I actually look disabled as I am an elderly a wheelchair user with one leg.
For me it is a necessity to park in a Blue Badge bay and like Jane and Paula I have problems when these bays are abused by people without a Blue Badge because it prevents me from shopping independently.
Today, thanks to the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act, disabled people are now being treated as equal members of society. We have dropped kerbs, automatic doors, wide shopping aisles, lifts, etc.
The service provider is at last beginning to value the customer with a disability, but not yet realising how important it is to be able to park their car. The spending power of the customers with disabilities is £70bn so why not help us spend it?
Monitor disabled parking bays and fine people using them without a Blue Badge.
John Coxhead, via email

Long-term fix on yobs needed
I would like to comment on a recent article covering the gating off of alleyways across our borough. While this may have a limited fix to aspects of anti-social behaviour, it is not a long-term solution. All these gates do is prevent in one area and disperse to another. It can't be right that our schools have to install 9ft high fences to keep out vandals – the young children behind look as if they are in a prison yard.
We need to reclaim our areas for the majority of decent members of our society and deal firmly with these miscreants. Community Action councillors have held extensive meetings with our local police. We have pressed for positive solutions to the problems.
Chief Constable Michael Todd has already stated that he does not have the resources available for him to adequately police the Greater Manchester area. In a past interview, the Chief Constable stated that he was constantly arguing to get more officers.
So much for New Labour promises stating "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime".
We call for zero tolerance of anti-social behaviour.
Like every decent member of our community, and our Chief Constable, we want a return to the real bobby on the beat that knows the community, deals with their problems and ensures they feel safe. Surely this is the real solution.
Let's press for the results so long overdue and which we rightly deserve.
Coun Paul Tushingham,
Community Action Party, Ashton

Pension should be source of pride
This year sees the centenary of the introduction of the State pension scheme and should be a cause to celebrate.
The first pension was introduced in 1908 and was the princely sum of five shillings a week (25p).
Well, this country has steadily grown in wealth since those days, or so we are told. We are now the fourth strongest economy in the world.
I wonder if our governments, past and particularly present are proud of the fact that as a proportion of national average earnings, today's State pension is actually lower than that five-shilling pittance?
Jeff McCann, via email