I WAS one of a group of would-be passengers who stood about on Shrub Hill Station the other day, wondering when the next scheduled train would actually arrive because of safety delays.

But at least it gave us time to discuss how our railways had got into this mess!

Most people there seemed to blame the last Conservative government for having privatised the train operators, splitting them off from the group that maintained the infrastructure.

As with so much of recent legislation, they seemed genuinely surprised when I pointed out that it was actually a diktat of the European Union that forced this set-up on us.

In order to bring the UK into compliance with EC directive 91/440, ownership of the track and signalling had to be separated from ownership the rolling stock. The Conservatives dressed it up as another of their privatisation initiatives.

There are numerous examples of how our daily lives are increasingly being influenced by the creeping spread of Brussels bureaucracy. This has only been possible because the present and the previous government will not debate these matters openly and honestly with us. They prefer to go on, quietly signing away this country's democratic rights, without the tiresome business of consulting us.

For instance, in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, we live in a mainly rural, agricultural area.

So there can be few people, reading your paper, who do not know someone working on the land, or servicing the farming industry, even if they do not do so directly themselves.

We all realise the desperate straits our farmers are in. People frequently question why our Government is not doing more to help the industry. However, this misses the point. Our Government has little or no power to influence agricultural policy any more. They cannot help our farmers, even if they wish to.

Agriculture is just one of the many areas where control has been handed over to the EU by a British government.

We could do something to stop this erosion of our rights if we wished to. Alternatively, we can just grumble about it after it's too late. Like passengers, standing on a draughty platform, waiting for a train to turn up.

RICHARD SPENCER, Malvern.