‘We didn’t have expensive mobile phones”

[MidnightPatrol]

Why is this now used as a criticism of the young by the old, particularly in debates around affordability of housing etc.

No you didn’t have a mobile phone in 1974.

But that is because they didn’t exist. Not because you made a financial sacrifice.

Is the suggestion young people shouldn’t have mobile phones? This would be a little limiting in today’s environment.

In the 1970s were young people criticised for owning washing machines rather than hand scrubbing their clothes in a copper pail?

I don't think the boomers were the ones who had to have the latest tech. We wait until something is broken before replacing. We don't use fast fashion that is worn twice and thrown away or falls apart. We weren't travelling the world on gap years and taking long haul holidays. We weren't going abroad on long weekend stag/hen parties. I could go on......

It should be fully contribution based.

Say 25% of the NI you pay goes towards your pension and whatever that grows to buys an annuity which is your state pension.

That means you get out what you put in rather than the current state of people who've always been a net drain on the country saying they've "paid in all my life" and feeling so entitled to support from younger workers.

Clearly I'm talking about a generational decision, not a personal decision.

I'm bored of hearing how much better the boomers are at everything tbh. If that were true the world would be in a better state.

But who made this generational decision? Decisions don’t make themselves. There wasn’t a huge meeting of boomers at which it was decided to award ourselves huge pensions.

It just means that it's perfectly possible to live a full life without a mobile phone

• usually said in response to people insist that phones are absolutely essential.

Can we just fucking well stop calling people 'boomers'? It's never said in a pleasant or positive way. Always scathing and condescending. I hate it. I'm not from that generation myself (not a kick in the arse off it though) but I'm sick to death of hearing that word.

Agree.

Ageism pure and simple

I suppose we contributed by developing most of the medicines which will keep our increasingly aging population alive. And yes, even the most self righteous anti Boomers on here will get older. We were also the doctors who massively improved the life chances of very premature babies amongst other things.

We fought for equal pay and other women's rights. Unfortunately the current generation are happy to give away those rights in the interest of 'being kind'.

The major criticism that probably could be levelled at 'boomers ' is that we have raised a nasty selfish generation. Incidentally, will they all refuse to accept the ill gotten gains on their parents houses when they die? Bet your life they won't.

I've already said this but I will say it again. The generation who disparagingly refer to older generations as 'boomers' seem to think they have a monopoly on suffering and struggling to make ends meet while at the same time being the only generation to worry about others, care and know how to raise children.
That's not a nice thing to say but I do find it ironic that the 'be kind' generation are so utterly rude and dismissive of 'boomers' who have just got lucky, in much the way they wish they had.

But is needs to be the right housing! Where I live they continue to build huge estates - villages in themselves really, recently on a golf course (council owned and sold for £1) and farm land - they are driving prices UP because you need more to buy them - these aren't starter homes but 4/5 bed 'executive' dethatched things starting at near £500,000+

We need more 3 bed semi's and terraces - and they need to be publicly owned or priced for people to afford.

Generational decision? How much influence did you have over the set up of your company pension scheme? 99.9 percent of the working population were just asked if they wanted to join or not. A handful of people decided on the make up of schemes. If you were offered a final salary scheme today would you join?

@FlameTulip

Clearly I'm talking about a generational decision

What's a generational decision?
Which generation?
How was that organised and decided?
Was only that generation included in the process?

A poster asked what Boomers have done that have screwed things up for future generations. So I'm trying to answer. Boomers have benefited from generous pension schemes, at the expense of later generations, and yet are still fighting to hold on to the triple lock.

@FlameTulip The UK has some of the lowest state pensions in Europe. Why would you want to erode workers rights even more?
And the state pension now means people retiring now get a higher state pension than most people currently getting a pension. The government increased the amount of state pension but only for new pensioners.

Nah, I think what irritates younger people is the fact that the baby boomer generation seem completely oblivious to how lucky they are and make stupid comments about how young people would be able to afford houses if they didn't spend so much money on avocado toast (and then in the next breath claim that age brings wisdom).

Why do people NEED expensive mobiles anyway. There are lots of mobiles for £90 with cameras, apps etc. I can't understand why anyway need a £700 mobile phone. I have now refused to replace my iPhone.

I don't think it will affect a house purchase however.

Maybe we should stop fighting between ourselves over the crumbs that fall from rich people's tables. Divide and rule...it never fails does it?
The people to blame are the people in charge. The likes of Thatcher and Reagan and their heirs who started the erosion of workers rights and managed to convince people that 'trickle down' was an actual thing.
The top 1% own most of the world's wealth and we've let a handful of tech bros inherit the earth. But it's people who are trying to live on a state pension which are to blame

I can't stand hypocrisy and I am sure those who are so horrible about boomers' final salary pension would be happy to accept one themselves. I am furious every day when I see my ex-teacher neighbour who retired at 55 pottering about when I will have to work until I am 67. It's not right that civil servents can retire so early but that doesn't mean I would not do so myself if I had the opportunity to do so.
I do however think that universal pensioner benefits should be looked at and that the retired should no longer be considered 'untouchable'. At the moment we have comparatively wealthy pensioners being universally paid hundreds every winter to help with heating costs that they don't need, funded by struggling families with less disposable income per month.
But don't hit out at them for getting lucky - that's just jealous hypocrisy and is not a good look.

I'm not sure. I think it's sad that young people still criticise the old and the old still criticise the young.

The biggest difference I see getting older is that items (just about everything) seem to be so disposable now and it wasn't like that when I was a teenager in the 80s (gen x). You didn't get something new until the item was broken, but so little seems to be well made now that everything breaks more quickly!

I hate all this point scoring between generations, it's shit.

I don’t think many children in the 70s felt it necessary to have their own washing machines. What an odd thing to say. In the 70s my mum didn’t even have a proper washing machine and we children owned nothing of value.

There are stupid people in every generation. I agree this is a stupid thing to say about housing. Rents and prices have soared. But I also see younger adults saying stupid things about older people. Assuming we were all able to buy houses easily with one person in the couple on minimum wage.
Buying a house was always hard, but achievable in the past. That is because there used to be a cycle of house prices rises, and house price falls. Plenty of people including me lost money when we sold our house. Then this cycle changed and house prices just rose and rose and rose.

So what's the alternative? Throw people out on the streets and let them freeze/starve to death?
Anyone relying on the state pension now is pretty much looking at penury, especially giving the COL crisis.

I think some people do want workhouses to be re-established. I am sure Rishi could find a Tory mate to run them.

Pension age for civil servants is now linked to state pension age, so civil servants have to work to whenever their state pension age is. Unless a voluntary early exit scheme is run, and if you apply for it there’s no guarantee you will get it.