MAY I suggest to anyone wishing to receive a Lottery grant that they do something grotesquely outlandish in order to increase their chances.

Among recent recipients were gay and lesbian circus performers.

Not that I dislike circus folk. Indeed, I find many of them very watchable and highly-skilled, even if they are neither gay nor lesbian.

So why was the money given to this particular group rather than to circus people in general?

Perhaps they make the gymnastics just that little bit more interesting!

Or possibly the trapeze performance is enhanced if the male wears mascara and the female is tattooed - as was the case with some of the guests at the recent 'show business' party at Downing Street.

That little lark was, at best, weird and, at worst, it was a nauseous display of vulgar publicity-seeking exhibitionism by 'entertainers' basking in the glare of full media coverage.

One would think that our Prime Minister should have known better than to even have associated himself with such a puerile, pathetic display by people who publicly flaunt their bizarreness.

RAYMOND NICHOLSON, Birch Hall Avenue, Darwen.

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