Michael Howard has shown the depths he is prepared to plumb to buy votes. Any politician prepared to parade his family in the spotlight for TV coverage has no integrity anyway.

Once the latest attempt to woo BNP voters and the knee-jerk Daily Mail fraternity has backfired, the next policy and advertising statements will be aimed at... the Greens? who else? They have to cover all the bases while still sniping at Labour and the LibDems.

The Human Rights Act was implemented for the common good. If a few individuals are exploiting it through the courts for their own benefit, should we be reforming the legal system and not the Act?

My experience of travellers local to here has been poor - they have been found to be responsible for crime, vandalism, destruction and anti-social behaviour. Like many people, I have a sneaking admiration for their way of life, the freedom from wage-slavery and taxation, but that is no excuse for that sort of behaviour, which would not be tolerated by traditional Romanies either.

While it is true travellers have often not treated their immediate neighbours with consideration and respect, the reverse is all too often true. Perhaps we are getting the travellers we deserve.