FOR New Labour it seems to be the season of U-turns.

The PM has been forced by sheer weight of public opinion to concede to a referendum on the so-called EU Constitution.

Since, according to informed opinion, this 'constitution' would strip Britain of the last remaining vestiges of self-determination it is no favour that the PM is doing for us but merely, albeit reluctantly and grudgingly, allowing us to choose between our being governed by our elected representatives or by the unelected faceless, and unaccountable EU Commission.

U-turn number two concerns Charles Clarke.

He is to permit students to drop out of 'unsuitable' courses and to drop into vocational courses.

In plain English this means that he admits it was a very great ideological mistake ever to scrap the Polytechs.

It amounts to an indirect admission that few students are cut out for higher education, and that notwithstanding New Labour's rallying cry that all are equal, the incontrovertible fact of the matter remains that some are indeed more equal than others.

N G Charnley, Chesterfield Road, Blackpool