{"id":273,"date":"2010-04-07T14:22:55","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T13:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colindgordon.net\/?p=273"},"modified":"2012-08-25T14:48:17","modified_gmt":"2012-08-25T13:48:17","slug":"pensioners-protest-the-mobilization-of-britains-grey-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/2010\/04\/pensioners-protest-the-mobilization-of-britains-grey-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Pensioners’ Protest: The Mobilization Of Britain’s “Grey Vote”:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whoever wins the British General Election on May 6th<\/sup> is likely to face a wave of social unrest soon after they take power. An ill-advised Labour campaign poster has depicted Conservative leader David Cameron perched macho-style on the bonnet of an Audi Quattro, accompanied by the caption \u201c \u201cDon\u2019t let him take Britain back to the 1980\u2019s\u201d. The clear implication is that if he becomes Prime Minister, his policies will be almost identical to those of the much derided Margaret Thatcher era.\u00a0 In practice, both parties are well aware ( but deny) that \u2013 in order to start paying back the country\u2019s \u00a3166 billion debt \u2013 the next Government will have to drastically cut its expenditure on most essential services. The public know it too and are not at all happy at the prospect. Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History, Nottingham University, anticipates that, as from the autumn \u201cthere will almost certainly be widespread industrial action in parts of the public sector\u201d. \u2018Guardian\u2019 columnist Michael White has acknowledged that \u201cstrikes have returned to the headlines\u201d.<\/p>\n

This new rebellious mood was much in evidence at the large\u00a0 \u201cDefending The Welfare State And Public Services\u201d demonstration held in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 10th<\/sup> March. A wide range of organizations participated, including the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the National Health Service (NHS) Support Federation, the University & College Union (UCU), the British Medical Association (BMA), the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) which is currently considering rail & tube strikes, UNITE ( locked in an unresolved dispute with British Airways) and the National Pensioners Convention (NPC). The image of senior citizens on the march, waving their walking sticks in indignation, might initially seem somewhat improbable. Their representative associations have, however, become increasingly militant. The 18th Pensioners\u2019 Parliament in Blackpool\u00a0 (8th<\/sup> \u201310th<\/sup> June) will debate, among others, \u201c the portrayal of older people in the media\u201d, \u201cthe challenges faced by pensioners across Europe\u201d and whether equality legislation has brought age discrimination to an end.<\/p>\n

According to \u201cAge Concern\u201d, during the recession employers have been using forced retirement as\u00a0 \u201ca cheap and easy alternative to redundancy\u201d. In 2009 (they say) 100,000 people aged 65-plus were obliged to leave their jobs. They point out that \u201cOur power is in our numbers. There are 14 million of us. Politicians cannot afford to ignore us. We are the generation who will decide the 2010 election. We will cast more than 4 out of every 10 votes\u201d. \u2018Age Concern\u2019 believes that older voters could significantly influence the results in 319 of the 650 parliamentary constituencies, especially in marginal seats such as Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Kent), Clywd West (North Wales) and Solihull (West Midlands).\u00a0 By contrast, Electoral Commission figures indicate that 56% of 17-24 year-olds may not even be registered to vote and a Hansard Society report has concluded that \u201c34% of 18-24 year-olds think politics is a waste of time\u201d whereas \u201c71% of those aged 55 and above see parliament as worthwhile\u201d. ONS (Office for National Statistics) data confirms that 16% of Britain\u2019s population is now over 65 and just 19% under 16. By 2033, moreover, 23% will be over 65 and 18% aged 16 or younger: \u201cThe fastest increase has been in the \u2018oldest old\u2019 category. By 2033,there will be 3.2 million \u2018over-85\u2019s\u2019, equal to 5% of the UK total\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many of today\u2019s \u201cyounger pensioners\u201d are far less disposed than their predecessors to be pushed aside by society. They are the \u2018Baby Boomers\u2019 born at the end of World War II, the sixties\u2019 rock generation\u2019 that supported CND (Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament) and opposed the Vietnam conflict. They are infuriated that their \u201chard-earned savings\u201d ( to quote the Pensioners\u2019 Party) accrued over the intervening forty years, \u201care now subsidising the losses incurred by our so-called financial experts\u201d. They are incensed that, due to the historically low Bank of England Interest Rate of 0.50%, they are having to live off their dwindling capital reserves \u2013 but that they are charged 16.9% APR on their credit cards and 8.9% for a bank loan. They consider the State Pension ( a maximum of \u00a395.25p pw for a single person and \u00a3152.30 pw for a couple) far too low, especially for those who have no other source of income and who thus often have to choose between \u201cheating or eating\u201d because they don\u2019t have enough money for both.<\/p>\n

They are also angry because \u2013 in many cases \u2013 their financial security has been undermined by the collapse of the private pension funds in which the Government encouraged them to invest. They regard as punitive the current system whereby the State pays the \u201cpersonal care at home\u201d costs for pensioners with savings of less than \u00a323,500 but not for those with that amount or more \u2013 until of course their bank balance drops below that threshold. They are worried that if they have to move into a Residential Home (some of which have acquired a reputation for exploitation & neglect) they will have to sell their family house in order to pay the \u00a325,000+ annual fees. They believe they have earned the right to enjoy their retirement ( for instance, by going on a world cruise if they can afford it) but are acutely aware that an estimated 3 million British pensioners are living in virtual isolation and poverty. They demand respect and (say \u2018Age Concern\u2019) are determined to get it.<\/p>\n

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Whoever wins the British General Election on May 6th is likely to face a wave of social unrest soon after they take power. An ill-advised Labour campaign poster has depicted Conservative leader David Cameron perched macho-style on the bonnet of an Audi Quattro, accompanied by the caption \u201c \u201cDon\u2019t let him take Britain back to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}