I continue to be amazed at the ignorance and hypocrisy which characterises the ongoing debate about mobile phone masts.

Most worryingly, our elected representatives (and 'would be' representatives) appear to be more ill-informed than anyone.

Most recently, Richard Evans (Tory candidate for Hendon) displayed a breathtaking lack of even the most basic understanding of the issue, but Andrew Dismore MP is close behind in trying to use this issue for pure party political gain.

Has it completely escaped their attention that 65 per cent of the population now use mobile phones and they are going to be by far the biggest-selling present again this Christmas?

Apparently another five million are being sold as we speak!

You don't have to be Marconi to understand that more phones means more masts and a lot more phones means a lot more masts.

Why else would the mobile phone companies be so desperate to put them up?

I, for one, am increasingly annoyed at the difficulty in making calls, due to network congestion and I would be grateful if my elected representatives would stop doing their level best to exacerbate these problems.

Give me a mast outside my house any day, so at least I'd be able to use my phone.

Stephen Gorman

East End Road,

East Finchley