SIR: Sleaze, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. J Wilkinson mentioned it in his splendid letter (BEN, January 6). Surely though, it is a social phenomenon, not a Tory one, related to that old saying: "There's good and bad everywhere".

Good to see Tom Sackville strongly against the UK waste plan for Horwich. Yet he is often castigated in this column for telling the truth. We all know what the truth does - it hurts! It is beyond contempt though that as we run down the magnificent Gurkha regiments we may bring Japanese troops to these shores to be trained for a peace-keeping role.

Last summer I was asked if I needed an apology from the Japanese because of my experiences in captivity.

No, not really. We only got from those brutes what we expected from them. I would not mind an apology though, from the BMB council leader and some of his friends, who if they had their way would turn this lovely countryside into a dump. Mr Sackville says the notion in "unforgivable". I call it sleaze personified.

Mr Trevor T Mellows

Hughes Avenue, Horwich

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