Perhaps the difference between journalists who work for national and those who work for local papers - apart from their salaries - is that while the former seem more concerned with making a story, the latter are bent on finding a story.

This came home to me as I read the report of Lynn Daly and Richard Grange on Ivor Caplin's tour of the British troops in Iraq.

There was ample opportunity for them to sneak in a personal agenda but their report was simply a factual account of what goes on behind the scenes when a Minister travels abroad, especially to a dangerous area.

More particularly, they avoided disclosure of anything to do with security - ever conscious of the dangerous consequences of doing a "Clare Short", no doubt.

Is there a "class barrier" between national and local journalists? I know which group I have the greater respect for. Does something happen when they go national?

-Reg Jenkins, Hove