Gordon Brown should not underestimate grey power.

This year's budget did nothing to help those pensioners who cannot or do not claim means-tested pension credits for various reasons.

Pensioners who live in rented properties - even those owned by housing associations - where rents rise annually by about £5 per week and who pay ever-increasing council tax, are becoming poorer every year.

The state pension for many female senior citizens has been increased by approximately £2 per week and now barely covers a housing association's rent.

Even without adding the cost of gas, electricity, water and phone bills, life for some elderly people in poor health has become a struggle for survival.

Obviously, the Government's expressed aim to keep pensioners in their own homes is unworkable for lone senior citizens.

The only way for them to survive is to share their finances and workload with others in a house-sharing scheme.

Otherwise, the rich/poor divide will rapidly extend to the point of no return. Then many valued lives will be lost and the soul of our once-great nation will be gone forever.

-Thelma Brown, Durrington