Letter: Naive cry in the wilderness left by Thatcherism

MUCH AS I sympathise with the programme of public investment proposed in 'Time to go to work' (Editorial, 30 August), it is difficult not to regard your position as politically unrealistic. The ardent commitment of Norman Lamont and key cabinet colleagues to free-market orthodoxy, and the zeal with which they have condemned fiscal deviations, render them incapable of intervening.

It is disingenuous to call for 'action, and action now' without acknowledging that the Chancellor is ideologically committed to doing nothing. And surely if a fiscal stimulus is required, the 'Thatcher miracle' is illusory. So when you demand public works financed by borrowing to alleviate mass unemployment, are you condemning Thatcherism, or advocating changes in the Government, or both?

Phillip Evans

Moseley, Birmingham