LETTER: Charities among lottery winners

From Mr Malcolm Pirouet

Sir: Michael Paraskos and David Flavell (Letters, 3 November) rightly argue that Terence Conran is incorrect in claiming London deserves a high proportion of National Lottery funds. Mr Conran's article (1 November) correctly points out that London is the only city in the UK that can realistically compete with other major European centres. However he fails to note that London's status as a "world city" is not used to the benefit of Britain, but rather to the benefit of vested interests based in South-east England.

Channelling National Lottery funds into London risks repeating the Parisian experience, where the money spent on "grand projects" has done little to benefit the 8 million inhabitants of Paris, and even less for the people of France - as evidenced by your newspaper's coverage of France's social and economic problems.

Yours faithfully,

Malcolm Pirouet

London, N1

3 November