If the review panel has not made any specific recommendations on whether Bart's should close or whether Guy's accident and emergency department should stay open, then ministers must make their own decisions in the light of the abundance of evidence a...

That ballot was organised by the council of which I am chairman. It produced a substantial majority in favour of the single-site option, but only if it is of sufficient scale to support the current and predicted secondary and tertiary clinical worklo...

PETER JEFFRIES Chartham, Kent

However, we would welcome news of fines for others too: motorists who park in cycle lanes; drivers who turn left without indicating, running the risk of knocking riders off their bikes; pedestrians with a death wish who walk out in front of cyclists ...

JOHN BEATTIE Glasgow

Although about half of all persistent smokers eventually get killed by their habit, stopping smoking works - smokers who stop before they have incurable cancer, or some other serious disease, do avoid most of their risk of eventually being killed by ...

It is too late to bemoan the Americanisation of this part of our language. Labour won the election on a platform which relied heavily on using the word welfare in this newer, transatlantic sense. One central promise was to get people "off welfare and...

Higgs has just taken the witness stand. Counsel: Now, Mr Higgs, you have been reading the Daily Post for how long? Higgs: About 20 years. Counsel: Have you noticed any changes in the Daily Post over those years? Higgs: Yes. It has acquired a Property...

This activity is understood by many of us to be far greater than that which can be achieved in a hospital of the proposed size incorporating 1200-1300 beds at Whitechapel. Not only is London now no longer over-bedded, but indeed may be subject to sev...

But the project must involve wider regional interests through links to English devolution. I can think of no reason why the new mayor of London should not sit on the council to represent the London Irish, but we can also look to more exciting times w...

What we will and can do, however, is to deliver the national curriculum from within the Islamic ethos and perspective of the schools. This will ensure that the education on offer will be broad, balanced and Islamic. What your correspondent calls "a n...

ANNIE HENRY London W10

PAUL WALTER Newbury, Berkshire

He will start with a list of scary statistics to make the flesh creep. In 1971 only 18p in the pounds went on welfare, now it's 30p. Horrors! That's why reform is essential, he'll say, with some stern stuff about his determination to see it through. ...

Those of us who happen to have inherited ambitious stable parents, decent education, middle-class competitive values and the virtual certainty of being employed in good work should view them as national assets (like North Sea oil) from which all shou...

During its nine months in office Labour has been charged with nannyism. The complaint was loudly articulated when Mr Cunningham banned beef on the bone. In fact that decision was justified - pending further elucidation of the link between BSE and ana...

You will get some flavour of the trial with this extract from Monday's proceedings ... Counsel: Your name is Higgs? Higgs: It is. Counsel: And what is your first name, Mr Higgs? Higgs: Higgs has always been my name. There was never any other name whi...