BALANCE must be a very difficult thing for a newspaper to achieve.

There must be news items that you intuitively sympathise with and others were you do not. That said, I have to congratulate you on your very balanced interview with Councillor Phil Andrews last week.

I have known Phil well for more than 10 years, and coming to terms with such a radical change of views as he seems to have had is difficult to get your head around.

It is only slightly less extreme than the change that happened to St Paul on the road to Damascus. I still find it hard to believe, but have to admit that in the time I have known Phil I have never seen any sign of him reverting to his earlier views.

Turning to your letters page, your balance seems to have deserted you. Why was it necessary to publish a letter from South Gloucestershire about the actions of our local clergyman, Paul Williamson, that you covered a few weeks ago?

The fact that it is easy to make anonymous accusations of harassment is hardly an excuse for doing it and these were not, in any case, anonymous, but were only dishonest.

Publishing this letter did not improve your paper's balance. Rather, it made me begin to fear about the balance of your editor.

JOHN C MURPHY

Camrose Avenue Feltham