Letter: Britain's strong pound

Sir: Prior to my recently moving house, I unearthed an old (1971) newspaper from the days before The Independent was born.

The exchange rates quoted in it for the pound sterling included the following: 8.37 Deutschmarks, 13.56 French francs, 118.00 Belgian francs, 9.73 Swiss francs, 8.50 Dutch guilders, 17.06 Norwegian kroner, 18.12 Danish kroner, and 61.00 Austrian schillings. (The "Bank Rate" was 6 per cent).

Strong pound? And are we commensurately more competitive than in 1971? I doubt it.

H J HARLEY

Taunton, Somerset