I NOTE that Sainsbury's and Safeways have announced a 20 per cent drop in profits and also that house prices, particularly in the South East, are soaring. Are the two events connected?

We now live in a time when gas, electric and telephone bills, some insurance and food bills are effectively cheaper. Three years ago M & S could get £25 for a garment that it can now only market at £16.99.

Retail has suffered from massive overkill for years, but the acute lack of spending currently must be blamed on the ongoing increase in home prices.

How many families have taken on an extra £30,000 loan just to get an extra room to house the ironing board or provide an extra bedroom that no one will ever sleep in? And how much does having a £30,000 loan reduce a family's monthly spending power?

Mercifully, people in North Manchester have not caught the "London disease" yet.

Don't let the media bully or seduce you into making life difficult for yourself - even if Londoners are happy to live that way.

M. SILVER,

(ex-Londoner),

Brandle Avenue,

Bury.

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