I AM a Dorset man and proud of it. On the war memorial in Corfe Castle there is carved this inscription Dorsetmen Don't Shame Their Kinde.

Thinking of that motto and seeing the fuel protesters and my fellow Englishmen panic-buying fuel, I almost wish that a border post was put in by Shaftsbury, so that I could separate myself from the rest of my fellow countrymen.

Don't they realise that most of the countries that have cheaper fuel costs than us have to pay more in other ways?

Unless they are very well off they cannot afford to be out of work or sick.

If a working class person needs a serious operation, unless they have enough medical insurance they finish up thousands of pounds in debt,

But of course that fact doesn't come into the equation as the protesters are probably running a gas guzzling 4x4, plus a Mercedes or a Jaguar to go to town in and can also afford a good health insurance.

I am a pensioner running an economical small car and my wife and I are happy to pay a bit extra for fuel to be able to visit our doctor or the hospital when things go wrong.

I know it is not fault-free but we should all be thankful for our NHS.

I might be getting old but I do live in the real world.

Grow up protesters. If you must protest, do it against the destruction of the environment which includes burning fossil fuel (petrol) and is the root cause of the bad weather we are having right now.

A J STICKLAND

Heathfield

Chippenham