Re the letter carried in the LT (Oct 25) — “Mandelson Setting Poor Standards” penned by Graham Cannon — I found it more than interesting and I agree with Mr Cannon’s point of view and I would like to take this subject a stage further.

It would be very easy to generalise here so I will try not to do this but I think it would be true to say that 95 per cent of MPs in this country are only concerned with two things: money and power.

I do believe that there are many dedicated and hard-working councillors in town and cities up and down this country, but again there are those that are not, after all you only have to look at the atrocious state of Blackburn to understand that there is something fundamentally wrong.

How often have you heard that letters sent to MPs and councillors by their constituents have never been answered.

On local issues at residents’ meetings that might prove a little awkward for them when they make a “no comment” in the minutes. Red tape and bureaucracy that makes it very difficult for the man in the street to contact them.

These politicians, of course, will tell you that they are doing a damned good job and have been doing so over the last two or three decades. Well the litmus test for this is: why are we the people in this country in such a hell of a mess? The answers – incompetence, lack of moral fibre and ethics plus negligence at the highest level.

We need a giant of a man or woman to rear up in the world of politics to correct what is wrong with this country and I fear that this human being does not exist.

CHRIS EGGLESTON, Quebec Road, Blackburn.