Sir,
Gordon Brown invites us to "Tell us what you think" - Egremont Today, October 2008.

The financial situation has deteriorated enormously since your last edition, not just in Britain but internationally.

Whatever corrective action the Government takes to alleviate the present situation, surely the lesson you have learned by now is that deregulated free market economics are by their very nature unstable.
The Government's acquiescence to "light touch regulation" has failed miserably. An admission to this effect would be helpful in restoring trust in its future financial decisions.

Gordon Brown's emphasis on fairness will be judged by the following:

1) Protection of jobs;

2) Protection of the poor and most vulnerable sections of society;

3) Making the burden of corrective action fall on those most able to bear them.

Finally, expect no support from the usually hostile press. Do what you believe to be fair and just.

Richard Carr

Sir,
In a recent edition of your magazine, Mr. Brian Simpson, M.E.P., asks "Are you English or British?", and finishes his article with the question "What do you think?"
I think Mr. Simpson is guilty of very woolly thinking and deluding your readers.
1. He does not consider himself English.
2. He says that 34% of the population believes "we should separate into 4 different countries". Mr. Blair's government has already done this job of separation (he called it devolution'). Of course, he was merely following, as usual, the diktats of our masters in Brussels who, since 1975, have had the UK divided up into 12 regions, of which Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are 3. England is divided up into 9 regions.
3. He says that an English Parliament would be a disaster, and then whines on in the classic Merseyside way, wallowing in his status as a victim of the South East conspiracy.
4. I no longer consider myself' British' which has become a totally meaningless word. I have no wish to be identified as having the same nationality as suicide bombers, and other people who express a desire to wipe me, as a Christian, from the map. With the Labour government giving British nationality to anyone who can fill in the application form I prefer to call myself 'English' .I travelled abroad on business for 35 years, and I never, ever, came across a Scotsman, Welshman or Ulsterman who called himself' British' .So now, neither do I.
5. The Act of Union was a political ploy to pacify the other three nations and is not relevant to today's conditions.
6. If St. George's Day was good enough for Henry V, it's good enough for me.
7. Mr. Simpson is feebly supporting Gordon Brown in his efforts to convince us we are all British. He should realize that Mr. Brown is yesterday's man, and things have moved on.

Peter Robbins,

Baldock, Herts

(The editor is always ready to publish letters criticising any views published in our columns provided that they are signed and addressed, proportionate in space, and within the law.)