TARGETING THE VULNERABLE

Times are tough and we all have to make sacrifices. This does not include royalty, comic book collectors or millionaires buying a nice little pad in London of course. "Cuts to social care budgets have been blamed for an 11 per cent fall in the number of vulnerable people who have their care services paid for by their local authority, it was reported. .... Richard Humphries, a senior fellow at health and social care charity, The King's Fund, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the fall in people receiving free home care was a result of public spending cuts. "The result is that councils are responding to that cut, some by putting up charges, most by rationing care much more tightly and the net result is overall, that fewer people are actually getting the care that they need," he said. The Alzheimer's Society said the findings were "disgraceful"." (Daily Telegraph, 16 May) The disabled, the elderly and the poor are the first to feel the pinch. That is how capitalism operates. RD