It cannot be disputed that economic growth and development across England’s regions is uneven. It is no red herring that the South-east is increasingly overpopulated (reflected in rises in house prices and levels of traffic) compared with other regions, or that inflationary pressures, employment and economic growth are significantly higher in the South-east.
The implications for macro-economic policy are considerable, as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee knows only too well – setting a suitable interest rate for the whole of the country is increasingly difficult.The purpose of regional policy throughout Europe (including the EU’s structural funds) during the 1990s has not been to marshal subsidies into ailing industrial enterprises or increase welfare benefits. Sir: Steve Richards is right that “a spanking new assembly” will not by itself encourage companies to locate within a particular region (“The North-South divide is one of the great red herrings”, 6 December). But while his views on regional policy may have been relevant twenty years ago, they no longer relate to Europe’s experience of regional policy during the 1990s. Sir: So GPs are “plagued” (report, 6 December) by patients with “the same access to information that doctors have”, because some of the information the patients acquire via the Internet may be “biased, inaccurate” or promotional?

What a sorry state British medicine is in, if rather than explain to, learn from, debate, disagree, engage with our patients, disappoint them even, we are “reduced to terror” by the information they want to discuss! Maybe my GP colleagues are more terrorised by the six minutes they have to cram a consultation in than by their patients being anxious about their symptoms and having taken the trouble to inform themselves and to think.
Dr MICHAEL MOUTOUSSIS M.R.C.PsychLondon E17.

Although, not a member myself of the local South London Cat Hunt, I have found that repeated attacks with a really accurate water pistol have had excellent results in discouraging these unwelcome raiders

CHRIS ATKINS
London SW11. Sir: I wholeheartedly agree with Charles Maybourne about the murderous activities of the domestic cat, having resorted to giving a cat away to a family over 30 miles away to prevent it finding its way home. The central truth of the marriage relationship hasn’t changed and never will change. If the relationship is unequal it has already failed and been replaced by something else.As for imagining that marriage could ever be “a business-like enterprise, a cool-headed agreement for running two lives in parallel”, that is not marriage.JOHN DAVEYPlymouth. Sir: Natasha Walter gets very near the truth but just misses it (“You can’t take the romance out of marriage”, 6 December). Marriage is that relationship freely entered into in which each party vows for ever to put the other first.

You can’t do it unless you are in love with each other and the key is to make your love for the other a moment- by- moment decision (yes, decision).
In this light, qualifiers like “traditional” are irrelevant. Having lived here over 30 years, I, as a former Finn, still find it both embarrassing and annoying being expected to tip my hairdresser, taxi drivers and waiters, unless they provide an extraordinary service.
Mrs P O WARDLondon W6. Sir: The question is not about the temperament of different nations but about the social structure in those countries. The Scandinavians consider it demeaning to hand money to people for the work they get paid for, especially as the pay structure is better and more even in those countries.

It is remarkable that more than 5,000 have chosen to ask for a card enabling them to view “free-to-air” satellite services only, thus denying themselves the special offers available from the pay operators.COLIN BROWNEDirector of Corporate Affairs, BBCLondon W1. As a universally funded broadcaster, we make our service available by whatever means consumers choose, be that satellite, cable or terrestrial.
Clearly, the large majority of viewers access the BBC’s services through the subsidised set-top boxes provided by the subscription operators. According to latest industry research, the BBC is in fact the most watched broadcaster in digital homes. I do not think householders would appreciate the major works involved in putting cables underground after their houses had been built.
The overhead lines are clearly there to see.

That fact is involved in the decision of the house-buyer whether to purchases the house, and should not be complained about later.JOHN HAYESCardiff. Sir: Reporting proceedings at the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport, your story “BBC digital news cost has doubled budget, says Birt” (26 November) suggested that there was little viewing of BBC services on digital television platforms Nothing could be further from the truth. It would be desirable for the cables to be put underground, but I do not feel that the developers or the electricity industry would be prepared to meet the considerable cost. Most cables over built-up areas were there originally going over open country, and housing developers have built houses under the wires. The crackling noise may be one of two things: a build-up of static electricity running to the cables, which would not cause damage; or the faint possibility that under very heavy rain, the electricity could arc to earth, and if a child was outside in rain of such magnitude it would probably get pneumonia in any case. Sir: Electricity does not “leak” from overhead power lines (letter, 6 December). Indeed, if you examine the dynamics of a multiracial country, I do not think anyone can be authoritarian in Malaysia.
DATO’ J M AMIRHigh Commissioner for MalaysiaLondon SW1.