IT is all very well for Dr J R Ashton, Regional Medical Officer, to say that the anti-fuel tax campaigners would have blood on their hands. No doubt he can well afford the high price of petrol for his cars and is oblivious to the fact that there are thousands of ordinary working-class people who cannot and have no reasonable alternative way of getting to work.

He blames the campaigners and the many low-paid workers who have been fleeced unnecessarily, so that the Opposition can take over and give tax cuts to the idle rich. Ninety seven per cent of the people can't all be wrong. If they are, then I wonder how many of us were wrong on the day of the General Election?

We may have a better health service, but I certainly can see no evidence of that, despite the fact that I have used it extensively over the past four years.

Yes, perhaps I was glad to see the emergency ambulance on April 5, but it could all have been unnecessary if we had the high quality of health service that we are paying through the nose for.

Perhaps JR could serve the public a lot better if he concentrated on the job that he is so highly paid to do. Of course, he has no blood on his hands, despite the fact that our local MPs are very worried about what is going on in our hospitals.

A Devlin

Glynne Street, Bolton.