I READ with some incredulity that Rossendale and Darwen MP Janet Anderson has been handed yet another title -- as Minister for Pop Music.

She says she is "absolutely delighted" with her new post and praises the music industry as "a great success story".

At a time when bastions of British industry like the motor trade are being left to sink or swim, it seems New Labour would rather indulge in back-slapping with an already successful industry than take steps to safeguard people's jobs in traditional trades.

The music business has always fared very well without Government aid, thank you very much. So why do we suddenly need a Minister for Pop Music?

Rover bosses last week announced they were to cut 2,400 jobs, and the knock-on effects are already causing East Lancashire workers to fear for their jobs.

And what are the Government doing to reassure people like the 500 workers at Le Profil Industries, an Accrington-based car parts company which may have to lay off 50 employees?

Answer: Tony Blair is inviting drug-condoning 'stars' like Noel Gallagher from Oasis into Downing Street, and Mrs Anderson is puzzling over the differences between jungle, ragga and hip-hop music (I don't know what they are either, but I expect they are all deafening) as she tries to update her record collection. No wonder industry leaders are beginning to despair.

It's not that I envy Mrs Anderson's new position. If her job involves such dubious pleasures as hob-knobbing with the Gallagher brothers or pants-down popster George Michael, then she is welcome to it.

And while I may not know the difference between Bryan Adams and Victoria Adams, I'm not too old to know when people are jumping on a bandwagon.

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