I HAVE a wonderful letter from a 79-year-old reader advising me of the pension increase he will receive on reaching his 80th birthday.

The notification states that his ‘age addition’ supplement will be 25 pence per week and is followed by his comment: "Yeepee-Do!"

"Please do not print my name and address", he asks. "As I would be inundated with begging letters in advance of my good fortune." He goes on to make some comments on MPs’ expenses, but I couldn’t possibly print them in a family newspaper.

The views on this page are Vic Barlow's and not necessarily those of the Express