Real power? It's just an illusion . . .

And so the rich and powerful, having created this financial mess, just carry right on as before while the rest of us have to clean it up, getting poorer in the process. Thanks guys.

They say 'we're in it together'. Yeah. Right.

I wouldn't mind so much if 'power' actually meant anything.

The problem with power, in all its forms, is that it is an illusion. That's precisely why it's so intoxicating/exciting. You might become a billionaire. You might own land, titles etc. But in truth you will never actually 'have' anything.

You will never be real to yourself. Only love – which is categorically not sentimental, is categorically not the romantic idea/ideal called 'love', and has nothing whatsoever to do with power – can make you real.

Power isolates.

Towards the end of his life Joseph Stalin said 'I don't trust anybody. I don't even trust myself'.

He suffered horribly before he died because people were too frightened of him to come to his aid.

It's interesting to read how few of the ailing Mrs Thatcher's former colleagues, many of whose careers she helped when in office, have been to visit her.

ADRIAN COLSTON Frome Road Bradford on Avon