REGARDING Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe's whining about the reference to Accrington as a "dump" in the previous Sunday night's episode of Heartbeat on ITV and the obvious upset it has caused in council chambers, correct me if I'm wrong, but Accrington is an English town in the wonderful north of England.

Yet the members of the council seem to have forgotten, even with a fierce debate raging in the national press, what it is to be English - that is, to have a sense of humour and the ability to laugh at oneself.

Is this what our councillors debate in chambers - last night's television?

It seems like they have nothing better to do. Yet, I would have to argue that they have and that the sooner they realise this, the better it will be for everyone.

Perhaps what has happened is that the producers of Heartbeat have happened upon copies of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and found within its pages regular reports of squabbles and intrigue rarely found outside the schoolyard and have been quite entertained by the whole thing.

In their amusement, perhaps they are planning a future light entertainment programme centred around an ineffectual town council and this is a way of gradually introducing the show to viewers before it goes on air a la "Casualty" and its spin-off "Holby City."

I lived 27 of my formative years in Accrington and still work there and find myself agreeing with the Scousers (were they perhaps the same ones who promoted the Stanley so well in the milk campaign?) that it is a dump.

I regularly walk its litter-strewn streets on my way to one of the cut price shops so evident, or maybe walk a little further out of town to one of the cut price supermarkets.

Then, at night I have so much in the way of choice for my evening's entertainment, I could go down to the pub or to the pub or even a bar. I could hang out with the kids on the streets who have nowhere to go or I could have a wander around town to look at the illuminations; other towns call them traffic lights.

In fact, forget all that - I'll go to Preston or Blackburn or Bury or Burnley for all my entertainments and leave this dirty old town behind.

I know then that I speak for the majority of voters when I say to you the council: whatever it is that you actually do, keep up the good work and remember these two things - the truth hurts and that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

PAUL TERRY, Harwood Street, Darwen.

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