THE arithmetic of the euro argument is actually quite simple. It's only Mr Margrett who is trying to complicate it and pull the wool over your readers' eyes.

Visible trade is very important, but no kind of argument for the euro as Mr Margrett pretends. I take the figure of roughly 15 per cent as Europe's share of our GDP from the economic correspondent of The Times - whom readers may possibly consider a greater expert than Mr Margrett - and it pales alongside the 85 per cent which has nothing to do with Europe, however hard Mr Margrett might try to wriggle off that hook.

Japanese firms account for, at most, 4 per cent of inward investment into the UK, much of it in areas where the UK no longer has a competitive advantage.

For what it's worth, however, they have spoken for themselves and five sixths of them do not agree with what he is saying.

Again, your readers will form their own views on whether Mr Margrett knows what they think better than they do themselves.

Hard-headed American firms - by far the largest investors in this country, by the way - know that the businesses in which they invest would lose massively if the UK joined the Euro.

By the same token, they also know their investments will be in danger if the euro continues to flop and drags the economies of member countries down with it. Yet Mr Margrett wants us to think they're all turkeys voting for Christmas.

JULIAN THAKE,

Worcester.