WHY am I not surprised at the tirade of S E Ireland in the Daily Echo (Letters, November 24)?

He or she has probably never stepped inside the school.

Having been a governor for 25 years of a primary school, I know of the dedication and hard work the teachers put in to educate the children of all capabilities.

Also the mention of the coal miners’ strike requires an answer. They were trying to retain their jobs and the welfare of their communities against the import of cheap and inferior coal.

The British public also owned the gas, electricity, water and the local bus companies.

Mrs Thatcher sold them off to big businesses who have continued to raise the cost of them to boost the millions of pounds profit for their inflated salaries and bonuses.

What insurance (sorry) assurance can Councillor Royston Smith give us that the privatisation of our local services will not follow the usual Conservative debacle?

KEN STREET, St Denys, Southampton.