While glancing at The Argus letters page, my heart sank after catching sight of the words “will take us back to the bad old days” contained in a letter from Councillor Anne Pissaridou.

Having felt that I have endured more than enough bad old days over the years, I am disinclined to have to endure more, so was immediately curious as to what this new dose of bad old days equated to.

Being of a certain age, I recall coming homefrom work in the late 1970s to total darkness, because it was our turn to have an electrical power cut.

I recall mountains of uncollected rubbish in the streets, bins unemptied, the dead stacking up in mortuaries because they could not be buried.

Worst of all regularly having to queue for long periods at garages trying to buy some rationed petrol.

For the avoidance of doubt, this mayhem was all courtesy of the Labour party/government and the unions.

To my relief this latest bad news was nothing of the sort, merely related to Coun Pissaridou’s opinion that young people will now be disadvantaged in life, all due to Michael Gove’s long overdue reforms of the flawed school exam system.

In this case, the fact of the matter is the exact opposite is happening of what she predicts.

My local school, PACA, is an academy and this year has produced the largest number of quality GCSE grades (77%) seen for many years. Hardly a demonstration of depriving young people of opportunities to aspire.

Should we be totally honest, the Labour party’s real problem with education is that academies and free schools are now free of the corrosive public sector union influence, who now have no say how they are run.

I suggest that this is the real bone of contention for you and your party Coun Pissaridou.

Trevor Alford

Ex councillor for North Portslade

New England Rise

Portslade