ALLAN C Steele (Letters, December 10) quotes the late Duke of Windsor as saying "Something needs to be done about this" in reference to the poverty he saw in the Welsh coal mining villages; one can only wonder what the abdicated King would have said about the increasing use of food banks, the increasing number of homeless people and the number of people suffering increasing poverty due to the Tories' Universal Credit policy.

At the same time, Buckingham Palace is being refurbished at a cost of £369 million to the taxpayer, Prince Harry's new home is being revamped at a cost of £5m to the taxpayer and there always seems to be plenty of money around to splash out on royal weddings.

Something needs to be done about this.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road, Stirling.