I largely agree with Adam Trimingham that disillusion with the major parties and their policies leads to apathy or, worse still, attraction to often reactionary alternatives, such as the fascist BNP (The Argus, August 16).

However, I believe there is a hunger within large sections of the population for a different way of ordering things, which none of the smaller parties Adam mentions even pretends to satisfy.

The poverty in which many, especially pensioners, live, the privatisation of our health and education services, the placing of our young people in the grasp of the big corporations, the bloodbath perpetrated in the interests of American oil companies, the threats of nuclear war and the despoliation of the planet in the name of profit-seeking - all these arise from a system which encourages selfishness and greed, an elbow society in which millions fall by the wayside.

While it is vital all fair-minded people continue to work to mitigate these effects of the system, what is needed is a political organisation which, while helping in that struggle, sets its sights on a more long-term solution - a different order of society.

There are several such parties and many have contested elections but, without the resources of the big parties, the audience they can reach with their message is naturally limited.

I am a member of - and would recommend - the Alliance for Green Socialism. It tries to unite organisations which are working for those two aims, both short-term and long-term.

We co-operate to satisfy people's spiritual and physical needs and protect our fragile planet.

  • Leonard Goldman, Westfield Crescent, Brighton