I THINK Lee Terry’s letter about long rambling political letters was probably aimed at me.

Now I know that the Star covers local issues and human interest stories such as the one about old Doris being helped across the road.

But at the end of the day most of the services for our young and older people depend on are governed by the rate support grant which under this coalition government has been slashed to the bone.

Now let us look at old Doris and many pensioners like her who used to depend on services provided by our social services department, many by discretionary grants which kept dinner clubs and of course meals on wheels going.

These have become casualties and have been curtailed or shut down leaving many OAPs trapped to a life of solitude.

As we have seen over the last few weeks our youth services are also having facilities closed down.

But what can the council do, as by law it has to balance the books on less and less, meaning it is forced into making unpalatable decisions.

Now to Lee I say that unfortunately St Helens and our towns and cities cannot escape from, as he puts it, chinless wonders, although to call them educated is open to debate.

H Bradbury, Loughrigg Avenue