IF any of your readers think Malvern Town Council is the worst thing that could happen to us, they should study John Prescott's proposals for Regional Assemblies.

How little attention is given to the local situation is illustrated by the fact that Mr Prescott's map and text reveal he is not aware the counties of Hereford and Worcester have been separated. It is even worse for our friends down the road at Tewkesbury; what have they got in common with Truro that they do not equally have in common with Tyneside and Tonbridge?

Let us be clear what is the real reason for creating regional government. It is to take control away from local government and set the scene for our national parliament to be replaced by rule from Brussels. It would be quite possible then that some bureaucrat in Brussels would look at the map and decree that the border of the Welsh Soviet should be the River Severn.

Use of the term Soviet is not just flippant. Mikhail Gorbachev is quoted as expressing amazement that, after all he did to reform the Soviet Union, he sees the socialists of the European Union trying to recreate it. It seems likely that Tony Blair and his "New Labour" cabinet have not really gone away from the extreme left wing views which they espoused as students. Note how, on the pretext of "openness", they say that anyone seeking election as a councillor must reveal their personal finances. This should ensure that those who are saving for their own pension provision are discouraged and will leave councils in the hands of pliable people who rely on state benefits.

BASIL DEWING, Priory Road, Great Malvern.