SIR – A Waterhouse hits the nail on the head when he highlights the differences between my letter and that of Tanya Graham (Letters, November 19).

Ms Graham is the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Conservative party in Bradford South, so of course she is going to try to convince her electorate that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, citing the number of business start-ups as evidence of a resurgent economy.

Yet these business start-ups include the very people I was talking about; those who became self-employed out of necessity.

The fact is that there has been the largest shift from the poor to the rich since Victorian times.

Wages as a share of GDP have fallen, whilst dividends have risen.

Companies are at their most profitable since 1998; they are sitting on £500 billion of un-invested profits; even after dividend payments; whereas wages have fallen every year since 2000.

The only reason that the economy is growing is the £350 billion of quantitative easing; giving money to banks, who caused this catastrophe in the first place and have created another housing bubble.

I rather think that Ms Graham may experience difficulty in selling her version of events to the good people of Bradford South.

Ian Parsons, Alexandra Road, Eccleshill, Bradford