THE pensioners are on the march, the government can't afford to pay a decent pension.

Many of our schools are in need of substantial repair and the equipment and wherewithal to provide a decent education is in short supply.

The health service is very much under performing with the majority of nurses under-paid, all due, the government tells us, to lack of funding.

Local government is starved of finance needed for capital projects.

In the last month a £2,000 million subsidy is paid out to the very profitable arms industry, a large chunk of this being paid to British Aerospace (profits in the first six months of this year £215 million - a 38 per cent increase).

The British Government are also the leading exponents of spending - £40,000 million on the Eurofighter.

Her European partners are not quite so enthusiastic.

They know that before these aircraft are built, the bill could be more than £60,000 million - all taxpayers' money at a time when we have no enemies.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine, who is largely responsible for this madness, should be sacked.

Ken Bulter

Haston Lee Avenue

Brownhill

Blackburn

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