I MUST thank Mr B Best and Mr L Fox (SA, May 12) for saying that they would support me should I decide to stand in any future election.

I am afraid, however, that I must disappoint these two gentlemen as I have no intention of doing so. I am far too aged and long in the tooth to even consider it.

I joined the wartime Merchant Navy at the age of 17 and saw service in the Far East, thus qualifying for the Burma Star. I then enlisted in the Royal Air Force and served 22 years in trouble spots such as Malaya and Aden so I feel that I have earned the right to express a view on what I consider to be wrong with the country.

I have a feeling that the great British public, who have been sleeping while the country has been going into decline, are now beginning to arouse themselves.

R W SELWAY.

Swindon