IAGREE with Kathleen Bulcock (Letters, March 7) -- pensions are not fair. Why should a man whose wife has never worked and never paid contributions get more than a man whose wife has worked?

When a married couple have both worked and both paid contributions, the man does not get a married couple's allowance because his wife will have a pension in her own right.

If a married man can claim for his wife, then it should apply to all married men and if his wife has worked and paid contributions, that's a bonus.

I have worked and paid contributions for most of my life except for about four years when my children were babies. Because of this, I don't get a full pension and when there is a rise I don't get a full rise.

Yet, my husband can't claim for me because I do get a pension but I'm only £20-odd a week better off than if I hadn't worked and paid contributions.

As far as the heating allowance goes, I think it's fair because it only takes the same amount of heat to warm two people as it does to warm one. That said, not everyone will use this money for heating. Winter is expensive in other ways -- Christmas for example.

EDNA BEACH (Mrs), Brecon Avenue, Oswaldtwistle.