I SUSPECT the headline figure of more than 36,000 households in Devon receiving a court summons or being visited by bailiffs last year to be misleading.

In an attempt to collect unpaid council tax, the household is firstly summonsed to the magistrates court, and if proven, a liability order is granted and the council can then take further action to obtain payment which will often involve bailiff action.

I therefore suspect that the figures in your leading article of January 8 should have read that at least 25,235 households were summonsed, of which 11,526 were subsequently visited by bailiffs.

There are two sorts of debtors – those who can't pay and those who won't pay. Sylvia Hardy was jailed in 2005 for refusing to pay because she says in your article on Page 6 that she "believes council tax is a very unfair form of collecting revenue for local services…"

I suspect that she could have paid, but refused to do so.

Mrs Hardy now blames the cold spell and suggests people were spending what money they had on heating.

Let's just remember that anybody over 60 has recently received a winter fuel payment of at least £250 per household; £400 if over 80.

In addition, those on a low income may qualify for a "cold weather payment" if receiving pension credit or various other qualifying benefits.

This year those who qualify will get £25 when the average temperature where they live is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days during the period November 1 to March 31.

And it begs the question, Mrs Hardy – why, when you get your fuel bill later in the year, will you choose to pay that rather than your council tax?

David Brown

Plymouth

Colonial supremacy

I FOUND the letter from Gerald Knight (December 30) a bit worrying; Mr Knight was probably moved to write because of his perception of the decline and fall of Great Britain in modern times.

He says we should regain the "happy state of being a Christian country" of Victorian times by religious instruction in schools being taught as it used to be. We should furthermore "put away" the other gods.

I can only presume that by the last it is suggested that we oust all citizens who follow other religious beliefs, although it is unclear what should happen to atheists and agnostics.

As the economic decline gathers pace, I predict that in any case it will not be long before many will be enjoying a soupçon of the hardships and degradation suffered by thousands of loyal Christian subjects of the Empress of India during her rule.

Those times were also at the height of British colonialism, in which, as devout Christians, our forebears were still holding sway over scores of little red blotches on the atlas, pillaging natural resources and crushing indigenous peoples into a life of servitude.

I believe most of us know what kind of life we should lead, and if our principles and ethics happen to coincide with those in Christianity, that's fine.

Derek Courtnell

Plymouth

Salt mine storage

I THINK that storing nuclear waste in Cornwall is a very bad idea, for the following reasons.

It appears from a recent report that the effect of radon gas in homes is worse than previously thought; this is a natural process, I understand, of degrading uranium.

Although Councillor Bryan Rawlins means well, I think it would be a very bad mistake to store spent nuclear fuel in Cornwall – and where would it be?

The only safe place for this dangerous material is in a salt mine; we have salt mines in Cheshire and in Northern Ireland, and there must be room for this waste in some unused part of the works.

Salt is the only cheap substance that is impenetrable and will last millions of years longer than the spent fuel.

I hope the county council will take this into serious consideration.

A M Evens

Ruan Minor

Origins of food

THEO Hopkins' letter on December 30, headed "Hunt and plate" is absolutely correct.

He and his streetwise urban children are not going to be swayed by what some huntsman might say. They know the origin of their crispy grilled lamb chop and their golden-yolked free range egg – why, the supermarket shelves, of course.

Only their simple-minded rural cousins would know the full process by which they reached the shelves.

It's the Boxing Day meets which are traditional, not a show of anti-urban defiance. At the moment foxhunting is banned, but not the keeping or parading of foxhounds.

W T Sweet

Mawgan, Helston

Crucial poll

RECENT Brussels polling seems to indicate that only 2 per cent of Britons are aware we have European Union-wide elections for the European Parliament on June 4. And let us be quite clear – this election is vitally important to the citizens of the United Kingdom.

It will be held on a proportional representation basis and there is no such thing as a "wasted" vote.

You vote for a party rather than an individual, and the choice is simple.

If you are satisfied with the UK's relationship with the EU you can vote Labour, Liberal Democrat or Conservative – it doesn't matter which, as all three of the major parties are committed to the status quo.

If you are dissatisfied, which I think most people are, then vote for the UK Independence Party.

Peter Wyatt

Chairman Totnes Constituency UKIP