Older People Have Never Had It So Good

[Gromit]

// Pensioners in their 60s and 70s have seen their incomes rise steadily during the recession years - and now they are less likely to be poor than any other group in society, according to a new report.

A senior Church of England cleric, Bishop of London the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, said the ‘fortunate generation’ in their 60s are soaking up too much taxpayers’ money and that state spending on older people ‘raises questions of intergenerational equity’. //

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2341553/Older-people-good-New-report-says-60s-seen-incomes-rise-recession.html#ixzz2WYp1jtcy

Why are we still paying £billions to them to pay for free travel and winter fuel, which were after all, just Tony Blair's election bribes?

[boxtops]

I didn't vote Labour, gromit, but I'm still appreciative of my bus pass.

[chrisgel]

Then turn your attention to the bankers.

[shaneystar2]

Have a go at the bankers then and leave us oldies alone .Our pensions don't exactly go up in mega leaps and bounds .It's more or less a fixed income and when get a few bob extra it's eaten up by inflation.We have to pay the same as everyone else for our food and other outgoings .
The bankers had their pound of flesh out of us with their high interest rates on our mortgages when we were working .So my free bus ride is a drop in the ocean compared to their big fat bonuses .

[LazyGun]

So it was in the manifesto - so what?

You want to penalise some of the more vulnerable in society - Go look somewhere else for savings first.

WFA has saved the pointless death of thousands. Free Bus Pass provides independence and mobility.

These are not and were not just election bribes.They are worthwhile social support mechanisms, ones that can be afforded in the context of our overall state spend, especially if some mechanism is put in place to claw back some of the cost through tax for those recipients who are wealthy enough not to need it.

There are other, far more worthwhile places to look for savings. Quite why you feel it appropriate to penalise OAPs escapes me....

[emmie]

i would like to see some of you have no way to get around other than bus, be elderly and infirm, i know lots of pensioners who struggle to get on public transport, and most of those live out in the sticks where the buses are few and far between, they can't use them until 9.30am so if you have a doctors appointment a distance away then it's taxi, more expense. Take away bus pass and winter fuel payments for many then expect to see more stuck at home and die from lack of heating. The pension is pitifully low, and if that is all you exist on as many do, then what choice is there, heat, eat..

[Svejk]

Me thinks the pensioners doth protest to much. And stop having a go at young people.
I can only speak from personal experience but I could earn £400 a week when beer was 12p. Do you know any teenagers (working class) earning £12,000 a week now.
Also took days/weeks off whenever the fancy took me, never worked in the rain and had a good lark about in work. There was always another job down the road if they didn't like it.
Today, sites are like prison camps.
Work all day in the rain. Blokes too scared to go home early never mind take days off. Having any fun. Verboten. Wages: same as 40 years ago and a fifth of 20 years ago.
Yes, I feel desperately sorry for youngsters, today.

[emmie]

would you consider this a lot of money, because i don't

https://www.gov.uk/state-pension/overview

[naomi24]

//Older People Have Never Had It So Good//

That's good, isn't it?

[emmie]

it would be if it were true

[Svejk]

I'm saying we had it a lot better when we were young than youngsters today. Wouldn't you agree? Pubs are empty now. They used to be heaving with us. ;)

[emmie]

who is the first to be left in hospitals, to pass away if on this Liverpool pathway, to be shoved into care homes if they cannot be cared for in their own home, or with adult children, to be invisible to many, ask any elderly about that one. That is my idea of hell. If you have some money they take that for your care, so is it so wonderful. If your partner dies and leaves a pension, that may mean you get little off the state. I see many elderly who don't cope well, dementia, alzheimers, and any illness going, not all, but many

[emmie]

pubs are empty now, closing because of myriad reasons, i didn't have 400 quid a week in work, if only, the first job was 10 pound a week.

[Svejk]

You should have come up on the rigs with me, em.:)

[emmie]

they don't or certainly didn't let women on the rigs, all that mess, ugh no ta

[Svejk]

They had canteen girls,em. £100 a week & all the 'dates' they could handle.

[emmie]

canteen girls, is that a euphemism ....

[Sqad]

Svejk........lol.......we could arrange a chara for some of our ABwomen.

[horselady]

My state pension is £83.87 per week, I still have to work part-time as I can't get by on that. How is that wealthy??

[jomifl]

The only pensioners who are having it 'never so good' are those that paid into a pension scheme and paid off their mortgages, If you didn't life is not so very good at all.

[Old_Geezer]

These, 'never had it so good', folk, these are the ones trying to live off life savings which due to society now pay a derisory level of interest ?

Winter fuel payments are in insult, the pension should be comparable to other rich countries and pay necessary bills plus without additional handouts.

Free travel is timed for when transport is underused and the costs, therefore, already spent. Just makes sense to use the spaces for those who could appreciate a helping hand for things they could not otherwise justify. It's about improving the quality of life for those who have done their bit for society already.