'Can anyone tell me who is paying?' - Your Letters: April 22

Recently I received a letter from the National Centre for Social Research on a HM Government heading, asking me to complete a 20-minute online survey on my feelings about lotteries, betting and gambling.

As a reward for completing the survey I am promised a £10 voucher which may be spent with love2shop.co.uk. As this appears to be a national survey, there will be an awful lot of £10 vouchers being given away.

Can anyone tell me who is paying for all these £10 vouchers and what is the connection between love2shop.co.uk and the National Centre for Social Research?

In these times of financial difficulties and cutbacks in services, I think it is important to know where the money for such a generous giveaway is coming from, particularly if is funded by government.

Joseph Johnson, Wolverhampton

MISTAKEN VIEWS ON BIN STRIKE

A letter from a Mrs Totney (April 14) begins with an assertion that striking dustmen in Birmingham “want more money”. This is not merely untrue but the direct opposite of the truth. This is a defensive strike, in which dustmen are not looking for “more money” but are seeking to prevent massive reductions in wages.

The author then moves on to an exercise in the bizarre masochistic nostalgia to which those of us no longer in the first bloom of youth often fall victim: the strange notion that the good old days were good precisely because they were bad. Not only should dustmen acquiesce in the loss of £8,000 wages, they should also revert to the technology of the 1950s, manually lifting metal bins and emptying them into dustcarts. The slave, it seems, should congratulate himself on his slavery.

Alan Harrison, Bloxwich

COMMON SENSES BUT CAKE IS POOR

What a tonic the recent weather has been. Just what Aunt Dolly, Uncle Norbert and I needed before diving into the melee of political activity that will see the May 1 local elections give the Government something to think about.

The Common Sense Party has decided to keep our political message simple with the slogan, "Don't Vote Labour". We are also in earnest talks with Reform UK so that we do not split the right of centre vote and take advantage of their better organisational set up and higher national profile. The downside to this alliance is that at all the meetings they only serve up shop-bought cake which is not a patch on Aunt Dolly's. The electorate little realise the sacrifices we non-betting politicians have to make for our political beliefs.

Peter Steggles, West Midlands

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