I AM glad to see that David Lacey (HAS, Feb 16 ) is not holding his breath awaiting a reply to his challenge to our local MPs about the inequities in public funding. I am also suffering the same silence.

I have been trying to get a reply from Hilary Armstrong (Minister for Social Exclusion) my MP and John Hutton (Minister for Work and Pensions) about the two-tier pension system in this country and how the few gain to the detriment of the majority at great cost to the taxpayer since December 2006.

Again the silence is deafening.

- M Hawkins, Langley Park, Durham.