IAN Morris (Your Letters, March 15) misleads us when he states that, on joining the euro, financial matters would all be decided "on the other side of the Channel, to suit Germany France et al".

The Channel is only a 20 minute ride on a train and has nothing whatever to do with the case. His statement is misleading because the United Kingdom would be as much a part of the economic union as "Germany, France et al".

In any case, is it not conceivable that what suits Germany, France, Spain, Italy and other might suit us too? What makes us so special, when other European countries appear to have more doctors, better hospitals, better roads, better railways, better care for the elderly and, at least in mathematics and languages, better schools?

I have just returned from a visit to Bon and Aix-la-Chapelle, where I was treated with friendship by total strangers.

The Eurostar went at 180 mph (though not on this side of the Channel) and the German trains were all punctual to the minute. Children accidentally obstructing me all said "pardon", a word I have not heard in years.

On my return, the contrast made me feel ashamed. It took six hours and four different trains to reach Malvern from Guildford, one of which broke down, and there was standing room only from Worcester, with nobody thinking to offer this weary octogenarian a seat.

For myself, I cannot see why other European countries are regarded as such a menace to our present way of life.

PHILIP WOODWARD, Worcester Road, Malvern