WITH regard to proposed retirement plans for women, they are so grossly unfair they must be discussed further.

My daughter is 57 and expected to claim her small state pension at the age of 60, then it was age 64, now it is to be 66 years and counting.

She has always worked in lowpaid, but essential, jobs, and has been working with disabled and mentally handicapped children for more than six years.

It is a difficult and tiring position, pays the minimum wage, of course, and has no pension scheme.

And if older people are holding on to their jobs, when do the young ones start? They will be middle-aged before they can afford to buy a house and, possibly, middle-aged before they get a job.

Due to all the cutbacks in education, my 22-year-old grandson, who has a first-class honours degree from Durham plus a year’s teaching course, is unable to find a job. So much for higher education.

Teachers who have taken early retirement and have a good pension should not be able to carry on as supply teachers, thereby depriving the young of any chance.

Name and address supplied.