Is it any wonder that a newly retired Gransnetter said the other day that she was at present enjoying her retirement but felt guilty because she was not doing voluntary work. There have been a growing number of articles and opinion pieces in the newspapers and on TV alleging that old people are being subsidised by the young, that all old people are living in the lap of luxury, etc. etc. Certainly, some older people are doing very nicely but it is a huge generalisation to suggest that all are.
Apparently this Lord Bichard retired from his civil service job in 2001 which means that he got his work pension (the average pension for that strata of the civil service being, according to one report I read, £100,000) when he was in his 50's. I wonder if he volunteered to deliver Meals on Wheels or to take on any other practical work in the community when he left his job.
Many of the grandparents on Gransnet do carry out unpaid work, either in terms of child care or other activities relating to a charity or the community in general. However, that should be their choice and not something forced upon them, on the grounds that they are a "negative burden on society". How bloody insulting.
It's all part of the "divide and rule" agenda that this government is so adept at. Public service workers, elderly people, immigrants, unemployed people, social housing tenants, sick and disabled people, etc. etc. etc. are increasingly being characterised as a drain on our society. In this way people's attention is diverted away from the real issues of power, privilege and inequality in our society.
