WE HEAR much about falling living standards.

The truth is that our living standards were artificially lifted as a result of imprudent borrowing and spending on the part of Government and a great many individuals leading to a feeling of prosperity which did not really exist.

Providers of these excess goods and services enjoyed an income which could not be justified and their inevitable excess spending merely increased the problem.

At some point the excess spending had to stop leading to reduced income for those providing the erstwhile excess.

Repayment of debt also diverts money which would normally have been spent, leading to a further reduction in demand. In effect we are falling back below the level of living which would have been justified if imprudent spending had not taken place.

For instance, free bus passes to over-65s is great and doubtless appreciated by the recipients, but if we as a nation have to go into debt to provide them then we are merely creating poverty for the inheritors of this debt.

Am I alone in thinking that this is unfair?

J Smith, Willow Glade, New Lane, Huntington, York.