When I retired in 1992 the Government gave you nothing extra if you did not qualify for Income Support.

By hook or by crook those retiring wanted this as it triggered free rent and poll tax and other discounts, and still does. These are worth £60 a week.

Not qualifying, I took a part-time job to fund my lifestyle.

In 1997 Gordon Brown changed to giving to all pensioners and, if the previous Tory policy still operated, all I would have is a £10 Xmas bonus and to look forward to my 25p.

He deserves credit for this and giving the Scottish Executive a large enough budget to fund free personal care and an all-Scotland free travel scheme soon.

People retiring choose their lifestyle and the working population must wonder what the fuss is about when they see the shops and entertainment centres filled with free-spending retirees. — Burnett Lindsay, Balunie Drive, Dundee.

FURTHER TO my recent letter to the Chancellor which was published in the Tele, I have received a reply on his behalf in the name of Miss Debbie Vale, of the Ministerial Correspondence Unit.

In the letter, among the points made, are that the 25p extra pension for the over 80s started in 1971 (how much could that have bought then?). She claims stopping it would be too costly in parliamentary time.

The letter pointed out the extra we get for over 75s —free TV licences and heating allowances and the pensioners’ credits.

All these are expensive to administer so we would be better and more cost-effective to increase the pension every year in line with average wage awards.

At present the pension goes up “in line with” the retail prices index so its value diminishes.

Fat cat MPs, company chairmen and board members make sure they don’t suffer the same fate. — W. W. McCormack, Symers Street, Dundee.

VALUE ADDED Tax on a television set is the same for a pensioner as it is for a millionaire.

Means testing does not apply to VAT and the pensioner never seems to be given a square deal. — Pensioner.

Whatever the truth of these events, as a councillor he appears hard working, approachable and committed to improvements in his ward.

I didn’t vote for him at the last local election but, if he’s still in the running, I’ll be voting for him in the next one. — Jane-Anne Gray, Annfield Street, Dundee.

THE LETTER from J. Brown said that the people in Councillor Fraser Macpherson’s ward should be the judges of whether he is a fit and proper person to represent them.

I agree up to a point. The problem is that there is not an election due for nearly three years.

This councillor, whose evidence was slated by the sheriff, would continue to be in post. This is not acceptable for someone who revealed in his evidence to an assault and robbery trial that he had lied to the police in a statement.

The people who should judge him are his fellow Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors who surely cannot continue to support such a person for a further three years.

He should be ordered to resign as a councillor immediately. — Taybridger.

[Joy and George Adamson wrote the book Born Free about their experiences of raising the lion cub Elsa and releasing her back into the wilds of Africa in the late 1950s.

The two met violent ends. In 1980, 69-year-old Joy was murdered near her camp in a nature reserve. George was killed by poachers in 1989, aged 83.]

It is difficult to understand why he or she decided not to do this in the first place.

By doing so the matter would have been fully investigated and the problem resolved.

As one of the first bus companies in Scotland to ban smoking over ten years ago, we are concerned if our customers are not complying with this policy.

Our records show only one complaint in the past three years from a customer regarding smoking on our vehicles.

The matter was fully investigated with the culprit identified and warned that they would be banned from using any of our services indefinitely if they did not comply with our procedures on this matter. — R. D. Taylor, Quality and Audit Manager, Strathtay Scottish Omnibuses.