  We present new explicit exponential stability conditions for the linear
scalar neutral equation with two variable coefficients and delays $$
(x(t)-a(t)x(g(t)))'=-b(t)x(h(t)), $$ where $|a(t)|<1$, $b(t)\geq 0$, $h(t)\leq
t$, $g(t)\leq t$, in the case when the delays $t-h(t)$, $t-g(t)$ are bounded,
as well as an asymptotic stability condition, if the delays can be unbounded.
