LAST week I was in conversation with several foreign visitors to Lancashire and they were asking questions I had no answers for.

The topics included law and order, national health service, race relations and the so-called street furniture' in Blackburn.

Is there any reader or official spokesman reading these columns who can enlighten me and readers on the following?

I have to admit I was stumped!

How come the sentences are so light for crimes in this country, even where death is caused?

Is it true that 12 months jail doesn't really mean 12 months in jail?

Is it true that killers are released on licence and then disappear?

How come only Asian teenagers get free driving lessons?

If one hospital closes, and a bigger, better one opens, why do the staff and nurses of the closing hospital have to apply for jobs in the new one?

It is bigger, isn't it?

How come you have that awful modern art street furniture all over Blackburn, and only a tiny minority likes that junk?

Last but not least, when an absolutely dumb decision by someone in authority comes to light, how come nobody in your country gets fired for it?

R BRYAN, Sunnybank Road, Blackburn.