I FEEL I must comment on A C Carter's attack of Frank Avenell.

Frank, along with millions of others his age, spent their late teens or early 20s fighting to save their country.

Many many died as a result of their injuries.The wives/ mothers were real one parent families with no handouts.

All the pensioners want is a fair crack of the whip without having to crawl, cap in hand, for a means tested few pounds from Blair. Only the stupid will not see through the £100 political sop from "Buddy" Brown because, if Labour are returned to government, it will be clawed back with interest.

As for the poll tax jibe, was it such a bad idea?

One only has to see pages 6 and 7 of Monday's Advertiser to see why.

Would it hurt if the cost of a few lagers or glasses of wine a week were taken from drinkers' pockets to help pay for the thousands of pounds taken out of our council tax each year for the patrolling, cleaning up, police overtime and A&E treatment?

Our Labour-controlled council even paved over the bottom of the town so that drunks could stagger from one bar to another without the fear of traffic.

The area is out of bounds to all decent people, old or young, between Friday and Saturday evenings.

JOHN OLIVER

Brooklands Avenue