IT has been happening for a while now, but I am getting to my truly scunnered limit. Listening to Any Questiobs on Radio 4 blew my pressure valve. The programme returned to the now fashionable theme of pensioners living the high life, like me on my only income - a state pension of just over £700 per month. We oldies in the UK receive one of the lowest pensions in any developed country. Nevertheless, there seems to be a growing campaign to rubbish OAPs from younger (of course), must-have-it-now property-ladder grievance folk. £700 per month (not a benefit but a contractual financial agreement) seems undeserving for my modest lifestyle.
As a retired nurse, I was well aware of a similar campaign when the Westminster Government focused its sights on the nursing profession. The Junior doctors followed. Think back and you will come up with other examples. There are many more from the dockers to the miners: a systematic campaign to show each group as worthless and undeserving of empathy. More than that, they became the "enemy within". Weaken their reputations then do what you like because you have got public opinion on your side.
Because I cannot be described by occupation but only by age, I feel that this state thought-manipulation goes further than before. It is an open demonstration of blatant ageism.
We silver surfers, oldies, OAPs, senior citizens or whatever rubbish nomenclature is bestowed upon us by those so-clever “junior citizens” who have seen it all as true citizens of the world, need mutual support. Can we identify ourselves so that we can support each other when these ageist ideas are detected?
We have the most reason to see Scottish independence soon.
Peter Barjonas,
Parkview Terrace, Latheronwheel, Latheron, Caithness.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel