IN March, I wrote to your newspaper, explaining my connections with Tavistock and expressing my concern about the possible closure of Harewood House.   Since then, that possibility has become a probability, and I learn that the establishment is set to close in 2015.  I am greatly disappointed but, sadly, not surprised, by such an outcome. According to newspaper reports, the closure is part of Devon County Council's attempt to save '£110-million over the next four years due to cuts in Government funding'. Once again, in my opinion, the caring and the most vulnerable in our society are having to pay for the greed and folly of the wealthy who did so much to bring about the financial crises of 2007 – 2008. I do not believe that the private sector can provide the same care at a lower cost.  The private sector is not charitable; it exists to make money.  That being so, the question has to be posed: If the private sector provides care more cheaply (and still makes a profit), what is not being done? According to some of the sources I have read, Harewood House is 'under-occupied'.  If that is indeed the case, why does the council not develop the establishment instead of closing it down?  Were that to be so: l the people who live there would not be cast adrift at a time in their lives when change can be confusing and frightening, and we should never forget that many of these people are of the generation that worked, fought and saved this country in the 1940s; l the staff who work there would still have jobs and, moreover, increased opportunities to develop their skills.   I suppose, however, that would cost too much and run counter to the Wisdom of the Age, which seems to believe that cost is all and low cost a goal to be striven for; all this, despite old expressions such as 'You get what you pay for' and 'Buy cheap; buy twice' – which warn against such 'wisdom'. People are worth more than money.  This is no way to treat an older generation and younger medical professionals to whom we owe so much. Martin Webb Bury St Edmunds