HILTON Dawson's letter about the Greens living in the past is a bit rich coming from a man who has shown so little real interest in the key technologies which will drive the economy in the future.

I have just done a search through all of Mr Dawson's speeches in Parliament to see how often he spoke about Lancaster's need for such fundamental technologies as fibre optics, cable, broadband and ADSL.

Sadly, the result was the same each time "No items found to match your criteria." Even the internet only gets two mentions and then only in passing. Key in the word "road" and one is overwhelmed with references.

If Lancaster's economy is to grow in the 21st century it will be through the development of new technologies not the building of more roads. Mr Dawson quite evidently fails to understand this.

If he did he would have been campaigning for Lancaster to have high capacity fibre optic cables - the real highways of the future - and not more roads. It is clear that Mr Dawson, not the Greens, who is sadly living in the past.

Mark Tanner Primrose St Lancaster