SO, as autumn descends, the slow shoots of an economic recovery are starting to break through, Britain has endured one of the worst recessions of its history, and one brought on by speculators, investment houses, banks and, undoubtedly, the last government.

Of course, the Labour movement will never admit the party was to blame because those who held power were hijackers, men of no real political allegiance, purely those looking for a medium to catapult them to the seats of power.

Now they have faded away, fallen from grace or jumped ship Labour’s true voice resounds in the conference halls: strike – bring the country to its knees, cripple the economy to make a point about cuts.

We are told by union leaders that these cuts demand action – action that will, if the lunatics take control of the asylum, crush any recovery and send us straight back to the dark days of the Seventies.

It would seem despite the seriousness of the country’s economic woes those in opposition cannot grasp that the solution has nothing to do with politics – it is all about prudent housekeeping from now on in.

The cuts in the welfare state are long overdue and ought to be more swingeing.

Ian Hardy, Darlington.

IT is frequently said that a lie is halfway round the block before the truth has got its shoes on. So it is with the repetitive mantra of the Con-Dem coalition in claiming that these Tory cuts are now necessary because of Labour’s profligacy and wastefulness while in office.

However, most readers will remember that this economic crisis was started in Wall Street and not Downing Street.

Similarly, the re-emergence of Tina (there is no alternative) from the Thatcher era to excuse these ruthless cuts is framed in the same disingenuous fashion.

While there is no issue about reducing the deficit, it seems to me that an obvious alternative would be to reduce this deficit through smaller cuts over a longer period so that lives and livelihoods are not compromised in such an unfeeling manner.

Robert Hammal, Richmond, North Yorkshire.