SIR - Incredibly, a national newspaper has reported that the Government is proposing to subsidise dancing as part of its strategy for getting people off the couch and combating obesity.

At the same time fuel prices are going up and up. Unless more financial assistance is provided for pensioners, many elderly people will economise on heating charges.

That will mean a steep rise in deaths from hypothermia. It is already a national disgrace that we have a far greater percentage of deaths from hypothermia than either Sweden or Finland, two countries which, generally speaking, experience far more severe winters.

Blair and Brown need to get their priorities right. The antics of this "duo" must be causing the likes of their Hardie and Clem Attlee to be very restless in their graves.

DE MARGRETT, Worcester.