SIR — High on the South West Coast Path, looking out over the English Channel, half a mile east of Polperro stands their War Memorial. The simple inscription reads: 'True love by life, true love by death is tried.

Live thou for England. We for England died.'

With thousands of similar monuments throughout the land, whenever Remembrance Day approaches, we are poignantly reminded of the lives laid down for us in two World Wars and the numerous other conflicts of more recent times.

Many thousands of 'ordinary' men and women sacrificed their future to ensure ours. They were driven by patriotism, pride and purpose.

How they would despair at the way their hard-won legacy is being squandered. Our freedoms, sovereignty and heritage are being blatantly frittered or given away by successive administrations that seem bent on destroying the very fabric of our British nation.

In its unseemly haste to dismantle our society, we have government by whim ... masses of insidiously oppressive legislation designed to stifle that very pride, purpose and patriotism that has served us so well.

The national interest has fallen victim to the desire of the few to retain power and its trappings at all costs – and at any cost to the rest of us.

The very idea that the first duty of Government is to protect the populace, be it from without or within, has been disgracefully and enthusiastically abandoned.

Our armed forces and their forebears who have somehow consistently managed to deliver our safety and security have themselves been relentlessly dismantled into scarcely a shadow of their former strength. Yet they are still expected to perform the impossible at the behest of the unsuitable in order to massage the egos of those who are demonstrably unfit to hold the office they occupy.

Would our old soldiers really have wanted the British people to be sold out by any Government so mired in cronyism, corruption, and intellectual (and political) bankruptcy?

These were originally a few thoughts jotted down in October 2006. Plus ca change!!

Ivor Jones,

Rawles Cottages,

Porlock.