Sir – In mid-September, I had a letter published in which I asked if any reader knows why the bus pass for over-60s and the free swim for the same age group drew so heavily on the public purse that they were to be discontinued; there were no replies.

Was this because a) nobody read the letter, or b) nobody knows the answer, or c) the correct answer does not bear public scrutiny? If no extra buses are provided and no extra swimming sessions are provided by the schemes, why are they thought to be so expensive as to be expendable in the current economic climate? I sense a possible cover-up.

Bob Forster, Shipton-under-Wychwood