WHEN the troops returned home at the end of the Second World War they were not willing to go back to the situation which existed before the war.

They wanted a change and, to the surprise of many, a Labour government was elected at the next General Election.

The government of Clement Attlee did make many changes and the jewel in the crown was the National Health Service, guaranteeing everyone free treatment at the time of need and a "national" standard of treatment which would be given wherever you lived.

Governments of both persuasions have since that time chipped away at the NHS so that, for example, cleaning and catering are now the subject of competitive tendering, but that is another story.

Our new Prime Minister is, without a mandate, proposing the "localisation" and destruction of the "national" health service. Care and treatment will depend on the postcode of where one lives - "postcode lottery".

John W Antill, Darlington.