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

[CAM]

Its illegal to be ageist now

lady of theflowers you say

"
i dont get people my own age on the bus commenting on my childs hair that 'needs cutting' or commmenting on what he is eating. neither do i get people the same age as my mother saying things about my children being 'poor mites' because i am a 'young mum'.
it seems ok for it to be assumed that beacuse i am a 'young mum' i go out clubbing every weekend, dump my kids on my mother whenever i can and am unmarried and survivng on benefits. i am not saying there is anything wrong with being single before anyone starts or receiving bebefits, i receieve some. but it is assumed that that is what i am like/who i am, and it has been assumed on here in the past"

have you not seen any threads on mn where people comment on exactly these things..it is not age related

upwind

People in power are not by the way getting older they are constantly being replaced with younger people..Tony Blair is a young pm.

Upwind, some of us are the "older generations in our fifties" who are also "stressed mothers" - you're still kind of missing the point methinks

i was trying to say i think all age groups are ageist in some to degree to other age gruops, thats all.

i'm not very good at explaining and sometimes word things wrong.

That's a fair point LoF

thanks, i didnt think i was a complete imbecile...

I also think you are mistaken in believing that life suddenly becomes easier once you get to 50, believe me it doesn't all sorts of things which apply to younger people equally apply to older people..such as the danger of losing your income, disease, children etc

Life doesn't suddenly reach a comfortable plateau for everyone quite the opposite for people who experience traumatic life events such as divorce or death..think snakes and ladders.

that was to upwind too

i know that zippi. my mum and dad dont live 'comfortably', they get by though. dhs mum and dad are very comfortable but they werevery, verycareful when they were younger with money etc.

Zipi - I agree and never imagined life suddenly got easier! But usually people in that age group are established and less vulnerable to booms and busts. In my experience, they also tend to have an optimism, a belief that with progress things are getting better that younger generations lack.

Obviously the people in power do not keep getting older but they are generally middle-aged or even old (think Ming Campbell). Tony Blair may be a young prime minister but he is still in his mid fifties.

People are more inclined to be sympathetic to their own age group, and sometimes even wilfully oblivious to the effects of an endemic lack of security in jobs and accomodation.

Don't agree with that upwind, people don't live in a vacuum, people of all ages have relatives and acquantainces and friends of all ages too

security in jobs went out a long time ago

it will be interesting to see how the new age discrimination changes things but I know that graduate entry schemes were still being addressed to young people in this current round

I know because I wrote to several organisations who had online application procedures which were illegal

Tony Blair has been pm for how long now? he wasn't 50 then

and if you think 50 is old then you are odd tbh

hadn't noticed ming campbell being a mover and shaker tbh when/where was that?

CAM - yes but do they really listen to those young enough to be their grandchildren?

At risk of being flamed I do think mid fifties is middle aged

of course people listen to people with something to contribute

or at least are saying things they want to hear

I'm sure the blairs didn't send their son to university in order to ignore his contribution for example

Blair is 53; yes he is middle aged but he is not old. He's the youngest PM since 1812!

of course upwind you could get into power yourself

Zipi - people like Euan Blair have flats bought for them and jobs found for them. The I'm alright Jack attitude prevails partly because the privileged can provide for their own.

I wish I could get into power

your first step is to work locally for a cause which is of interest to you.

Or even take an active part in local events. Write letters and make objections where there are things which you do not want to go through. Lobby for things which you do want to happen.

There will always be privileged people but not all privileged people are egocentric.

I'm glad you aren't at the moment !

As someone in my fifties, I'm perfectly aware of the problems that young people face in getting on the housing ladder - DH and I will be trying to the best of our ability to help two of them - our own children who will be facing life with the highest student debts ever.

I just don't think you can label any generation with particular characteristics - among the young people who are my children's friends, there are some extremely rude individuals - but also some polite, friendly and well mannered ones - and IME it's the same for any generation.

My dad (the cool dude!) always used to say 'There are old women of all ages and both sexes!'

I suspect Upwind's students have a huge air of entitlement and don't want to hear that these 'old people' about whom they whinge so much have had far less than they would ever tolerate or consider adequate.

According to some on here, dh and I are 'middle-aged' and I can tell you, life is just as stressful as it was when we first married in the 70's. In fact, dh is working longer hours than he has ever worked, I reckon. We do own our house but as we haven't lived in an area of high house-price inflation we are priced out of vast swathes of the UK, we could never return to our native Kent, for instance, even with a dramatic downsizing.