I FEEL desperately sorry for the farmer's widow who has lost her case against the erection of pylons on her land (December 11).

However, I feel constrained to warn her and others against wasting their money in court actions since individual rights count for nothing in this "free" country of ours when up against corporations whom Parliament has empowered to violate individual rights.

It was the late Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham who warned in 1970 "the thing the courts cannot protect you against is Parliament (the traditional protector of our liberties) and in theory it could become the most oppressive instrument in the world".

Parliament has become this oppressive instrument because it has become part of government and the financial interests behind it.

Until, therefore, we liberate the House of Commons from party control and its vested interests and return it to that proper function of protecting our liberty (by voting for independents) we continue on a hiding to nothing.

Martin Cruttwell,

Hamilton House,

Scrayingham,

York.

Updated: 17:35 Friday, December 13, 2002