The government has announced that 40 "Respect Zones" will be set up in England, to fight anti-social behaviour. Blair decided to reveal this personally, in a "face the people" session in Brighton.

These Respect Zones are meant to provide parenting classes, meetings between police and the public, and "intervention projects" to tackle so-called "neighbours from hell".

The Zones embrace whole metropolitan councils and borough councils, like those of Birmingham, Sunderland, Liverpool and Manchester, for instance. Yet only £6m in total has been granted by the government for this purpose! This works out at around £150,000 per Zone - or the price of one small house! What a joke!

There is no question of generous funds being made available to "tackle" the insufficient and inappropriate housing and lack of amenities which blight so many of our towns and cities. And if this chronic dereliction is not the direct cause of neighbourly disputes and the "badly behaved children" Blair singles out, it certainly makes them very much worse. But of course, that the government once again plays at "tackling the crime" and ignores the real causes, is no surprise.

But it is all the more outrageous, when one contrasts this latest puny £6m, with the £53 billion which this same government has made available, out of public funds, to private sharks who are feeding off the NHS and contributing to its demise.

The "Keep Our NHS Public" campaign has estimated that out of the hospitals' PFI projects alone, private businessmen and their shareholders will make "take home" profits of £23 billion over 30 years. Yes, to spend on their multiple homes and castles here in England, and in the warmer climes where they take their holidays and moor their private yachts.

Of course, that kind of high living at public expense is not considered "anti-social" behaviour by Blair and his ministers. No, these same sharks are honoured by this government. If they do not get peerages after loaning some of their takings back to the Labour Party, they are given directorships of government quangos and jobs as Tony's "advisors".

There is a very long list of such "respectable" people, but fortunately for most working people, at least they will never have to put up with them living next door.