ANYONE who believes the new Home Secretary, John Reid, has the talent to reform the Home Office mess is due for disappointment.

This is the minister who, when Health Secretary in 2005, received a petition on behalf of a children's ward in Cheltenham hospital, but the petitioners never received the courtesy of a reply.

Moreover, the petition was found a few weeks later dumped in a skip.

Then, as Defence Secretary, he appeared on Channel 4 news to explain why a shot down Hercules aircraft in Iraq was not fitted with explosion suppressant foam because small arms fire was not a threat, not like a surface-to-air missile.

If a dozen Kalashnikovs blazing away at an aircraft isn't a threat, exactly what is?

Like many politicians he talks persuasive but deceptive verbiage and is ineffectual.

J E PLUMTREE Wroughton Swindon