SIR – Some correspondents refer to the events of the Thatcher era. What preceded that era?

We had a period of Labour Government that left the financial cupboard bare.

The story was that the then-Chancellor, Dennis Healey, was preparing to go to a meeting of the International Monetary Fund when he received a message not to bother, as the IMF was coming to him.

James Callaghan, Prime Minister at the time, wanted to impose a five per cent wage limit, leading to the “Winter of Discontent”.

T Hill, The Plantations, Low Moor