Nice work if you can get it! Greenock needs Vitali Vitaliev's article (February 17) as much as it needs another sweetshop. It is easy to criticise. It's harder to provide healthy food for a family on a tight budget; to teach healthy cooking in the west of Scotland; to put theory into practice and to lose weight. I should know - I've been trying for the last 30 years. Try eating out anywhere in the west of Scotland.

Other than criticising Greenock, Vitaliev should take issue with food manufacturers, investigate fat and salt content of processed food, and sugar content of fizzy drinks. How about investigating where profits go from sweets, fizzy drinks, and crisps vending machines in local authority schools? School-meals provision budgets? Availability of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish at affordable prices?

Then look at empowerment through promoting self-esteem. Like providing jobs. Take fat youngsters from Inverclyde, pay them the going rate to write an article criticising anything (it's easy). Then let them spend the money on fresh salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, avocadoes, mangoes, fizzy flavoured water, dried fruit, and so on. They might even enjoy them. Making the healthy choice then becomes a piece of cake.

Patricia Coleman,

58 Cowal View, Gourock.

AS a St Mirren fan, I love to slag off Greenock and Greenockians, but only in jest. However, Vitali Vitaliev was far from jesting on his recent trip to Greenock. Rarely have I seen such an example of negative journalism, considering he was visiting one of the most historic towns in Scotland and an area of outstanding natural, if not urban, beauty. What a waste of a trip if all he could find worth talking about was the town's appalling health record, which, while one of the worst in Scotland, is covered at length as a national issue in several newspapers.

I'm sure Vitali will enjoy a chuckle with his ''Edinburgh'' friend about his experiences, but I can think of many people he could have talked to about the attempts of the Greenock community and its various public agencies to revive the town, which would have been far more interesting for the rest

of us.

George Laird,

25 Parklands View, Glasgow.