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Derek Stothard's latest comments
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16th Dec 2014Derek Stothard commented on:
Speakers Corner CommentsInter generational 'War'. The 'war' stoked mostly, I believe, by the media between the young and old (baby boomer) generations regarding how today's pensioners have 'never had it so good' and that the young will never be able to aspire to 'our' level of financial and occupational security viz a viz jobs, pensions, property, spending power etc etc. I agree that this is almost certainly the case, but have read that this situation has/will lead to strong resentment by the 'young' towards the 'old' which in the future (now?) could cause real problems with 'us' being pitched against 'them'. Whilst broadly financial security and a good place to live may be true for a percentage of pensioners, there are nevertheless large numbers of senior citizens who are indeed poor and who struggle both financially and with poor health and so we are not all in the same boat. I am sorry that I do not have statistics, but the basic state pension is hardly a 'living' wage for no doubt millions of people. At this point I should like to declare myself as (at present) a reasonably financially secure pensioner who is lucky enough to have an occupational pension and my own house. What really does annoy me however is the suggestion that the older generation (me) is in some way to 'blame' for this state of affairs. Personally, (I don't know about you), all I ever did from the age of 16 until 65 was to get up each morning and go to work. The fact that property was more accessible and cheaper, the fact that I was to eventually receive an occupational pension and all the other things which may have been beneficial to me throughout my working life (as compared to the situation today), were mere coincidences which just happened to happen in the period during which I went to work. A bit like winning the lottery (what good fortune the baby boomers had, its as if they won the lottery). I did not engineer what, with hindsight, just turns out to be good fortune, other than by getting up each day and going to work. I, like any generation, just got on with my life, took advantage of the time in which I found myself (due to my birth date - don't blame me) - borrowed money, bought a car, borrowed money, bought a house, saved some money, went on holiday, had children etc., etc. I do not wish to be 'blamed' for the situation in which large numbers of the younger generation find themselves today. If being born, going to school, going to work for 49 years and then being fairly secure in retirement is a crime against today's young students and workers - then I am guilty as charged. PS. Sorry to go on, but as Harry Worth once said "My name is Harry Worth, I don't know why, but there it is!"