IWRITE with reference to Burnley Council's support for the provision of a monetary allowance to employers taking on jobless people from the Stoneyholme and Daneshouse areas of Burnley.

I have just received a courteous letter of inquiry from an 18-year-old girl who is seeking her first job.

It grieves me to have to write to her explaining that we have no vacancies.

But to think insult is being added to injury because she does not live in the aforementioned area and will therefore in all probability be discriminated against because she does not have the benefit of having a bribe paid on her behalf is really quite upsetting.

It is, I am afraid, too much to ask for the people responsible for this policy to be honest enough to admit that this is really positive discrimination by the back door.

This is a perverse and twisted ideology which benefits few, but more importantly antagonises many.

S SMITH, Burnley Heritage Centre, St James Street, Burnley.

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