ONCE again in the run-up to a general election, we are hearing some of the old chestnuts. You know the ones - we need a successful, market-driven economy, we are a partner for business and industry, the friend of the high earner, the promoter of free enterprise, low inflation, low interest rates.

The only surprising thing is it's coming from the Labour Party when we normally only hear these statements from the Tories.

I have heard it said that Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair are even going to sit down and come up with something to replace The Red Flag. It seems the favourite is the old Slade hit of the early Seventies: "Ma, Ma But We're All Tories Now."

It really puzzles me why Tony Blair doesn't just join the Tory Party. After all, they say that to copy is the best form of flattery. Why copy when you can have the real thing?

The only problem I have with Blair's New Labour is that it just doesn't reach as far as places like Hyndburn.

JOHN FARRER, Mallard Place, Oswaldtwistle.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.