HOMES for the elderly in Lancashire are being closed down because £14.5 million can't be found to bring them up to new government standards.

If the Government wants these standards to be met then why aren't they themselves funding these homes for the elderly?

The Government could find £100 million to build the state-of-the-art Yarl's Wood detention centre for asylum seekers, which detainees burnt down, causing £35 million-worth of damage.

This centre had a shop, gym, smart communal areas, first class bedrooms, and sports courts. One could say it was a hotel -- all for people who should not be here in the first place.

Two more centres are to be built and the Government can't find funds for our own elderly. It is obscene.

What the Government and councils would like is for the elderly to be looked after on the cheap in their own homes, hoping friends, relatives and neighbours will lend a hand.

A frail housebound elderly person does not want to be left alone for hours on end and in isolation all through the night -- when anything could happen.

Seeing a carer for one and a half hours daily is very inadequate.

Someone, somewhere, has to do something. Our elderly deserve better than this with what they have done for this country in the past.

H HAMER (Mrs), Lowther Place, Blackburn.