WHEN I was told that I couldn't make an appointment to see my doctor because of the "two-day rule", I just crawled back to bed, puzzled and fervently praying that the undertaker would be more accommodating.

Now it turns out that what I took for medical bureaucracy was yet another example of political interference. I had been added to a long casualty list: a patient victim of Tony's target practice.

I am tempted to suggest that politicians should stick to what they do best; but what would that be?

William Dixon Smith,

Welland Rise,

Acomb, York.

Updated: 09:37 Tuesday, May 03, 2005