So much for being a progressive country which ensures the welfare of its citizens.

Pensioner Joanne Wilkins, who, despite the fact she is dying of cancer, is prepared to go to prison to expose the injustice of pensioners paying higher council tax without a similar rise in pensions (The Argus, October 21).

And Jon Turner helped reveal the stench which surrounds the Government.

His letter (October 21), revealed MPs, including Tony Blair and John Prescott, are paying less than a fair amount of council tax.

Despite this, the MP for Hove and Portslade, Celia Barlow, has refused to present Parliament with the "Is It Fair?" petition, calling for fairer tax laws.

Thousands of pensioners had thought they were prepared for old age. They would have been better placed to meet the demands of an inept council, owed £3m in rent (The Argus, August 10) and which squanders money on undeserving projects, but have seen their arrangements destroyed by the chancellor, Gordon Brown.

No doubt, the ever-increasing hoards of State employees, who can still retire at 60, though the £700-billion cost of their pensions far exceeds the national debt, will continue to feather their nests at our expense.

It took Margaret Thatcher, with the courage of her convictions, to expose the unions for what they were and put them in their place.

Regrettably, despite admitting the need to bring the retirement age for public and private sector pensions in to line, the Government has failed to face up to the self-absorbed unions.

By the time the full impact of this failure has sunk in, we could be seeing many more pensioners in the dock because the council won't be able to afford its patronising gestures of goodwill to people who have fallen on hard times (even if through no fault of their own).

-Neil Kelly, Hove