SIR – I don’t understand the point of Alan Holdsworth’s letter, (‘Banks and Thatcher’, Letters, January 30).

I agree absolutely with much of what he says about that woman, the poll tax etc, always bearing in mind that one man’s poll tax could be another’s ‘community charge’, and in Mr Holdsworth’s world, if both were reporters they may sue each other for false description!

I think Mr H is saying that the Tories bailed out the banks when it was Labour’s Gordon Brown who did so.

I also think by saying that newspapers work under strict libel laws, Mr H implies that all in them is necessarily factual.

If I were to say that Mr H is silly to believe all he reads, people would just assume that that was my opinion and not call it libel.

A course in English Lit could teach Mr H to analyse the tools writers use and an appreciation of their words with greater clarity. Libel is not simply down to disagreement with a statement.

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon