Vince Cable Pensioners should go back to work

Mummer

Childcare??? Really? We had........oh ya mum/neighbours/mate/2 mornings at playschool we had to pay for . I actually had only the playschool from aged 2 AND they were only accepted if they were fully potty trained. No special parking spaces.no changing/feeding facilities. .........stingey family allowance for first 2 only........no dropped bus steps. No pushchair priority in buses etc. Steps and hazards everywhere..good heavens im suprised we have any surviving kids at all!! Problem? Everyone is focussed on what they can get and not enough on what they can contribute. I was really stuggling with finances when I had my little family, so I got sterilised as I could not afford any more than 2 children, I didn't just assume that the rest of the working population would pay for any more I carelessly had! The elderly have paid over and over and should be first I queue for any assistance. After all they don't have 30-50 more years to recover from hardship like the younger gens have

Everyone is focussed on what they can get and not enough on what they can contribute.

Does that include some elderly people?

Growstuff I’m certainly with you on the state support for the elderly, and within reason, for childcare.
We can’t help getting old. We can avoid having more children than we can afford. The problem is that even with only 2 children, if you need to work to live and don’t have convenient family care, a lot of what you earn goes on child care.

I agree with Vince Cable. I retired three years ago at 75 and miss the excitement and camaraderie of working enormously. I have recently talked to friends who agree that we should start a Job Centre locally for those 65 and over as there are massive numbers of vacant jobs. My idea would be for two people to job share a full time job. This would then enable care giving to continue. There are huge numbers of older people without grandchildren etc. Who would love to have a job, I have discovered during my enquiries.

If my boss hadn’t retired I would probably have carried on working even longer. As it was , I worked a couple of years over my retirement age because, in a long working life, she was the best boss I ever had and the only one with any sense, empathy or humour. Back to work.... NAH !

Calistemon

^I don't know what kind of work you did, but there are probably opportunities somewhere for you to contribute the knowledge and skills you acquired in a limited capacity, without having to go out to work every day.^

There may be but the point I was trying to make is that, if someone wants to retire at retirement age, their skills will be much welcomed in other voluntary areas, they may want to further their knowledge by joining or running groups such as U3A etc.

Or providing childcare so that their children can work, pay their bills, build their careers.

Some may still want to work for various reasons but no-on should feel lazy for retiring at the State Pension age, should they? Particularly if they have worked in a physically demanding or stressful job.

They are not being lazy! which is what was being claimed by these two.

Their skills and expertise are not being wasted and they shouldn't have to feel at all guilty.

This is how I see it too. It's not a knee-jerk reaction, it is a sensible response to the idea that people who do choose to retire are somehow 'lazy'. That is the word I objected to - both the word and its connotations.

FWIW, I left full-time work at 57 for a number of reasons. I have done a sort of consultancy on a piecemeal basis ever since - basically I work part-time every summer (well, May to October) at a time when my employer is busy. What I do takes some of the strain off the full-time staff, is good for my self-esteem and brings in a bit of extra money, but I don't do it to avoid laziness, or out of any sense of obligation.

He's a twerp, but he does have a point. Younger people pay far more in National Insurance Contributions, which is just another form of taxation, than anybody of the older generation ever did.
As has been said on this very thread, many of 'the older generation' still pay NI, and have done so all our lives, so I'm not sure how that works.

I agree that there should be opportunities for older people to work doing what they are good at, but not that they should feel obliged to do anything they don't want to, or that (and I know that neither VC nor MRP said this) they should be expected to do unskilled work at minimum wage.

I think that there will be more opportunities for those who want them as the world of work changes and more people work from home. Someone of any age could continue in their own line of work (or diversify into another) by working at home with no commute or rigid hours, and with a lot of contract work there would be the ability to do it when it suits them.

I believe his opinion is just to get a rise from people, he knows it would be unpopular and would get him noticed, hence he now has a thread about it. He will simply get to retirement age and agree he was talking a load of nonsense and agree after working for 50 odd years while paying tax he's entitled to enjoy his retirement, as we are. I take no notice of people who talk absolute rubbish about things they know nothing about.

I had intended to work till I was 65 but ended up retiring at 60 to look after my grandson. After 10 years of looking after grandsons I moved on to five years as my husband's carer. I think the economy will probably have found this more valuable than me making coffees five days a week

Family/spouse carers save the government millions

Always thought Vince Cable was a t**t. This confirms it. Let's all work until we drop and let the younger generations stay in paid education until they're 40.

Gumtree

I agree with Vince Cable. I retired three years ago at 75 and miss the excitement and camaraderie of working enormously. I have recently talked to friends who agree that we should start a Job Centre locally for those 65 and over as there are massive numbers of vacant jobs. My idea would be for two people to job share a full time job. This would then enable care giving to continue. There are huge numbers of older people without grandchildren etc. Who would love to have a job, I have discovered during my enquiries.

There's nothing to stop retired people who want to work looking for a job. Except perhaps the prejudice against older workers which exists among some employers.

Vince Cable is wrong - there's no "should" about it. It's purely a personal choice. Oh, and just because you miss the excitement of the workplace, doesn't mean we all do.

The twerp who said that retired people were "lazy" doesn't know what he's talking about. It's well known that retired people look after grandchildren and are often carers for their relatives. They also do a lot of UNPAID voluntary work. Just because this little upstart wants to work until he drops, doesn't mean it should be a yardstick for everyone else. And let's see how he feels when he reaches retirement age.

Cable might be trying to curry favour with the younger working demographic, I don't know and I don't care. I'm sick of politicians pontificating about pensioners and what they should have / do / not do / deserve, etc.

If you want to work - then look for a job. I'm 80 and I run a small technical consultancy with my disabled partner for whom I am full-time carer. We do it because we want to.

So a big fat raspberry to Cable, and a big head wobble to the other opinionated nobody.

Now I'm off to continue with my work and my duties as a carer... no-one is dragging me back into the workplace.

OK, rant over.

If you want to work - then look for a job. I'm 80 and I run a small technical consultancy with my disabled partner for whom I am full-time carer. We do it because we want to.

Absolutely!
If you want to retire and volunteer then do so
If you want to go to hobby clubs, do courses etc in retirement then do so
If you want to be a domestic goddess/perfect gardener/do sweet Fanny Adams then do so.
If you want to appear on TV spouting rubbish, apply to Good Morning

So a big fat raspberry to Cable, and a big head wobble to the other opinionated nobody.
? with bells on

Many jobs couldn't be carried out at home.

*If you want to appear on TV spouting rubbish, apply to Good Morning*?

No, I know that not all jobs could be done from home, but many could, which would open up possibilities for those that want them and have the skills to do them.

As above.
He sounds a right w*k*

"Good morning, I'm your surgeon, I'm working from home therefore your operation this morning is going to be done virtually. Please make sure your kitchen table is well-scrubbed with Dettol before I begin. Please be assured that a virtual anaesthetic works perfectly well if you let yourself go ...... no, don't fall off the table, I can't find your appendix if you do that"

But I never said that everyone could work from home, just that there would be wfh opportunities for those who wanted to work and had the skills to do them ?.

Yes I know ?

My imagination is running riot!

Talking of WFH

'Coastpath' I think we have parallel lives. My sentiments exactly. I worked damned hard from 16-64. Not including the Saturday jobs from age 13. I bet young Mark also gets Alexa to switch on his coffee machine, open and close his curtains, switch on the lights on his arrival home etc.

Calistemon

^If you want to work - then look for a job. I'm 80 and I run a small technical consultancy with my disabled partner for whom I am full-time carer. We do it because we want to.^

Absolutely!
If you want to retire and volunteer then do so
If you want to go to hobby clubs, do courses etc in retirement then do so
If you want to be a domestic goddess/perfect gardener/do sweet Fanny Adams then do so.
If you want to appear on TV spouting rubbish, apply to Good Morning

So a big fat raspberry to Cable, and a big head wobble to the other opinionated nobody.
? with bells on

Many jobs couldn't be carried out at home.

I had to take early retirement from my job at 60, to look after my husband who had a life changing stroke the government pay the princely sum of £67.60 to give a minimum of 35 hours care a week , I do a lot more. I save the government a fortune in not having a care package and I am sure there are many more like me out there, These people who spout this rubbish should come a try it .

Mumofthree

omg I am watching Good Morning Britain and apparently Vince Cable thinks retired pensioners who are fit should go back to work. I am 66 and still work through choice (I am trying to save a little bit for emergencies) I will leave my job in June next year.
The guests discussing this are Nina Myskow who thinks it should be a choice and this young guy called Mark Ryan Parsons (from the Apprentice) is saying we should go back to work and stop being 'LAZY' his exact words to Nina were ' Nina, stop making excuses for elderly being LAZY'............I am shocked at his attitude. Some of us have worked over 50 years and we deserve our pensions and the choice to retire. He also said we cost the economy thousands in care, what an upstart. We have paid in for years and supported the care of previous generations, he insists we are living off the younger generation! Nina said the elderly have done their bit and young people should get off the gadgets and get to work. I just can't get over his arrogance, we are not lazy.

Ryan Mark was an utter pretentious idiot on The Apprentice. I would give zero credence to his opinion of anything.

Would be interesting if we all turn up at the local Job centre on Monday ......over 70 ? can apply but ageism means you wouldn't even get an answer ..........need bus drivers, lorry drivers ...sorry, DVLA holding up all tests and new licences .......volunteers ....sorry, no car so you can only work within walking distance .........SO since we would not be employable how about we claim Jobseeker's allowance, or whatever they call it nowadays ! Worked since I was 15 until I retired .....never claimed any benefits (apart from child allowance when I had a family).. once did three jobs a day (cleaning morning, typing all day as a temp, cleaning again in the evening ...weekends working in a pub restaurant ........

AlanaV - shall we?

A nationwide posse of pensioners all mobbing the Job Centres demanding jobs!

Calistemon ??That would really make a point of how stupid those comments were.

I agree growstuff, let’s not lump together groups of people and make sweeping statements about them