THREE letters in the BuryTimes of Jan 12 were on the subject of racism and need to be answered.

Ray Honeyford, David Behar and "A Bon Droit", all take the same racist stance despite the fact that they all deny being racists themselves. In fact, Mr Honeyford ends his letter by saying: "I sometimes wonder who the real racists are".

Well Mr Honeyford, you don't have to look very far. Your letter, like the other two, reeks of racist overtones.

The Observer newspaper, hardly what one could call a "left-wing rag," had an article (Sunday, Jan 14) headed: "Met staff say Force is racist".

The first sentence reads as follows: "Britain's biggest police force is racist, according to its own staff". It goes on to report that more than 58 per cent of employees reported that "people are treated differently according to their ethnicity" and adds that the Met has been hit by a series of high-profile claims of racist treatment from staff during the past five years. David Behar hits the lowest depths possible with his disgraceful attack on the family of Stephen Lawrence. How much, I wonder, would he value a loved one? No amount of money will bring back their son. Would he accuse the victims of the Holocaust of "milking" the system?

As to the anonymous "A Bon Droit" and his/her attack on asylum seekers, let me say that asylum seekers get 70 per cent of income support, which is the lowest level of benefit, which is paid mainly in vouchers with which they can buy their food. If the amount of goods purchased is less than the value of the voucher they do not get the difference in change.

And if this anonymous correspondent is so worried about the value of our pensions then I suggest that their attack be directed at the Government who refuses to accede to the demands of the pensioner movement and to pay us a decent living wage so that we can retire in dignity.

P. KAISERMAN