I AM very sorry that we old people have become a problem by living too long and that the country can no longer afford us.

I refer, of course, to the intended closure of many of our county council-run care homes.

The nation, I believe, owes these old people a place to live. They should not be moved about like old pieces of furniture.

Like me, they grew up in the Twenties and Thirties. They survived the Depression when the cotton mills closed and had to live hand to mouth.

In World War Two, many of the residents of our care homes fought willingly for king and country in the battlefields. Others worked in factories on war work or on the land. It was done without thought for self, because their country needed them.

And so today they need their country. We owe these people more than money can buy because this country would have gone down without them.

Millions have been spent on that useless fairground junk, The Millennium Dome -- to build it, to keep it afloat and empty. Lancashire County Council now shudders at the thought of spending a few million pounds on bringing these homes up to new standards.

This, of course, raises questions. Are we already making do? What to other Europeans enjoy as senior citizens that our old folk don't?

NORMAN HICKEY (Mr), Lyndon Court, Great Harwood.