ON Friday, September 14 I walked around Darlington town centre during my lunch break and witnessed sights I've read about in history.

Groups of feral youths marauding in packs with no respect for the elderly or, indeed, other people as in Elizabethan times, beggars in the subways and women drinking alcohol in the streets akin to Hogarth's London.

Queues of a considerable length outside the Northern Rock bank because of its publicised difficulty similar to the rushes of the Twenties.

I only await with trepidation for war veterans to wander around seeking alms after being deserted by the government of the day as in the time following the Napoleonic campaigns.

All of this attributable to New Labour and in particular our prudent ex-Chancellor and now unelected Prime Minister. TheY say history repeats itself - what next? I shudder and fear the worst.

Colin T Mortimer, Pity Me, Durham City.