Yes, it makes you think...

Indeed, it is the nature of life's journey that such bounty can sometimes fall into your lap without warning. Just like that.

To employ a fishing metaphor, it's a bit like baiting up with ragworm, slinging your paternoster off the pier at Llandudno, and hauling in a coelocanth or some other such rarity instead of a codling.

But it's not enough just to catch such a prize. No. Occasionally, the temptation to share such a magic moment with someone else cannot be resisted. And that's why I want to relate this little tale.

One day, a couple of weeks ago, I was opening the post at Berrows House when my attention was caught by an item addressed to me personally. So, pushing the other correspondence to one side, I sliced open the envelope to find not a letter, but a photostat of a letters page from a national newspaper.

At the top of the stat was a scrawled note that read: "Now, what made me think of the Evening News when I read this letter in yesterday's Guardian?"

I immediately recognised the author of the scribble as a member of the Labour Party.

I won't name this person. That would be unfair. Nevertheless, I decided that the letter he had marked for my perusal with a highlighter pen should - in the public interest - be brought to the attention of the public at large.

As I said. It gave an illuminating insight into the mentality of a certain type of person - and one who has clearly forgotten that the purpose of public office is not to rule but to serve.

Anyway, the thrust of this letter in The Guardian was that the growth of extremism in Britain was directly attributable to local newspapers. Here is an abbreviated extract.

"Your average local journalist is either straight out of journalism school and has no idea about local issues, or a cynical old lag with an embittered view of the world.

Both see the local council as fair game.

"The image they portray is one of incompetence and even corruption. No positive stories ever see the light of day, but negative stories are totally exaggerated. The aim is to sell newspapers and fill the letters page with the local "fruit and nut" cases."

The missive then ends with this parting shot.

"The sooner we have some form of regulation of the Press in this country the better." It was signed by a councillor from a Welsh town.

The person who sent me the cutting was obviously so impressed with the Welshman's erudition and insight that he/she wanted to share the gem with me. It's worth sharing with you, too.

I suppose I can see where the Welshman is coming from. Perhaps he has a point in thinking that all forms of government exist purely for the good of the people, performing their duties without fear or favour.

Those who think otherwise are troublemakers, subversives or just plain defeatist.

Newspapers are staffed with negative elements who can't - won't - see this obvious truth. Not just columnists, but fifth columnists.

And, while we're about it, better check under the bed, too...

But seriously. I never cease to be amazed by New Labour's conversion on the road to Damascus. I just can't keep up with the speed of this transformation.

Once it was florid-faced Colonel Blimps constantly talking about treachery around every corner, in all the nooks and crannies of the media and within The Church.

Now it's your common-or-garden Labour apparatchnik, constantly searching for heresy like some latterday grand inquisitor desperate to find evidence of deviation from the approved path.

One of the ironies of contemporary political life is that Labour - the party of erstwhile rebels - is now breeding a new form of dissent.

The best example in Worcester is undoubtedly Peter Nielsen, who is not only a regular contributor to You Say, but also recently penned a thoughtful article for the Evening News about how far he believed Labour had moved from its roots.

Mr Nielsen is an old-style socialist. He and I would never, ever see eye-to-eye on any number of issues, in particular the question of the EU. But it matters not - for I have respect for anyone who remains true to his or her principles and is not tempted to pick the fruit of expediency or opportunism.

Mr Nielsen wishes to remain in the Garden.

One does not have to look very far at what career politicking leads to. At best, it impoverishes national life. At worst, the stain of corruption starts to spread across the canvas of integrity.

But the most worrying aspect to all this is the average politician's attitude to the role of the Press in a pluralist society.

And just out of interest, I wonder how our letter-writing politician from Wales would like Britain's hacks to treat the major news stories that have broken in this year alone.

Take the Hutton report, for example.

How about a more positive journalistic spin on that? Maybe something along the lines of "state broadcasting monilith's unfounded slur on veracity of Whitehall's claims over a just war"?

Then there's the impending collapse of pensions for everyone except members of Parliament, who have just voted themselves huge increases.

Yes, let's look at that positively.

"Workforce liberated from scourge of rest as retirement age raised to 70. Slog-till-you-drop move welcomed by Ministers. MPs' pensions must rise for good of country, says top MP."

Or the euro. "Little Englanders' xenophobia over new currency. Only right-wing warmongers want to retain pound, confirms Government spokesman."

And so on. But we all know that there are plenty of reasons why many people don't like the Press taking an interest.

Just imagine if David Blunkett was treated with fawning deference over asylum seekers. Not that it matters, of course, because he hasn't a clue about what's happening and has admitted as much.

But don't you think that the British public should be given accurate information - even if the top man himself hasn't the foggiest?

I can take the jibe about young journalists and old-stagers such as myself. Not that the anonymous contributor would know, but the truth is that provincial hacks of all ages are, like those who work in many other jobs, under the cosh most of the time.

We don't complain. It's our job. If small-beer politicians - Tory or Labour for that matter - want to see incompetence, conspiracy, bias or inertia in the Press, then nothing I can say will change that.

And if Labour politicians regard letter writers as "fruit and nut cases" then perhaps such participants in the democratic process might like to mention it to their MP at the earliest opportunity and demand an explanation.

You see, when our "rulers" blame the Press, you can bet your bottom dollar that something's afoot. There is another agenda, somewhere. And if chastisement doesn't work, they try other methods instead.

But I find it all rather depressing that some of the people who are the heirs to a party that was forged on the anvil of protest and dissent should have sunk to such depths of paranoia.

For a Press that speaks its mind is a healthy Press. Those who think - and act - in any way that is contrary to such ideals are no friends of the democratic process.

Finally, let me remind you how The Guardian letter ended.

"The sooner we have some form of regulation of the Press in this country the better." Certainly makes you think.