I WOKE up this morning in a beautiful village looking out of my bedroom window towards Longridge Fell and Pendle. England at its best, I thought When I switched on the TV news all my thoughts were of peace and kind people. Indeed I had the late 40s, 50s and 60s in mind.

This was a time to start a new life with all the qualities of that period, nurtured through seven years of Hitler and his Nazi party, ie, caring for your neighbour, respect for law and order, your teacher, mother, father, local or indeed any vicar, priest, doctor, nurse, the Queen and most of all the Prime Minister and MPs.

This all went pear-shaped from 1970 onwards, courtesy of "Make Love Not War" (Beatles), "No Satisfaction" (Jagger and co), "Flower Power" (Beach Boys), trendy bishops Warlock and Shepherd and politicians who actually run England now (and betray it -- again) Blair, Straw, Blunkett, Clarke, Reid, Hain and all the "trendy" followers of CND marches.

I turned back to the Breakfast News -- terrorists in London, a country pub landlord run down and killed by yobs, 24-hour drinking laws about to come into force and crazy clerics spouting hatred in the very country which has given them a home.

What a sick society this England has become. I learned it's politically correct not to talk of failure -- which now actually means delayed success!

I was furiously fumbling with the off button on the remote, when suddenly a fresh news item appeared regarding those real heroes of this planet (and the universe), the astronauts aboard Discovery and those immensely brave Russian submariners and the international team who successfully rescued them.

I heard the Pacific Fleet Commander say: "It is these moments that make life worth living."

I switched off, looked across the fells and those few words from a Russian fellow human being restored my sanity and faith in being English. Oh, and some human beings also.

ERNEST LAW-RIDING, Ribchester.