RELIGION, according to Karl Marx, was the opium of the people.

In 2004, the addiction seems to be mobile phones. People simply cannot cope without their cellphone glued to their ear or stuck in their hands texting.

Remove some people's grasp their Nokia or Erikkson or whatever state-of-the-art contraption they have and, crikey, it's like the end of the world.

Why, it's nigh on impossible to hold a decent conversation with friends for any length of time without somebody reaching into their pockets for their handsets so they can indulge in a bout of rampant text.

Have you ever tried to take a train journey without a fellow passenger confirming that, yes, you are indeed on the train? Thought not.

But before anyone urges me to "stop whinging, grandpa," I confess I'm as guilty as anyone.

Yet despite our obsessive affiliations with our mobile phones, most people are desperately unhappy about mobile phone masts. Flick back through the pages of the York Evening Press over the past couple of years and you'll find community group after community group complaining about the siting of another eyesore near their homes.

It is not just the visual blight which is the headache, according to campaigners.

They claim radio waves emitted by the masts are responsible for causing... well, headaches, as well as sleeplessness and life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer - a claim denied by the phone firms.

The crescendo has led the Tories to unveil a vote-winning five-point plan curbing the ability of phone companies to erect masts willy-nilly.

Should the Conservatives perform the greatest comeback since Lazarus and win the next General Election, they will introduce strict new planning laws giving local people a greater say on masts which "blight" their area.

Shadow planning minister Caroline Spelman promised all masts would need full planning permission, with councillors forced to vote for or against the proposal.

She pledged that councils would be ordered to take health concerns into account, especially when masts are planned near homes, hospitals and schools.

There are more than 40,000 masts in Britain but campaigners fear another 100,000 will be erected to carry new, third generation mobile phone traffic.

The Conservatives policy - hailed as the biggest shake-up for more than 20 years - is fine when it comes to "cheap and poorly designed" masts.

No one in their right mind would want a mast protruding from the top of York Minster or from their local primary school.

But their plan would make it more difficult for phone companies to get planning permission for "hidden" masts. These are often secreted inside street signs, advertising hoardings or bus stops.

The Tories' blueprint ignores one key fact - most people want to use mobile phones. Companies must erect ever more powerful transmitters so phone owners can stay in touch at all costs - or risk the wrath of customers complaining that their phone signal cut out at the bottom of a valley on the North York Moors.

Perhaps the Liberal Democrats, who also want more local say on where mobile phone masts are located, have got their finger on the pulse.

People have a right to be concerned about radio waves from masts posing a health risk, they accept.

But as one front-bencher told me yesterday: "These people don't have the same concerns about having a phone pressed against their brain all day."

Right, must dash. Phone's ringing...

Updated: 11:19 Friday, August 20, 2004