SIR – Your correspondent Mr Emmerson Walgrove (T&A, December 8) criticises Jean Walker, chairman of Bradford District Senior Power, for her naive enthusiastic support for Anchor Housing’s petition for a Minister for Older People.
I agree with Mr Walgrove. Apart from another layer of bureaucracy, I cannot see what purpose a Minister for Older People would achieve. What would be his/her purpose in the elderly society?
Our society has an abundance of well-intentioned and necessary ministers, ie Health, Pensions, Social Services, and many others all working for the overall good of all society, including the elderly.
What purpose would this minister without a portfolio of indefinite purpose serve? We do not have national factions to fall out about, so what could we appeal to him about? And our problems are usually local, where there are many charitable and local solutions available It is fast becoming the time when the elderly will be the largest percentage of the population, and hard political solutions and not palliative solutions will be needed, so let us concentrate on realities rather than unrealistic dreams Audrey Raistrick, Neighbourly Care (Bradford), Westgate, Bradford
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