LETTER:Why we feel bad

From Mr Michael Rubenstein

Sir: Much is rightly made of the continuing absence of a "feel-good factor" owing to lack of job security and to acute problems relating to house ownership. However, the sight of many beggars and of those sleeping in the city streets is itself depressing for those of us not notably affected or threatened by economic misfortune.

How can people "feel good" while dismayed by such evidence of an "us" and "them" society.

Yours faithfully,

MICHAEL RUBENSTEIN

Benington,

Hertfordshire

17 March