MADAM - Having read the letter by Howard Price in the SNJ, I have to agree, he is right on the effects of alcohol and tobacco, why do governments not tackle is robustly, because it generates a huge amount of income for the government of the day.

He seems to forget to ask why the last government of 13 years did very little about it.

Selective issues are easy to focus on and should not be done at the expense of realism on the overall situation, we can all be negative and throw out challenges and choose to ignore many of the 'good news' items that are happening.

The last government created the largest national debt in history, how were they going to deal with it, borrow more, create growth on the back of even more borrowing!

The national debt is coming down, interest rates are at record low, there is now a cap on benefit claimants of £26k a year, certainly a policy the labour government would not have pursued, still a very good 'salary', way over what many full time workers earn before tax.

Nobody would ever deny genuine claimants but we all know there are many who abuse the system.

At last some action on trying to deal with tax avoidance on overseas bank accounts.

Lets not pretend that the unions don't have a major say in running the Labour Party.

It was a union vote that got Ed Milliband into his position.

If you really want to focus on some true socialist values, take a look at ex-prime minister Tony Blair, the man who led us into an illegal war against Iraq, now has 12 'associate' companies, very difficult to value, gets paid between £50k - £170k for a speech, has his £65K per year pension, owns seven high value properties, is personally worth an estimated £45 million, reported by the Mirror.

If you really, really want to be deflated by what's going on, take a look at the latest list of 30 new peers, classic example there of serious political influence, we now have 755 peers, why oh why does this small county need a second chamber with so many costing the taxpayer millions each year.

Over the years the political differences between the parties has narrowed significantly, there are wealthy members in all parties many of whom look after their own interests, the scandal exposed over expenses still leaves a nasty taste, the whole of the political structure needs a radical overhaul.

Mark Peer Minchinhampton