Nick Robinson on the Today programme said that people affected by withdrawing the Winter Fuel Allowance were "the wartime generation". AIBU to think he's wrong?

True. My late DH was employed very patchily, having spent most of his life self-employed and also been a crofter on Shetland, and latterly as a writer, for which he did not get paid much. This affected his pension and he did not expect to receive very much, but had accumulated 30 years of contributions one way or another, so had slightly more than a basic pension. None of his employment had carried a private pension except possibly his stint as a Youth Worker, but he left too young to have a pension from it (and it was not that well paid he could afford to fund a pension himself).
To suggest, however, that he did not work or pay NI is a canard though for some of his life he had a disability pension (cut off under Labour) because he had been severely injured when a crofter (attacked by a cow) and could neither stand nor sit for long periods and could not lift more than a child's plastic spade when he wanted to do some gardening.
Some very judgemental people on here!

No one should despise anyone, walking past the AE dept at my local hospital and seeing all the ambulances queuing up and the staff from inside running out to treat, mostly elderly people, in the ambulances when they should be inside getting specialist treatment, is shameful.

My point is why is one terrible but another is perfectly ok and courts no criticism?

Course not. Come on, they ARE those people and it will all go mysteriously quiet.
If they were honest they'd openly tell their own parents etc that they despise them and wish they were dead. But they prefer a sweeping statement that they imagine absolves them of doing that.

And that's why. They'll be the wonderful milllenials and gen X & Z who are the glorious future of our country and are happy to see the back of those awful boomers.

[ who fought for and won so many of the rights they enjoy, but hey. Details.]

/no, I didn't vote Tory , or Labour for that matter ,so pack it in.

Almost 14,000 people died needlessly last year in England while waiting in A&E for up to 12 hours a new estimate suggests
Calculations by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) based on a large study of excess deaths and waiting times show that 268 people are likely to have died each week in 2023 because of excessive waits in emergency departments

Now what i don't get and btw i don't support the cut to WFA, is why all these people who are lining up to criticise Labour and tell us all how many people will die, have zilch to say about these AE deaths, which have been reported on for at least 2 years!!

Many of these poor people will be the elderly.

Isn’t that simply the number of people who died? Even if we ploughed 100% of everyone’s taxes into the NHS it is not possible to keep people alive forever.

@DinosaurMunch

That isn’t true.

How many years NI depends on when you were born. Historically it used to be 9/10ths of 44 years for women and 49 for men. It then changed to 30 years.

From 1 April 2016 it is 35 years, but if prior to this you were contracted out it can be more years.

The years NI can be based on NI credits which you get for claiming some benefits. So someone who has “signed on” all of their working life can get a full state pension having never worked!

@StoneofDestiny if you were on NMW (or less, prior to its introduction) you may only get the basic state pension. You can have worked all your life and have no private pension because you were a low earner. Far less likely for people working now, but for a 90 year old woman who retired at 60 in 1994 they spent most of their working life in a very different age.

Surely the wartime generation are people who were alive during the second world war. It has nothing to do with whether or not they fought in the war. My grandfathers who are both long dead didn’t fight because one was a farmer and one a miner. Are you saying they aren’t wartime generation too?

i think referring to the wartime generation is just an easy way to refer to older pensioners i.e. the over 80’s.

Not true - you need 30 years of national insurance contributions to get state pension so you have to have worked

Anyone aged 80 or over is the wartime generation. There are lots of people alive aged 80 and over.

My mum was born in July 1945 and I consider her the post-war generation, she didn´t have bombs falling on her head or V-2 rockets for that matter. My grandmother is the wartime generation, she´s been dead 25 years.

Shortly before the first Covid lockdown a group of pensioners in a cafe near me were grumbling about what a fuss it all was.

'Especially when you've been through the war,' remarked the waitress.

They were all mortally offended, having been born during WW2 and far too young to remember any of it.

More likely Status Quo and Led Zeppelin by then!

He's wrongish. My late DH was born on D-day (we'd have celebrated his 80th with some style were he still here). So there are many people who were children during the war who are alive - they will be in their 80s, so vulnerable.

Labour has taken a technocratic decision to cut the fuel allowance (so I won't get it this year, a double-whammy since I have lost my DH, and with him his pension and his tax allowance) because they are pretty sure this age group votes Conservative. They are quite possibly wrong about that, but I daresay they think most of us will have contributed to the excess death statistics by the next election.

The average age of a Chelsea Pensioner is about 80.

Do they would be in their prime (in their 20s) in the 1960s. Not exactly Vera Lynne territory

It is a ridiculous mindset - I fear getting to the Care Home stage and having Vera Lynn inflicted upon me!

@iwishihadknownmore who are you asking that question? I'd hope everyone feels terrible about that but I don't know whether you think those who support the cut to WFA or those who don't would be more likely to not care about underfunded NHS services?

Do you feel sorry for the 14000 people who died due to poor care in AE last year or the same number the year before or the year before that too???

Or don't they matter because they were killed as a direct result of Tory underfunding the NHS for many years?

I'm sure I read somewhere that part of the reason they picked the threshold was because quite a lot of pensioners don't claim PC they are entitled to and they also wanted to encourage them to do so.

My mum is 93 and was 14 at the end of WW2. I think the phrase was inaccurate.

My DMum who is 96 is wartime generation.

Allowing for wartime roles (such as being a Bevan Boy or a land girl or a nurse) which started at 14 or 15,, I think it means those over about age 93.

The Royal Hospital Chelsea said during its Founders Day celebrations this year (which had a bit of a 80th anniversary theme) that they had 13 pensioners who had seen active service during WW2, one of whom had been at DDay.

So in the strictest sense, there aren't very many left.

But I think that if you mean it in a slightly more general sense, of the over 90s, who are frail, and who need extra warmth, or just extra care in the winter months when getting out and about outdoors is that bit more treacherous, and who are simply not in a position to boost their income; then yes it's a pool of people who are vulnerable.

Most pensioners are not rich. Those who perhaps were in their earlier retirement may well have seen their entire income/savings taken by care costs by the time they are 90.

I'd have changed the eligibility to all those on pensions credit, plus all the super-elderly (maybe as low as 80+, but certainly 90+)

Who despises them? I love my parents, I think they are great. I'm eternally grateful that they had the opportunity to move out of the poverty that their parents grew up in and make successful and comfortable lives. They have been incredibly generous and supported me where they could with university, first flat, cars, weddings and houses etc. They spend far more time than me worrying about what my inheritance would be- I'd much rather they spent it all ensuring they live their lives to the fullest whilst they can and paying for all the car they need when they need it.

But... they are still very well off people who don't need any extra cash to keep the heating on when others are living in poverty.

Ultimately age is not a good way to decide who needs support with heating costs. Benefits like this should be allocated according to financial need.

The average heating bill for one/two people in one bed house is £1,300 a year.

£200 is little help for people who are struggling and wasted on those who don't need it.

Something had to be done.

I agree with the PP who said energy companies should be made to help the most vulnerable.

Again, I have nothing at all against child benefit (which I also receive). Yes it costs money to feed and clothe a child. I have two. I know this.

But as lots of us have said on this thread and others, lots of pensioners just above the threshold for pension credits will lose out because of the cut to the WFA. These are people on a really low fixed annual income and they will struggle to heat their homes. Age UK and numerous other charities have said the same. This isn't about 'rich boomers' it's about people who will actually struggle this winter.

It also feels kind of bitter to say that some older people should struggle because they didn't protest against the child benefit cap.

Depends on how old you are. NMW changes with age. Lots of benefits not available or reduced rate to under 25s