14 JULY 2007, Page 17

Aspire to what?

Sir: Nowhere in Fraser Nelson's article on James Purnell (Meet New New Labour's Mr Aspirational', 30 June) is there any mention of precisely which of the public's aspirations Labour understands so well.

Could it be the aspiration, say, of a young teacher ever to afford a house? Of a farmer not to go bankrupt? Of parents to see their children become literate and numerate and thus employable in the global economy? The aspiration of a factory worker not to become permanently unemployed? Of workers to find employers offering final-salary pensions schemes? Of people to have more, rather than less, disposable income year on year?

Voters, after a long period of atrocious government, normally aspire to have the opportunity to vote for a real change. Only the absence of a confident, aggressive opposition to Brown might explain James Purnell's otherwise smug and preposterous insinuation that Britain's `aspirational classes' actually want more of the mess Labour has created since 1997.

Stephen Harris Bristol