WITH Lancashire County Council planning to close 19 old folk's residential homes due to upgrade costs, there is a comparison which I would like to make (which is not exactly like-for-like).

Up to last year, the Government was spending in the region of £10,000 PER WEEK to keep and education two young convicted murderers in a special unit.

The unit, one of several, holds more than 20 similarly costed inmates. So far, one week to run the secure establishment would be in the region of £100,000-plus, multiply that by 52 and that is £5.2million, for caring for serious young offenders!

Yet, the present government and LCC in particular are going to disrupt the lives of more than 1,000 older people (hopefully without causing too much stress and trauma for them) for just over double the cost of 'caring' for killers and such like in luxury.

Crime doesn't pay!

The only thing that doesn't pay is being a pensioner, unless you are a former civil servant -- index linked/inflation proof, in 'Great' Britain. Or should I say Lancashire?

HARRY ROBINSON, Juniper Court, Woodside Road, Accrington.