To be fed up with the amount of old bashing that goes on

[CAM]

Its illegal to be ageist now

people post when they're feeling hard done by, and in need of sympathy. if they've been harrassed by an oap that's what they'll say in the heat of the moment. they wouldn't sit there worrying that someone will take it apart later.

Aloha - true, but they grew up expecting to eventually have a similar standard of living to their parents and granparents.

A huge number of young people in this country now believe that is impossible.

i think old poeple are thta
peopel
some are sad, some are bad, some are mad and some are normal.
im not sure hwat my mum is

oh right if you insist upwind.......that's why 20% of UK pensioners live in "offical" (ie they're recognised as being under the 'threshold' which defines poverty in the UK) poverty,......

Another stereotype..

most of them are set in their ways, they've seen so many changes in their lifetime.

Filthymindedvixen - why doesn't your mum's friend get a panic button? My mum and mil both have one. You wear it round your neck on a string or as a bracelet and then if you fall down you can summon help. Sorry can't remember brandname (does any one else know?) but they are advertised in magazines.

roman abramovich is the richest man in russia

when he met his wife now ex she was the main breadwinner as a stewardess for aeroflot

he wasn't held back by thinking he couldn't make money

A lot of old people are also in pain. Pills and potions can only do so much and walking around on arthritic joints would make me fairly grumpy, I expect.

Message withdrawn

No I don't go for the young people resent well off oldies argument. i would far rather be poor and with my dad's attitude to life than wealthy and have my mil's.

upwind, I think the students you are talking about have very little idea of how people of my parent's age lived.

When I was young (I am 44 btw) we had no central heating ( a coal fire that had to me remade every day), no fitted carpets,no fitted kitchen, no phone, no fridge, no freezer and no washing machine. We also had no indoor loo until I was a teen ager.

My grandmother had no electric light, in fact no electricity in her house, except a radio.

Trust me, life is so much easier now!

Fannyannie - I am not sure what your point is? I do think a lot of elderly people have been hard done by.

But you do realise the "threshold" for poverty in this country is having an income less than 60% of the national average? The vast majority of the population earns less than the national average - because the average is skewed by individuals like Richard Branson.

As pensioners are by definition no longer usually in active employment it is hardly surprising that 20% do fall beneath that threshold...

Fwiw I have noticed my dad getting upset and frustrated with his faculties letting him down as he ages. He is now fairly deaf and gets depressed if he can't hear properly at a dinner party(he has a most expensive he). He gets intensely frustrated when he mislays things and is really really upset as the realiseation dawns on him that he can't really drive much any more. I think that these are aspects of growing old that can turn you into a grumpy fecker.

agreed martian - and lets not forget that sadly many pensioners live in poverty because they don't know about the benefits that are now available to them. Many elderly people were bringing up young families before the NHS existed, with little, if any benifits to help them out, and they grew up with a "you want something you have to work for it" attitude.......sadly something that a many youngsters these days simply don't really "get" as they've had so much handed to them on a plate.

no Upwind - 20% of pensioners in this country live in poverty - full stop - that's why Oxfam and Age Concern and the likes make such a big deal of it. It's bl**dy shocking.

There have been several threads suggesting that we don't live in a child-friendly society, I agree with this.
Equally I feel that Britain is very intolerant of old people.
In other countries older people are seen as important figures in the community.
In our youth obsessed country old people are treated shoddily.

i don't blame pensioners for being arsey anyway, most of them have spent their lives saving and working hard and most of them don't like the way everything's changing.

they remove the skewing by taking a mean

Enid - my mother lives in a very small rural village where the elderly are the life and soul of the place. helping out, driving each other for miles to see unusul and cutting edge arts events, getting involved to stop the NT imposing car parking on ancient parkland, raising money for computers for the infant school, and (succesfully) challenging the vicar for banning a gay wedding reception in the village / church hall!

Upwind - I think you are talking of the new middle-aged!

zippi - you mean a median. it is still skewed though, even with the top and bottom 10% removed because the top 20% also earn a lot iyswim.

But some pensioners do live in poverty, especially those womnen who for some reason don't qualify for a state pension. they should change the rules.

Good thread

I am skulking nervously in the corner with Pruni

mean on the brain!

well there are people with money and without still no reason to have ageist attitudes

and I've noticed it a lot on mn and more recently

it's because people think it's ok to express prejudices about older people ..they would probably express other ones too but they are cowards!

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i saw a programme about the new middle aged the other day, it was very interesting but that's just what the world is like. the flukey housing market is probably part of the problem.