I DON'T get much chance to read fiction these days, so your story (LET, March 19) about 'deep divisions' between Labur county councillors and the unions over performance-related pay for teachers filled a gap.

The first myth - Labour and unions! When I was treasurer of Clitheroe Labour Party, we had to beg on our knees to extract money from local unions. As usual, the 'national picture' is not true at grass roots.

Second myth: Labour always cares about education. Another big laugh!

When I was involved with the Labour Party in Clitheroe, I wrote, rather stupidly, to my brother socialist County Councillor Ron Pickup, who was then vice-chairman of the Finance Committee, to ask his opinion of the attempted degradation by Lancashire County Council of conditions of service for lecturers in further education.

Answer: Lecturers are overpaid, underworked and grumble too much. Put that in your pipe!

Incidentally, when I lived in Barnsley in the 1970s, the situation was the same regarding education.

A Labour-controlled authority made conditions in their college, Barnsley College of Technology, worse!

Guess who stood up for us lecturers then? - a man called David Blunkett, then on the Sheffield City and South Yorkshire County councils and lecturing in Industrial Relations at Barnsley and now Secretary of State for Education!

Doesn't the world make you laugh, at times - before you start crying. Poachers and gamekeepers, do I hear you suggest?

J S KENT, Fairfield Close,

Clitheroe.

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