THE Government let it slip out that the Forest of Dean is ripe for privatisation, without bothering to ascertain the opinions of the people who live there, and then discovered to their horror not only that the people object to such an idea, but one of their own ministers is the local member of parliament.

The Conservative and Labour parties were both responsible for this shameful state of affairs. The Labour Party nationalised everything they could get their hands on, while the Conservative Party privatised everything they could get away with. Both parties acted in accordance with party political dogma; neither acted in accordance with the national interest; and neither of them know what should be nationalised and what should be kept in private ownership. Indiscriminate nationalisation was wrong because it represented theft by the state from the rightful owner. Indiscriminate privatisation was equally wrong because it represented theft by the state from the people.

Generally businesses run best when organised under private ownership. Private companies sell either goods they produce or the services they provide. Competition keeps them alert, the greater their number the greater the choice for the customers and the more efficient the companies.

Utilities are the exception. Utility companies do not manufacture, they only provide and distribute the utilities such as coal, oil, water etc, and for these activities they need payment, but these products already belong to us. As coal is one of the utilities, it follows that trees are also, and trees make up the Forest of Dean. As Baroness Royall has already pointed out, the Forest of Dean is already ours.

If the Government snatch the Forest off us to sell privately, they should first pay us by delivering hefty cheques through every letter box in the Forest. They won't do that, any more than they did when they stole Post Office Telephones and renamed it British Telecom without paying us for it. Nor did they pay us for British Overseas Airways Corporation when British Airways was created. Instead the Government offered shares to the public, so the public would pay again privately for what they already owned through taxation.

The message to the Government is loud and clear: Don't you dare try that one on the Forest of Dean

– Anthony Reeve, Oak Way, Littledean.