Headlines are what newspapers are all about. The equivalent of the shop window attracting customers to the goods on offer inside.

A shop may attract decent footfall by agitating thoughts such as: “I must have one of those.” However, this doesn’t mean conversion into sales if a potential customer discovers the reality does not match the sales hype.

So it is with headlines such as: York “shrugging off the recession” in The Press recently. On the face of it, what jolly good news. But as we venture inside the headline we discover the hype.

Not an independent journalistic review, but information provided by York MP Hugh Bayley, who, of course, has an obvious agenda – that of re-election.

Mr Bayley spouts statistics – the politician’s friend and ally. But we all know that Government-generated statistics are mostly bunkum, bearing little resemblance to reality.

A few shaky start-up businesses don’t compensate for the loss of well-established ones, in particular the big manufacturing employers that York has lost.

Rosy headlines may play well with workers in certain EU destinations for former UK business. But for the redundant York employees, boarded-up shops and bankrupt employers, it’s only hype. Mr Bayley mentions civil service jobs created in York. But according to Gordon Brown he intends to reduce civil service numbers after the General Election.

He will do this partly by forcing all of us to have our own personalised webpage, “Mygov”, within four years – stop giggling now!

As with bogus headlines or misleading shop windows, the reality is so different. Please stop the window dressing, Mr Bayley, get your thinking cap on and come up with some new ideas.

“Fortress Britain” regarding British jobs for British workers and investment, free dental treatment and subsidised housing could be a start.

T Scaife, Manor Drive North, York.