SIR - Reading about the rise in tax for 4x4s, isn't this going a bit too far? My sister, who has to tow a caravan, is certainly not going to do it with a Mini, is she?

As to the rise in airline tax, what else can the government do to the everyday person? I can't walk to England to visit my family, nor can I drive there, and what happens to all these people who like to go abroad for their holidays?

The world has to find alternatives to gasoline, but we won't see it in our lifetime. Every time someone comes up with a patent to make a car that uses other kinds of fuel, the car manufacturers put a squash on it.

Look at the price of petrol now; it will look like a bargain after the cost of gasoline goes up again next week.

The whole world is a mess; we have it now with the Alaskan Pipeline fiasco. Never checked on it for the last 16 years - what were the workers doing up there, making snowballs? Heaven help us all.

Diane Duguid, E.4th St, Deer Park, New York