LESLEY Jeavons thinks it's wrong that McDonald's should have a diner in the Millennium Dome (January 22).

Well I don't. McDonald's is just one of the big American companies who operate in the UK, along with Ford, Vauxhall, Gillette, etc. They provide thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers. McDonald's fast food is good, their prices are competitive and their service fast and efficient.

I'm far from pro-American, but without these companies this country would be in real trouble.

McDonald's epitomises what has been happening to industry in this country over the last half of this century, and therefore merits a place in the Dome.

My granddaughter spent many weeks of her very early life in Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital. During these traumatic times, my son and his wife were accommodated in the excellent Ronald McDonald House - a block built and sponsored by McDonald's, where parents from all over the north of England can stay, free of charge, while their babies and children are in the hospital. That's another side of McDonald's that a lot of people don't know about.

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove, Bolton

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