I must answer Mr Heavens' letter of October 18.

If there is a record number of doctors, why does one have to wait for a week to see a GP and why is there a need to call for help to feed elderly patients in hospital, saying that there is a shortage of nurses?

Was not our own Great Western Hospital built using private money?

Interest alone will mean Swindonians will be paying millions of pounds to the Fat Cats for years to come - a Labour decision.

Labour increased resources for our troops. Tell that to the families of the Hercules aircrew killed because the plane had not been treated with the foam to make it safe from explosion.

Tell it to the families of those murdered because they did not have enough ammunition to defend themselves and their radios were useless when trying to call for assistance.

Troops are buying their own equipment because of the lack of proper uniform.

All this and more is because Labour, ever since they came into power, have made cuts to our defence and forces.

As for the £2,250 award, only a fool or someone completely naive would believe that this is more than a sop, using the troops as pawns by Brown and Blair to limit the damage done by their treatment of our forces.

When did you Mr Heavens last work 16 hours non-stop for less than £4 an hour, all the time fearing snipers' bullets?

But Cameron and Howard have stated that they would have gone to war with Iraq, which means they and Blair are all warmongers.

It's a pity that National Service is not running. They might not have been so keen to be responsible for the killing of thousands of women and children if they had seen it at first hand.

J OLIVER Swindon