Letter: No good goods

Sir: I refer to Nancy Macintyre's letter of 16 July. Last week I accompanied a friend to a shop in Northampton where she hoped to buy a footstool upholstered in leather.

When this had been chosen, but in a different colour of leather to the one on show, we were told: (a) that there would be a delay of 12 weeks; (b) that the leather came from Italy; (c) that the wooden part came from Sweden; (d) that the delivery charge, for a distance of about 15 miles, would be pounds 35. This in a town once the heart of Britain's leather industry.

Does the Government believe that this kind of situation will encourage people to spend money, let alone spend it on British goods?

Yours sincerely,

RUTH MUNDY

Marlow, Buckinghamshire