Sir,

I was saddened to read the letter from Anne John in last week’s Observer.

It may be bad politics to ‘move the goalposts’ for certian sections of society so that they miss out on expected retirement benefits, and when those same politicians behave in self-serving ways, it encourages this sort of attitude in voters.

If only voters would think altruistically and vote for the sort of government which would prioritise the really needy: the poor, the sick and disabled, the homeless (including the hidden homeless), the unemployed and most importantly, the vulnerable children and youngsters being brought up in very low-income families, who, having a poor start in life, often don’t ever recover from it.

Everyone has their grievances about the way in which taxes are collected and spent, and about those who don’t pay their fair share, but if we don’t care about each other, then society itself is impoverished.

I would urge all voters to think deeply about what sort of society they want to live in - everyone for himself, or everyone supporting each other?

Mollie Neate,