ICANNOT let Walt Meadows (Letters, September 14) and his ecstatic adoration of the blessed Margaret and her Tory government get by without comment.

Privatisation - not mentioned in their 1979 manifesto, but forced upon us later - is not the panacea for all the ills in this country. In fact, it sometimes exacerbates them.

The water industry is a prime example; far from paying taxes to the Exchequer, the newly-formed water companies have received more than £14 billion in the form of tax allowances of nearly £8 billion, a highly cynical 'green' dowry of £1.5 billion and a debts 'write-off' of £5 billion.

They have made profits of about £10 billion, mainly due to higher charges, not efficiency; of this, £3 billion has gone to shareholders and only peanuts paid in corporation tax. What a wonderful bargain for us!

Mr Meadows says it is unfortunate that we cannot all share in the benefits of privatisation. In that at least, he is right.

Don't pretend that only nationalised utilities receive subsidies. We are now, or have been, paying to the newly-formed privatised companies in various covert financial deals.

Margaret Thatcher was a disaster for Britain.

Ask the 300,000 now sleeping rough; the estimated three million or more no longer in employment; the home owners, 1.7 million living in negative equity.

Ask the pensioners who now rely on charity to exist; ask the victims of the horrific increase in crime; ask the parents whose children attend underfunded comprehensive schools.

Ask the local councillors trying to provide good services with ever-decreasing budgets; ask the proprietors of the thousands of bankrupt businesses; ask why Britain has fallen from 13th to 18th in the world prosperity league; ask why taxpayers are each paying about £1,000 per year to service the national debt.

Is this a good position for a country to be in after nearly 18 years of a single government? I think not.

COUNCILLOR REG GOGGIN, Richmond Road, Accrington.

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