THE suggestion being put forward by a gaggle of millionaire showbiz and media luvvies, among them Helen Mirren and Michael Parkinson, that pensioners should forego their free TV licences brings to mind that unsympathetic and selfish response “Let them eat cake” – reputed to have been made by the French Queen Marie-Antoinette on being told that the peasants had no bread and were starving.

Their arrogance is astonishing.

It would hardly put a dent in THEIR bank balances if the licence was £10,000 a year – yet they have the gall to suggest that we should give up one of the few perks available to those on small fixed pensions?

What makes their suggestion even more insulting, not to say hypocritical, is that one of the reasons the BBC is in such dire financial straits after it has been squandering our licence fees paying so many of its "stars" and executives far more than they are worth.

Robert Readman

Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth