THERE is a big difference between supporting America and supporting the Bush administration. The America I know is the one where one third of its people took on its government at its most powerful and effectively opposed the war in Vietnam.

It is the America where those who cared took on racism, from which came civil rights laws. It is the America that defends freedom of religion.

It is the America of the Stone Wall that brought gay rights to the rest of the world. It also is the America where more people voted for Al Gore than George Bush.

It should be a surprise to no-one that the team which reneged on the Kyoto Environmental Agreement, tore up the nuclear agreement with Russia and reinstated Star Wars, put their heads in the sand while the Palestinian-Israeli conflict got out of control, now thinks the answer to terrorism is to bomb Iraq.

But where does Tony Blair get his mandate? It is doubtful that anyone who voted for Labour would have voted for Bush over Gore. Our prime minister either does not understand the difference between being a good friend to America and supporting the Bush team, or he has more in common with them than those who voted for his party ever dreamt.

Beware, Mr Blair, and remember that those you represent would never have voted for your new best friend. There is another America and they share the same values of those in Britain who voted for you.

TONY HEYES, Swift Close, Blackburn.