IF you offer criticism, think through who you are criticising first!

I thought I'd take the opportunity to thank Tim Harris for his letter dated July 29. "If you offer a solution, think through the implications first".

I thought it was extremely well written and made a great number of excellent points. In particular the piece at the end where he writes "Kev Walsh, get real, enter the real world and figure out the problems you create in solving the problems you want to address".

In return I'd like to offer a piece of advise to Mr Harris — when you are figure out who you are criticising, make sure it's the right person.

Mr Harris' letter got everything right, except the target of his rant. The letter to which he seems to be referring is one actually written by Andrew Davidson who said that "everyone should be means tested to get a job".

This is of course a ridiculous suggestion — for all the reasons Mr Harris details and more.

As a Liberal Democrat I believe in a fair, free and open society where no-one should be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. I believe that the disadvantaged should be given all the support they need to overcome obstacles and live happy and healthy lives. I believe in a welfare system that supports people who can't find work — not punishes them. I believe in building strong communities that work together to overcome issues that we face, be they homelessness, poverty, racism or unemployment.

And I believe in investment in educations. In particular supporting adult learners to develop their skills to enhance employability. Skills such as IT and computing, business management and accountancy, foreign languages, maths, science....and reading.

Kev Walsh

Harper Green