There is no doubt that the train service has improved over recent years in terms of rolling stock and service frequency.

However, with the lack of regular Virgin trains and the strongly rumoured cancellation of the early morning train to Euston with the December timetable, I am convinced that Northampton will remain the Cinderella of the West Coast Main Line.

As far as the regulars on the 7.12 are concerned, they have organised the start of their day with this train and suddenly it will have gone, unless a miracle happens and London Midland inserts a train in its place.

In any event, the widespread cancellation of services due to engineering work really should not be allowed to happen.

Last Saturday there were no trains to Milton Keynes after 9.30am, which is providing no service at all. We are effectively being told to grin and bear it.

With four tracks and a little planning it should enable two or even one of them to remain open.

In the early 1960s, during the electrification of the line, trains were kept running and it was not just track work then; it was the erection of the overhead gantries and cables, not to mention new signalling.

With a regular and fast service planned by Virgin from December, should Northampton not be entitled to its fair share of trains, for example those starting and finishing at Birmingham or Rugby? At electrification we saw a regular Wolverhampton train come through Northampton with only one or two stops on its way to Euston, with an afternoon return.

Richard Branson and Virgin must not be allowed to continue to bypass us.
Mr T J Parker,
Townsend Close, Hanging Houghton.

Don't have dog if you can't afford it
Re Hobo, the abandoned Alsatian, you cannot put dogs on the streets. If you cannot afford to keep a dog then don't have one.

It is cruel and also against the law to abandon your dog and you are also liable for an accident.

My one-year-old German shepherd's dad is a guard dog in Bedford prison, his name is Ben.

His sisters are in Sussex.

Three of his grandparents are police dogs.

Rex is a lovely dog and my rock.

We have to pay our vet's bill and put the care of the dog first.
Bernadette Sibley,
Parkwood Street, St James, Northampton.

Move market to the suburbs
I have followed with great interest the various suggestions put forward for the Market Square.

Common sense dictates cause and effect.

For example, the coming of television spelled the end of all eight of Northampton's cinemas.

I would suggest the coming of the suburban supermarkets, with their adequate car parking, spelled the end of Northampton's market and town centre shops.

To the older generation, the once bustling Market Square consisted of Kinghams, the high quality grocer with its aroma of coffee beans, James Bros in the Drapery, with all very prosperous shops.

This is where the busy housewives could do all their shopping, on the market and in the adjacent shops then, laden down, had a very short walk to Mercers Row, where they could get on a bus to take them home.

In those days, most men worked Saturday morning.

The coming of the supermarkets has doomed this way of shopping.

I would suggest that the proposed demolition of the bus station and extension of the Grosvenor Centre will surely become a white elephant.

I suggest that this is why the current owners of the Grosvenor Centre are dragging their feet.

It calls for a bold move on the part of the council to move the market to the suburbs such as the Bedford Road area, with good access roads, along with a shuttle bus service from the current Market Square which would become an extra car park and bus park.

The bold new market could be not only a cattle market but also a farmers' market.

It could open six days a week and give the growers from Bedfordshire and Lincolnshire a chance to sell their produce directly to the public instead of being held to ransom by the supermarkets.
Charles Keith Barker
High Street, Kingsthorpe, Northampton.

Shops demolition started the rot
I started work at 28 in Marefair in 1948.

Then Marefair and Gold Street were flourishing, with two-way traffic and limited parking.

The rot set in when half of Marefair was demolished to make way for the hideous Barclaycard building.

Streets with limited access will never pay their way, and continuously increasing parking charges only makes things worse.
D J King,
Bedford Road, Denton.

42-day detention gives police time
I feel let down by the Labour Party veteran Tony Benn, who supported the Tory David Davies in the recent Haltemprice and Howden by-election.

My by-election campaign was not just about the 42 days detention issue.

Gordon Brown bottled out of a fight in Haltemprice and Howden; a Labour candidate should have stood in the election.

Like most people, I'm still in favour of the 42-day detention period for terrorist suspects because it does give the police time to complete the tricky job of gathering sufficient evidence.

In this country a great deal of evidence is necessary to even bring a terrorist case to court.

I enjoy being involved in politics because we now have the crazy situation where a market trader can be prosecuted for selling in pounds and ounces, despite being asked by the customer to do so, contravening the EU law.

In the present political climate the mood of this country is for a General Election, not a by-election.
Eamonn "Fitzy" Fitzpatrick
Ridgeway,
Northampton.

MEPs step out of line . . . again
The Tory leader David Cameron has again had to step in to control his wayward bunch of MEPs.

This time the group has had to be restrained from getting too close to the European Democracy Group in the Council of Europe that has close links with the pro-Putin factions in Russia.

Clearly, with Cameron rushing to show solidarity with the embattled Georgian leader following the invasion of that country, why were his MEPs eagerly backing the other side?

Perhaps local Tories can explain what the party really stands for in Europe and ensure that it has MEPs who support this line, whatever it may be.
David Brede,
Blossom Way, Little Billing, Northampton.

My faith restored
I would like to thank two young lads who picked me up from a fall on The Parade, Market Square, Northampton, on Wednesday, August 13, and also a Royal Marine who took over with a first aid kit.

My thanks to all three, who were complete strangers and quite restored my faith in humanity and the youth of today.
M Childs,
New Croft, Weedon.