The letter from Martina Michels refers ("It doesn't add up", July 18). One of the starkest problems in our society is the lack of affordable accommodation. Surely our priority is to get people into affordable housing - not just free housing for the poorest people but reasonably-priced housing for all strata of society.

The letter from Martina Michels refers ("It doesn't add up", July 18). One of the starkest problems in our society is the lack of affordable accommodation. Surely our priority is to get people into affordable housing - not just free housing for the poorest people but reasonably-priced housing for all strata of society.

It is all very well for the average person to "tsk-tsk" over the strikes over pay rises, but as Ms Michels' letter implies, the problem is that people are struggling to put food on their tables.

The notion that increases should be pegged to the official inflation rate is nonsense to anyone who is trying to make ends meet. The inflation rate bears no …