SIR - The European Union likes to govern by rules and regulations, which are mass-produced, and adopted to the letter by our own Government.

The philosophy of the EU is that everything is forbidden unless it is specifically permitted. Traditionally in this country we have had a more relaxed view in that things are permitted unless they have been specifically forbidden.

This takes a bit of thinking about but is really basic to the sort of society in which we want to live.

Our present Government, preferring the EU philosophy, displays a near obsession with interfering in ever more aspects of public life and private behaviour.

Political jobsworths spend an inordinate amount of time looking for ways in which they can further regulate the way in which we live.

We've had the fox-hunting 'ban', the 'partial' smoking ban in pubs, various lame-brained ideas about breathalysing people in the streets, and on-the-spot fines for loutishness. Now the big hand of Blair is considering banning alcohol in buses, trains and planes.

We tend to forget that the majority of people, young and old, are law-abiding and show respect to others. A few incidents appear to have been magnified out of proportion to give the impression that only more legisation will save the situation.

The Government seems to delight in the politics of fear and panic.

The most recent 'panic' has been over bird flu, the chief medical officer telling us that 50,000 people in Britain will die; and there are contingency plans to have armed guards outside doctors' surgeries to prevent 'panic' in the queue for vaccination.

The concern is that we will not live in a safer more relaxed society but one in which our lives are regulated and power is even more centralised at our expense.

Richard Chamings

UK Independence Party

Castlemorton Common