MANY criticisms are levelled at the government to the effect that they have not done enough (or anything) for we pensioners.

This is an unfair view, despite having some dissatisfaction of my own as a pensioner over things I would like to see changed and improved. However, these do not blind me to several things that are available to senior citizens today that were not available in the past, many of which this government has either introduced or improved on: free bus travel, free prescriptions, free eye tests, an improving and better-funded National Health Service, guaranteed minimum income levels for pensioners, fuel allowance, pension credits.

All today's pensioners benefit from some or most of these provisions. There are still aspects of pensioner life that could and should be improved, but in the debates on these, the above improvements seem to be either ignored or discounted as unimportant. It is as true for pensioners as it is for all of us that 'I want' does not mean that 'I will or should get.' There needs to be a strong dose of realism injected into all our thinking about what is practical and possible in the circumstances. As 'senior citizens', with our greater experience of life, we should be better than most in doing this.

SEAN JENNINGS

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