Barry Vaughan, of Townsend Close, West Alvington, writes:

I read with alarm and increasing exasperation your justified headline last week reporting yet a further incremental ratcheting-up of the former, now modified poll tax - ‘the council tax’, part of Thatcher’s long-lasting wicked spell cast over Britain’s ordinary people, reaping distorted, sinister social fragmentations as results from too little annual ‘stores in the granary’ to live comfortably, and thereby invest in the future.

Concerned reporting of a more general nature was elsewhere, where it was explained that this government, adopting a smarty-pants denial of seemingly never-ending tax increases to pay for their empire-building in among their Champagne lifestyle millionaire cronies, is purposely withholding usual grants to their local government offices for parliamentary declared administrative duties.

So local government is instead abused to raise taxes – but, by this method, without parliamentary scrutiny, debate or consensus.

But the buck still stops, as usual, at the lowly person – some paying quite extortionate amounts of precious disposable income, on the pretext of an ‘address’, tumbled down or castle. (Extortionate? You should see the ‘over the top’ multi-threats of courts, bailiffs and evictions cascading through the letter box if you are unable to pay).

Soon, so much cash will be improperly purloined from everyone that there won’t be enough spare cash left to buy a pot of paint for the house (the young are refused houses – forgotten?) without guiltily dipping into crucial weekly financial liabilities.

Again I write to one and all to desist from garden-wall idle chit-chat to hurt others; opening newspapers at the sports end; and writing incessantly about dog poo. Instead, lift your minds to understand more essential matters and help each other at the other end of the boat.