SOMEONE once said that speech was given to us as a power with which to hide our thoughts. To paraphrase that cynical observation, I would suggest that the power of the media is now employed in order to hide the truth.

On July 28 more than 150 pensioners, members of the National Pensioners Convention, accompanied by representatives of Help the Aged and Age Concern England, marched on Downing Street to hand in a 110,000-name petition calling for a minimum weekly pension of £75 - not an increase in income support level with a means-tested pension.

Despite the fact that the petition - which demands a 12 per cent increase - was backed by 111 MPs, including 90 Labour rebels, it seems to have escaped the notice of all the media with the honourable exception of the Morning Star. This, of course, was no surprise given that for the last four years more than 2,000 pensioners have met annually in Blackpool for a "Pensioners Parliament" without a single report appearing in any other daily or on TV (for whom the qualification for news coverage seems to be pro-fox hunting or mindless violence).

I still find it incredible that all five terrestial channels not only peddle the same three or four news items almost word for word, but that these titbits are repeated throughout the day, while any controversial news about the real world is carefully omitted.

Bury Pensioners Association meets at 2pm on the second Wednesday of every month in Committee Room 3 at Bury Town Hall. Come and join us in the fight to defend our quality of life. We also have a stall (no.18 Edward Row) on Bury Market on the first Friday of every month.

As John Schollick and Stan Skinkis urged recently in the columns of "Your Letters", let us show the Government and the national media that 10-14 million pensioners are not "non-persons" and that we demand justice.

JIM HOMEWOOD,

Bury Pensioners Association.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.