I HAVE heard it said that computers are now so powerful that they will eventually dispense with us and take over the planet.

I don’t know about that but I do know that since they took over the public sector, the quality of service – if you can call it that – has never been so unmitigatedly bad and indeed downright vile.

Vile in its callous irresponsibility, incompetence, discourtesy, ignorance and shocking inhumanity, especially to the most vulnerable.

I am certain that the computerised gibberish that Government offices now spew out en masse will have caused many frail, elderly people to have a heart attack or stroke, sometimes with fatal consequences.

I am equally certain that the top officials who manage such places do not give a toss about such events.

I would estimate it cost a trillion pounds or more to install computers in Government offices. It would be worth spending another trillion pounds to have the damn things removed and replaced with human beings.

The latter, would, however, first need basic training in literacy and numeracy, at least to infant school level, and, above all, in common sense.

Tony Kelly, Crook.