'With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come' - I quote from the 'The Merchant of Venice', but there's precious little to laugh about in the newspapers today.

In Carmarthen, I heard an olderpersongrumbling, saying he couldn't afford to live muchlongerbecause it was was to expensiveto heat the house.

On the news, I heard that three thousand people in England and Wales are dying each year becauseenergy billshave rocketed.

Inflation is partly to blamefor this. A pension worth ten thousand poundstwenty years ago, has nowdropped to 5,658, in actual purchasing power.

But the headline that incensed mewas: 'elderly should be taxed out of their homes and let younger families move in'.

Anyone would think we lived in palaces, country estates or Knightsbridge mansions. It's tantamount to saying thatpensioners should be put on an ice flow and setadrift.

Peter and Ilive in a four bedroom house,bought with money we saved from one modest income.

The builder said it had two double bedrooms and two single rooms.Only one bedroom, with an en-suite,could honestly be called 'double'.

The other bedroom has a three quarter sizedbed, a wardrobe and dressing table, butlittle room to move around in.

We're not Royalty, but we like our own bedrooms. Myroom is hot, Peter likes his cool. I take three quarters of the bedand get annoyedif I'mwoken up and told to move over and share the duvet. Peter snores.

Tonight Peter has the twenty four hour heart monitor attached to him and, every time it tightens to check blood pressure, it beeps, but I won't hearit in my own room.

We also havea 'family bathroom',where Ihave to position myself 'just so'to close the door. (No hopes of getting the whole family in there).

In addition,we havetwo'shoeboxes'- (single rooms, according tothe builder).

The back room just about takestwowardrobes - (yes, I have clothes - my goodness, the way some people have it in for pensioners I expect they would like usto dress in Chairman Mao style pyjamas all day so we could give the moneysaved to the taxman). Sorry.I am getting bitter. It's an age thing. Ignore it.

The fourth bedroom, classified the 'Scriptorium', is whereI am at the moment. I can easily sit at the computer as long asI keep my stomach in.

Downstairs we have a not overly large sitting roomand a dining room, which we use for every meal, plus a kitchen, a utility room and a cloakroom.

If our house were any smaller than this, we would be falling over each others toes, yet we are being told to downsize by people who live inmansions! (CanI be the only one who finds this ironical, nay, farcical?)

I'm talking about the very same people who allowed house prices to soar, by allowing easy lending.

The words 'cant' and 'hypocrisy' keep popping into my mind. I can't think why.