Letter: Jacques Delors, I claim my pounds 140,000

Sir: I have, for many years, taught my students that the principle of subsidiarity holds that decisions should always be made at the lowest level compatible with efficiency. Thus, for example, it should be left to the parish council to determine whether to paint or to replace the parish pump, while a decision to declare war when a nation is invaded is properly left to central government.

I look forward to receiving Jacques Delors' cheque for pounds 140,000.

Yours faithfully,

M. B. WILKINSON

Brighton, East Sussex

15 October