WITH our patron saint St George's Day fast approaching, the word England should be bandied about a little more than usual.

After 15 years or more of this government's political disinterest in the name of England has grown whilst Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have enjoyed the spotlight on self rule, investment and some degree of self budgetary control.

The English people are an amalgam of Celt, Roman, Viking, German and French invaders being assimilated gradually over time to become a nation.

What of England, now seeing a dilution of national character and custom by mass unregulated immigration? What now of our national character and individuality? Surely we must look for a leader, an intellectual giant who would be seen marching over this stagnant parliamentary plain of political mediocracy and self interest, to marshal the colourless politico pygmies that inhabit it into some constructive action? Comes the moment, comes the man, but where is our new Cromwell or Churchill to take up the cause and lead us with confidence out of the social and economic doldrums that we find ourselves in?

We need to regain our international stature of earlier times, or are we resolved to wait quietly for the next 20 years to pass before our country has become a backwater of a federal Europe with little for us to say or do about it? Come on Englishmen, show your pride, stand up and have your say before it is too late. Don't call on St George to help you, after all he was a foreigner too.

J RIDDETT, Southampton.