SIR,

I was offended by reading the latest headline of the Monmouthshire Beacon, 'Assembly has failed Monmouth' for this is certainly untrue and a complete overreaction to the problem there is in the ambulance service.

Although I have sympathy for the writer, his complaint is not appropriate to be given almost the entire front page coverage of the Beacon.

As far as I am concerned, the Welsh Assembly has at last given us a certain degree of freedom from the Westminster parliament that is deeply centralised on the south-east of England.

My impression of the politicians in the Assembly, as well as everyone working in the ambulance service and the NHS in Wales in general, is that they are all working very, very hard for the benefit of the people of this country under difficult circumstances.

There are certainly some faults in various services, but this is often due to a lack of funding. To blame the Assembly as a whole for the faults of individuals is quite wrong.

(Name and address supplied)