THE ONLY reason anti-student whingers seem to be able to think up as to why students are a nuisance is that they sometimes come home noisily after the moaners have gone to bed as soon as Coronation Street ends.

Presumably then, all those noisy people who were carting themselves drunkenly round Dalton Square this summer, were Lancaster University students who had travelled hundreds of miles from their home towns to go out for a weekend in Lancaster. I think not.

The university is an invaluable asset to this town. It is our single largest employer, and students and staff bring in millions of pounds to the town each year - far more than any initiative that this Philistine council has ever thought of, and far more than any bypass will ever produce.

If the university were not here, some would still be meeting each other on street corners, saying "Eh oop Albert, how's thi'sen?"

"Aye not bad, lad. I've just asked me cousin if she'll marry me. If she won't have me I'll try me niece. Anyway, I must to go 'cos it's time for me dad to belt me, because he loves me, then I've got to go into yon field and shoot a rabbit for us tea, then I'm going t'pub to stare at my beer and not talk to anyone for three hours in case they think I'm a poof."

"Aye, you do reet, lad."

Cliff Laine

Melbourne Rd

Lancaster