Letter: Making sacrifices

Your report (28 August) on a possible "autumn of discontent" threatening public sector strikes over the imposition of a virtual pay freeze is proof positive that the nation's critical financial state is not being taken seriously.

The only solution to this is for individuals to pitch in by economising on a personal basis. The majority of the population could comfortably afford such a gesture. How much genuine poverty is there in a society in which the number of mobile phones exceeds the total population?

Unions are concerned primarily with improving members' conditions, but they must not isolate these from the country's needs.

And yet why shouldn't they, when the greatest overmanning and extravagance lie in excessive government? The House of Lords should be abolished, all MPs' salaries cut by 10 per cent, and Cabinet salary elements by 50 per cent. After all, we are all in this together.

ROBERT DOW

Ormiston Road

Tranent, East Lothian