Letter: Use that Easter campaign break

Sir: So Mr Blair is telling fairy tales, is he (letter, 24 March)? I am 46 years old, not 18, and I can clearly remember life before the Conservatives came to power.

A life when the countryside was not laced with roads full of stressed drivers and exhaust fumes, because most people could find work near where they lived, and the public transport system worked; a life when children didn't have to be bussed twice a day, because the local schools were overcrowded; and when they got there, the loos were in proper repair and there were enough text books to go round, and enough teachers. If they hurt themselves in the playground, you didn't have to scrounge around for someone with a car to drive them 20 miles to the nearest casualty department.

The water was safe for them to drink, and if their parents were poor, they didn't suffer malnutrition, because they got a drink of milk and one good hot meal at day at school. Museums were free, and the local library was full of books, not half a room of books, one computer and an exhibition of work from the local embroidery club to fill up the gaping spaces.

An occasional dose of Arthur Scargill was a small price to pay.

ALISON TURNER-RUGG

St Albans, Hertfordshire