SPARE a thought for the elderly folk living in Lancaster's Fair Elms and Dolphinlee Old People's home.

They like living where they are, it's their home and the last thing they want is to be forced to leave because of a county council cost cutting exercise.

They've fought in world wars, they've worked hard, raised families, paid their taxes but that doesn't seem to mean anything these days?

They need people to speak out on their behalf, to protest at the closure and privatisation plans.

The staff would be the best bet - they know how the elderly residents will be badly affected.

But are they able to speak out on behalf of residents?

"Sorry I can't comment," is the reply reporters hear more and more these days from people terrified of upsetting their paymasters.

It's ironic that these old folk fought in wars to protect 'freedom of speech' yet in 1998 there is no freedom for staff to speak out.

Last week hundreds of local workers at two Lancaster factories were lined up for redundancy. They are obviously very concerned but when asked how they feel about the situation the reply is "Sorry mate, I can't comment. I'd get the sack." Freedom of speech is no where to be seen.

Also last week, traffic wardens have been asked to man public inquiry desks and, although some are not happy about the move, when asked about it the response is "Sorry, I can't comment. It's in my contract to not say anything."

Council workers, nurses, company employees, police officers, charity volunteers, teachers - these people are the fabric of our society but if they are worried about something, believe an injustice has taken place or just want to speak out against a management decision they feel is wrong it's near impossible to publicly voice those concerns.

There are matters which should be kept private or worked out behind closed doors but 'freedom of speech' - in more and more cases it's fast becoming a myth.

Newspapers should be a forum for people to exchange views and opinions but increasingly we have to quote people 'off the record' or publish letters with pseudonyms simply because people feel vulnerable.

And that's what's really worrying. Basically it's 'fear' that prevents people from voicing their concerns yet we're always led to believe that it's only those distant totalitarian regimes where people are too scared to speak out.

It's happening here, right now, in all walks of life and the 'fear' factor seems to be increasing as job security gets worse

But I guess I should be careful ranting on like this about 'freedom of speech' - I could end up being locked in the tower at Lancaster Castle.

And if that sounds ridiculous - just ask Stephen Booth what he did to earn nine months in prison.

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