Letter: If you can't read, you can't web

I was sorry to read that "the amount of money spent by public libraries on children's books is expected to fall next year" ("Book cuts to hit children", 21 December), despite 1998 being designated National Year of Reading.

Considering that this government is keen to ensure all pupils have access to the infernal Internet, I feel it's another example of priorities being wrong. Even computer users need to read properly if they're to understand the messages sent through the web. As someone said, if computers are meant to do away with the written word, why are there so many magazines devoted to computers?

Tim Mickleburgh

Grimsby, Lincolnshire