ALL the talk of it being preferable for old people to receive care in their own home and sheltered accommodation is an affront to intelligence.

The elderly are in care homes because they could no longer look after themselves or have been discarded by relatives; so, in their declining years, they can hopefully share happiness in memory with others away from fear and loneliness.

We pour millions of pounds into the welfare of asylum seekers and bale out failed companies with massive financial extravagance. Yet we cannot find a pitiful £14million to upgrade care homes to new standards to keep alive the hopes and contentment of a compelling part of our nation, who have done more than the mass of this generation will ever accomplish.

ERIC BATES, Marsden Road, Burnley.