THERE was a time when I thought that The Citizen was no more than an advertising rag, but my views have changed dramatically.

Your paper is willing to take on the contentious topics that others are not. I really wish that you were the nightly, rather than weekly voice of Blackpool.

You are to be commended for truly representing the people of Blackpool and addressing issues that the town's so-called other "local newspapers" seem to ignore.

One presumes that they are simply a mouthpiece for the council, hence the rarity of any articles the council might find contentious. In particular I would like to point out that your coverage and support of those affected by the closure of the council rest homes has been superb and your "Save the Rest Homes" campaign really is what a local paper should be about.

You have given hope and comfort to the elderly who face being evicted and the staff who will lose their jobs. Already 50 staff have been given notice that they will go by the end of September. This is amazing when one considers that the final vote by the full council does not take place until October 18. It is perhaps not so amazing if you talk to the staff who can tell you about the campaign of dirty tricks employed by the Labour councillors and social services.

When are the opposition councillors going to challenge what is happening in these homes? By the time they come to vote in October there will be no homes left to keep open.

I am told that the social services are systematically and very effectively making sure of that.

One may also ask the same of our Members of Parliament who have been very quiet on this issue. Perhaps they should remember that an election is looming and they should listen to the electorate and not their political affiliates.

Of course this is only one of the many dire issues facing Blackpool and I for one want to know when we are going to see some real action by the council to clean things up. I am not a political person, but I feel sure that I speak for many when I say that I simply want to know when we will have an end to empty promises and a clean-up that will allow us all to have a decent standard of living in a place that we are happy to call our home town. I have never written to a paper before, but was horrified by the comments made by Mr P Crossley last week (Letters, September 14) who was telling us how much Blackpool has improved under the stewardship of Councillors Taylor and Bancroft.

I really would urge the gentleman to spend some time talking to the police, the business owners and the people of Blackpool in general. I think that he is in for a rude awakening.

Blind loyalty to your political party is probably commendable in some people's eyes, but self-deceit is, and always will be, the worst kind of deceit.

I would also point out that, as the number of voters who turned out at the last election showed us, (I believe that two wards had only 19 per cent) many people have little confidence in any political party.

There is one way to chage that though and that is simply to give us a home town to be proud of, where we can feel safe to walk the streets and safe in the knowledge that our elderly will not be pawns to be used when there is a blip in the council's finances. It is all very well boasting that we have low council tax -- but at what price?

Mrs K L McNally,

Boleyn Court, Blackpool.