Bolton Council would never lightly evict a 21-year-old mother and her two year-old son from their home.

But the fact is that the woman had been making her neighbours' lives miserable over a long period, prompting numerous complaints about noise and even criminal activities.

No-one wants to live next door to selfish, unruly individuals who care nothing for the quality of life of others. These days, they do not have to.

The law is available to offer remedies, and Bolton Council is already committed to a policy of strong action with tenants who insist on flouting the basic rules of harmonious everyday living.

They have worked with the police to try to improve living conditions for everyone on council estates, and are to be applauded for their determination to root out troublemakers and evict them.

Such extreme action is never rushed into but comes at the end of a long process of negotiation and proffered chances. Tenants who refuse to respond to this reasonable approach deserve to lose their homes.

We hope that this latest eviction gives the woman concerned the chance to learn her lesson, and to live as part of a peacable community. And that this acts as a deterrent to others.

IT is a sign of the society in which we live that we appear to care less if elderly people are abused than if this happens to other age groups.

Gareth Evans from Bolton Age Concern says they are often given less sympathy than younger victims and incidents fail to get enough prominence.

The organisation is now to lobby Government for more action to be taken against those who bully or abuse the elderly, and we would back any move to protect the vulnerable properly.