NOTHING delights me more than Basingstoke success stories.

Castle Hill Junior School are truly national champions. To the best of my knowledge, no other junior school in the country has equalled its superb record of winning three Charter Marks of Excellence.

I revisited the school last week and tried to express my unqualified admiration for headteacher John Martin, his staff, the pupils and school governors. What I love most about Castle Hill Juniors is their justified pride in their school.

I APPLAUD the World Development Movement's mission statement - "Justice for the World's Poor" - but I disagree with its current campaign.

WDM-subscribing constituents are trying to persuade me that parliaments in poverty-stricken countries should have scrutiny over, and involvement in, the International Monetary Fund or World Bank aid programmes which they receive.

I disagree. The IMF and World Bank are super-national bodies. Their credibility lies in their being above, and apart from, those national parliaments and governments which all too often contribute to their citizens' impoverishment by corruption and incompetence.

LIFE is full of surprises. I never anticipated that I would find myself agreeing with Cherie Blair's lifestyle guru, Carole Caplin, but it has happened.

Carole Caplin is urging people not to vote Labour at the next election unless the Government withdraws its support for a European Union directive which will ban vitamin and food supplements.

I have consistently opposed this directive. It will ban many beneficial products including calcium, magnesium and boron, used for strengthening brittle bones, and folic acid, taken by pregnant women to reduce birth defects.