Under the headline "Stop this robbery" (Letters, June 8), Ruth Arundell wrote, "council housing was self-financing until Mrs Thatcher began robbing it".

Ms Arundell is obviously living in cloud-cuckoo-land.

Council housing is not the panacea she thinks or there wouldn't be such colossal rent arrears, which escalate every year.

In 2000, council rent arrears were £1.4m and are a staggering £3.5m today. Who pays for this?

She tells us, wrongly, taxpayers do not subsidise council tenants.

Is Ms Arundell aware of the cost of repairs to council housing? It doesn't bear thinking about.

No wonder the Government and councils want to rid themselves of this perennial problem and transfer it to housing associations.

-Charles Holcombe, Brighton