THIS week I have been reading about Mr Blunket's comments on parents who take their children out of school to go on holiday. Mr Blunket's comments just go to show yet again how out of touch the government is. If they lived in the real world they would realise that firstly many firms no longer shut down for holidays but have flexible holidays instead. This of course means that parents have to take their children out of school to have a family holiday if they did not do this then they would be unable to have a holiday at all. The other thing that he has also failed to take into account is that many people are either on low incomes or unemployed due to the failings of both this government and the last. Being on a low income is a major problem when taking a holiday because the school holidays are now in July and August which is high season. The difference in cost between high season and low season can be as much as £250, which is a considerable saving. So, if the Labour party really want parents to stop taking their children out of school, why don't they go back to the old system of having a longer holiday of two weeks in September like they used to? It seems to me that for a party that supports family values the comments that Mr Blunket has made are, to say the least, hypocritical. This is even more evident when his party leader Mr Blair has taken his own children out of school for a family holiday. My children did without a holiday for five years because we could not afford to go away in high season.

And last year we went away at Easter because we could not afford to go away in high season just so we could have what would probably be our last family holiday as our eldest son was leaving school. So when they talk about selfish parents taking children out of school for holidays, perhaps they should look at selfish government instead.

S M Rock

Ainsworth Avenue, Horwich.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.