DAVID Candler's letter ("Phillpott's motives", You Say, December 19) is worthy of a response.

It is so refreshing and wholesome to find a newspaper in Britain - once in a while - that gives freedom to unbiased comment, unlike some major broadcasting and other media organisations in this country.

Fortunately, we have a former Soviet dissident, Vladimir Bukovsky, who is now warning Britain of the European "Soviet" Union which rapidly approaches.

He has started a Stop the BBC Bias campaign (www.bbcbias.org). I think we need to add the National Union of Journalists to this.

The Evening News is one of the rare platforms from which one can speak without limitation or bias. I salute Mr Phillpott and wish there were more of his integrity - letters from all persuasions are published, which is more than you can say about Europhile papers.

Of course, we all know the fact that soon, people will be penalised for speaking against Europe - just as Mr Bukovsky was put in a Gulag, then exile. Where there is repression, there will always be refuseniks. There are some of us who want nothing to do with this unholy empire.

And quietly - and cowardly and undemocratically - I see that Parliament is now planning to discuss the setting up of regional parliaments as they destroy England.

ANDREW HALL, Worcester.

n DAVID Candler (You Say, December 19) laments anti-EU letters which appear on these pages, accusing John Phillpott of bias.

Bias is frequently seen in other papers through pro-federalists, though I have yet to see any of Candler's Britain in Europe cronies complain about this.

He claims we will suffer if we do not join the euro. When we joined the ERM, unemployment doubled, there was a record number of bankruptcies and Britain lost £68bn of reserves. We left to avoid total monetary collapse. This was the forerunner to the euro.

Remember that the euro is an irreversible step. Germany is now starting to suffer the same symptoms - they have hit the four million barrier for unemployment, prices have risen sharply and public services have been cut.

Public opinion has swung from 90 per cent in favour to two thirds against the euro. Some German stores are now accepting deutschmarks again.

Germany cannot stick to the Growth and Stability Pact, so the EU is launching legal proceedings against them for a fine of up to 10 billion euros. How like the EU to fine a country for being broke.

Add to this the 6p in the pound EU membership fees cost you on your income tax bill, and Candler's words sound hollow. When will pro-Europeans realise that the facts simply do not support their idealism?

JONATHAN ARNOTT,

Handsworth, Sheffield.