HOME Secretary Jack Straw has vowed to get tough on drunken and drug-crazed louts and says key elements of his Crime and Disorder Bill include anti social behaviour orders on families like Blackburn's infamous nightmare neighbours, the Liddles (LET, December 3).

Both I and my wife take exception to the slandering of John and Margaret Liddle and family.

When was the last time the writer of this article carried his neighbours bin bags away for them? The Liddles do it for us every week.

When was the last time the writer knocked on his neighbour's door to ask if they are all right? When was the last time the writer or Jack Straw did anything for anybody?

If I were the Liddles, I'd sue. The Liddles are like politicians - some good, some bad. If it came to a choice of neighbours between Jack Straw, the writer of the article or them, John and Margaret win hands down. So leave them alone.

If Jack Straw wants to direct his attention to 'families from hell,' he needs only to look in our neighbourhood where there is a family which is allowed to run riot in the area, breaking windows, setting fires daily, doing damage and thieving from gardens and greenhouses.

I've had to ring the police three times this week. They were pelting an Asian woman with snowballs and then started on the windows. Action taken? - Nil.

Two hours later, they were throwing buckets of water down the road for a laugh. I rang the police again - nothing.

Rang the community police sergeant. Result? - an answerphone.

Jack Straw is all wind. Nothing gets done by him, our councillors or the police. So let's stop pretending it does.

SAM SPENCE, Ribblesdale Place, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.