KEN Adam’s reminiscences, (Daily Echo, January 5), prompt memories of the parlour state of the UK, when the Attlee administration took control following World War Two.

The country was bankrupt, its cities devastated and its industry and infrastructure obsolescent.

Yet five years of firmly but fairly imposed austerity measures saw the country not just back on its feet, but enjoying a welfare system unparalleled anywhere in the world.

This despite constant sniping from a Conservative dominated media, which opposed every reform.

Decline set in with Attlee’s loss of power in the 1951 elections, and climaxed with the disastrous Thatcherite policies of hawking off the nation’s assets and letting loose the predatory city speculators.

Today’s economic mess is rooted in corporate greed and corruption on a global scale.

It will take more than concessions to the rich and union bashing policies, as apparently advocated by Mr Adams, to clear it up.

F A FORD, Elphinstone Road, Highcliffe