I expect that to most people the term quango means a kind of exotic fruit.

Yet much of our lives are controlled by these ubiquitous, covert committees which handle billions of pounds of our money.

Some have national responsibilities, some are regional and some are quite local, like hospital trusts. Primary care trusts are almost quangos.

Unfortunately, we know practically nothing about the people who sit on them nor how they got there and usually less about what they decide.

Why not adopt the "jury system" when making these appointments?

With juries, names are just taken out of a hat, as it were, - with some exceptions - and these people are then expected to make serious legal decisions affecting the lives of others.

We trust the combined judgment of ordinary folk in serious legal matters, why not with quango decisions?

By general agreement, we don't take enough interest in social affairs. This would do more to tackle it than anything else.

-RG Jenkins, Hove