AMONG the usual junk mail flyers offering junk food, double glazing, even one offering gardening services (in winter?) was another headed Labour Rose. As my leanings have never swayed in that direction, I decided to read it before dispatching it with the rest of the waste paper to the recycle bag.

It came as no surprise that most of this double-sided A4 was dedicated to slagging off the Liberal Democrats, which make one think how on earth did the Labour Party fill two sides of A4 when they were in control.

According to Labour Rose, most residents want to own their own home. To buy even at the cheaper end of the housing market would require a minimum salary of £36k a year, and that, as reported recently in The Press, 25,000 new jobs are to be created in York.

After glancing over the plans for the old Terry's site, if I was growing up in York in recent years I would not be looking to any of those jobs to get anywhere near to getting a mortgage.

Hotel, care workers, shop workers and call-centre wages are notoriously poor. The only money to be earned in York has all but disappeared with the closures of Redfearn Glassworks, Armstrongs, British Rail Eng, British Sugar, the slimmed-down Donnelleys and numerous smaller engineering works.

I would encourage any young people who have aspirations further than working in the service industry to get formally-qualified in whatever turns you on; teaching, medicine, dentistry, journalism or any ology or trade, and look further afield, because what is happening in York is beyond what the Lib Dems, Conservatives or New Labour can change.

Question to New Labour; why has the sale of council houses policy not been reversed?

Bob Waite Holgate, York.