WHY is it wrong to test the needy and old (Letters, April 22)? How does social security know if someone is needy without testing them?
Sir Bobby Robson, for example, is a pensioner by his age, but also a millionaire, and entitled to the same heating allowance and free TV licence as the little old lady who has a bare, minimum pension on which to live.
Do you really think it is fair that those who have plenty, such as Sir Bobby, should receive the same benefits as those who are at the lowest end of the system just because of their age grouping?
Believe it or not, the welfare state was set up to help and provide for those who cannot help themselves, not to indiscriminately dish out money on an age related basis as it seems to have become.
W Elliott,
Kinbrace Road,
Hartlepool.
Updated: 09:28 Monday, April 25, 2005
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