WITH the tragic events recently in the USA and the current bombing campaign in Afghanistan, perhaps one of the biggest scandals of New Labour has been pushed to the sidelines.

This is ironic as the scandal is closely tied with these events.

I have long been a critic of spin doctors and firmly believe that there should be no place for them in British politics. However, never in my wildest imagination did I foresee them drop to the tasteless and cynical levels demonstrated by New Labour's Ms Jo Moore on September 11.

While ordinary people around the world were sickened and deeply distressed by the unfolding events in the USA, the same could not be said for Ms Moore.

Within an hour of the second hijacked aircraft hitting the World Trade Centre and less than five minutes after the first had collapsed, Ms Moore sent an e-mail to senior colleagues. Let us not forget also that during this time thousands were fleeing for their lives, were already dead and some even jumping to their deaths to escape the burning building.

I am absolutely certain that all civilised people would condemn her actions without reservation and I would have expected New Labour to have done likewise. Sadly, this has not been done and at the time of writing, incredibly, she is still in a job.

Ms Moore did receive a reprimand from Stephen Byers but was allowed to keep her job -- a decision endorsed by 10 Downing Street. Now it may be acceptable to New Labour to hide bad or embarrassing news under this tragedy. It may even be acceptable for them to try to condone their actions by dredging up the fact that the Conservatives did the same thing after Dunblane. At the end of the day, such actions discredit genuine politicians and only go further to isolate citizens from the political system.

As far as I am concerned, Byers and Moore (at least) should both be sacked without any further delay!

John Finlay,

Faringdon Ave,

Blackpool.