WHILE I agree the Queen is a lot more important than Katie Price (Your View, July 14) it seems to me that, like the Americans, we are becoming a nation of fantasists, people who want to live in a make believe world.

This is evidenced by the number of untalented people who think that they are sufficiently outstanding to win talent contests, or those who live their lives through soap operas.

On a less savoury note it is also evidenced by what may be termed escapist crimes involving drugs, sex and suicide.

The realities of life seem to be things that more and more people are unwilling or unable to face up to so they seek escape in the world of illusion.

It is 48 years since the death of Marilyn Monroe yet people still fantasise about her as they do about Elvis Presley.

To a large extend this situation is about a belief in image rather than in substance. We now live in a television world where people are judged by how they look rather than how they are. Our politicians have moved in the same direction. They are either actors or bankers.

Popular music is now no longer complete unless it has an accompanying DVD. As beauty is only skin deep it is inevitable that once the novelty wears off the reality of the substance will prove less than satisfying.

The world of dreams can sometimes be more real than reality until it goes pop. At one time people looked up to their idols as gods and goddesses in a higher world. Now that these people are seen to inhabit our everyday world it might be thought that reality would dawn. Ironically this has led to a star studded world that is seen as achievable.

Fantasies have moved from the aristocracy to film stars, to working class and even to the world of Barbie Doll.

Thomas E. Rookes Ruskin Avenue, St Giles, Lincoln.