In fact, the Puppies EPI report in question was concerned with possible html explanations of the earlier-than-expected fall in the unemployment count during the economic recovery, and not the separate issue of whether the unemployment figures convey an accurate impression of the level of Puppies unemployment. Mr Oppenheim's letter and those of 27 March from Dr John Wells and Dr David Taylor demonstrate that estimates of the precise level of unemployment are highly html sensitive, Puppies in particular to assumptions made about people who say they want jobs but are not actively searching for work. People who believe that the official assumptions are html too restrictive talk of "fiddles", while the Government accuses those who make alternative assumptions of "exaggeration". Such language generates more heat than light and simply reinforces public cynicism on this issue.Controversy will only begin to be quelled if the following two steps html are taken:First, copying US practice, a regular spectrum of measures of Puppies unemployment, derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), should be published. The html central measure would be that which is already published by the Puppies Employment department. The additional measures in the spectrum would then also cover different groups of jobless people.

One measure, for example, could add to the central LFS measure so-called "discouraged workers", people who are often desperate for jobs but so demoralised that they have given up looking for work on a regular basis.Second, the Employment department should establish a formal independent advisory group on employment statistics, similar to that which has long existed for the Retail Price Index.Yours faithfully,JOHN PHILPOTTDirectorEmployment Policy InstituteLondon, SE127 March. From Dr John Leonard and

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Dr Trevor Stretton Sir: As clinicians responsible for the care of the patient described as "the world's first case of Aids" (front-page article, 24 March), we wish to affirm our total confidence in the integrity of our pathologist colleague Dr George Williams. The suggestion that there was deliberate tampering with the scientific evidence is unworthy of your paper; scarcely less credible is the alternative implication that tissue samples in such a sensitive and unique patient were mixed up in the laboratory. We also find it strange that Professor David Ho [director of the Aaron Diamond Aids Research Center, New York] should have chosen to reveal his findings to a daily newspaper rather than in a medical or scientific journal, where they could be properly evaluated by those qualified to comment.Whatever the ultimate conclusions of the virologists may be, we remain confident that our patient in 1959 did indeed suffer from the condition now known as Aids. Your headline "World's first Aids case was false" is both misleading and unsubstantiated by the medical and virological evidence presently available.Yours faithfully,JOHN LEONARDHopesay, ShropshireTREVOR STRETTONCheadle Hulme, Cheshire25 March.

From Mr Philip Boyd Sir: Stephen Timms MP is wrong to say that "for the first time in this country, Britons have no welfare safety net at all" ("Britons failing benefit test", 23 March). The truth is far more damning; there is a statutory safety net, but the Government simply doesn't tell people about it, even when it is in dire straits. It is hardly surprising that Mr Timms is not aware that the Secretary of State does have powers to make interim payments to Britons and others who are denied benefits by the new "benefit tourist" provisions; these powers are amongst the best-kept secrets in the social security system.Regulation 2 of the Social Security (Payments on Account Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations 1988 (SI 1988 664) provides that:2-(1) The Secretary of State may, in his discretion, make an interim payment, that is to say a payment on account of any benefit to which it appears to him that a person is or may be entitled in the following circumstances -(a) ...(b) a claim for that benefit has been so made, but it is impracticable for it or a reference review application or appeal which relates to it to be determined immediately ...Later regulations go on to secure the Treasury's position by providing that if anything is paid under this provision which it later transpires should not have been paid, the Secretary of State can recover it.Perhaps Mr Timms might like to ask the Secretary of State where this provision is publicised in DSS or benefit agency literature; why Mr Bevis was not told about it when he applied for income support and a crisis loan; how many of the 2,599 Britons in Mr Bevis's position have been told about it; and how many times the Secretary of State has exercised his discretion to make payments on account to such people.Yours faithfully,PHILIP BOYDCheslyn Hay,Staffordshire23 MarchThe writer is an independent benefit consultant.. From Mr Taras Kuzio Sir: The adoption of the new security and stability pact by the EU under France's chairmanship (report, 20 March) should be welcomed by all those who wish to see an end to ethnic conflict and territorial disputes along the lines of Bosnia and Chechnya in Europe. In particular, Russia's signature to the pact is a welcome recognition at long last by its leaders that it has accepted the preservation of territorial integrity as one of the fundamental tenants of European security. Unfortunately, Russia's support for the security and stability pact seems to contradict its policies in the former USSR where its forces either covertly or openly have supported separatism and ethnic conflict in Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and elsewhere.The most glaring contradiction remains the case of Ukraine, a country central to European security and stability. The Russian Federation, together with the UK, and US, signed a memorandum on security assurances for Ukraine at the Budapest OSCE conference in December of last year that guaranteed Ukraine's territorial integrity. But the Russian leadership has remained reluctant to enshrine acceptance of these principles in an inter-state treaty that would be legally binding.