite easy. If you did not need a minimum wage, if you had paid holidays, if your income was sufficient not to need tax credits or child income support, if you did not need pension income guarantees or the £250 winter fuel allowance. if your children's school did not need rebuilding, if you did not need the doubling of the expenditure on the health service, then of course you do not see any benefit.

Believe me, there are many millions who have seen a change for the good. The sad part is, those who have benefited most will also forget what it was like and vote to return to the situation that existed prior to 1997.

Still that is what democracy is all about. The ability to vote for something that you thought had been consigned to the past, but you will once again get in the future.

From: T Scaife, Manor Drive, York.

IF New Labour were a person, anyone with any modicum of conscience and respectability should take their glove and deliver a slap across its
smug face.

"You cad, sir," the indignant party would retort, in honourable defence of all those living in squalor and poverty across the land.

Ostrich-like Gordon Brown would either stick his head in the pile of New Labour intransigence, fly away to a summit or take refuge inside Downing Street, in the vain hope that "things can only get better". But things have got worse for the family who it was reported are living in
their car, having been evicted by the system with no heart – the banks.

Or how about the other family living in an allotment shed due to the same ruthlessness of our shameful financial cartels?

I suppose we can't really expect any morals from institutions whose only reason for existence is to make money using other people's money, but what if? What if the banks could sit around a table and thrash out some common sense solutions to the predicaments of people who are struggling, to give them a little slack, to help them survive?

What if the Government actually did something to help people overwhelmed by the rising tide of utility costs?

What if Gordon Brown turned up to work one day with the sole intent of resolving homelessness and financial despair? Unless New Labour can become a modern, caring and dynamic government, we shall continue to read comments from New Labour councillors concerning "affordable" housing.

I suggest that New Labour councillors in York stop defending this cad-like government and even resign if they are incapable of pushing for two million new council homes, rather than trying to justify "affordable" housing.

From: Malcolm Naylor, Grange View, Otley.

AS a measure of social inequality and Labour's betrayal of socialism,the income by top executives compared with the average pay of their employees has increased from 17.5 times to 75 in the last 10 years.

The median income in which half the population earn above and half below is £22,000. This disguises the fact that some are getting (not earning) £10m per year while a pensioner gets about £4,500. And it is no use denying that this does not affect them. These discrepancies increases costs and put many services and essential commodities out of reach. For example, a disabled pensioner whose shower failed had a repair taking one hour 20 minutes and was sent a bill for £200 (which included tax VAT of £29). Two weeks' pension! It's no good Sir Michael Parkinson, the ambassador of dignity, saying it's not about money. It is.

Labour is a disgrace and when it introduced the minimum wage it should have added a maximum income for all individuals. But no. What it has done is increase indirect taxes that hit the poorest the hardest and turned the screw with means testing.

The Labour Government is so contaminated with the capitalist virus it should be buried in a lead-lined coffin. Labour is the worse possible option for working people and only when it is buried can we start again to build a society based on fairness, social equality and democratic reform. Under the present undemocratic regime, we are locked into Labour and an un-elected Prime Minister for the next two years.


Conflicting views on the merits of Countdown

From: Sheila Stones, Talbot Grove, Roundhay, Leeds.

THE Countdown producers are solely to blame for the decline of this once first-class programme. They have allowed Carol Vorderman increasingly to take over, resulting in the resignations of Des Lynam and Des O'Connor, in my opinion.

I finally switched the programme off, for good, last week when we were regaled by Ms Vorderman on the 80th birthday of her mother, including a family photograph.

We viewers tune in to watch the contestants, but they are just there now to make the numbers up. Dear Richard Whiteley used to keep
Miss Vorderman in check, but those days are long gone.

The programme should be taken off the air as it is well past its sell-by date.

From: Connie Hird, Mount Drive, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

TO add to the recent comments of MM Urquhart and Mary Rodley, may I, as a former contestant say I am equally appalled at the treatment of Carol Vorderman and the way the powers-that- be seem intent on winding this marvellous programme down.

Everyone I met involved in the making of the programme – Lisa the floor manager, the audience warm up comedian, Kate Horton and Damian Eady being the people whose names I recall – plus everyone on the actual show were all so courteous and friendly and they obviously enjoyed the work they were doing.

I made two visits for auditions and two to actually appear on the programme and those six days were some of the most enjoyable days I have spent this year.

Countdown is just a gem of a 45-minute programme, entertaining and informative in a gentle, humorous way with none of the unnecessary obscene language proliferating in so many other programmes of today.

Des O'Connor is charming and funny and
will be hard to replace (Des Lynam was a disaster) but Carol and Susie are an irreplaceable duo. I am so glad I was a contestant when the show was at its best and running in perfect harmony.