It really baffles me why some think it's okay to be shitty to a generation of young people who gave up THE MOST to protect their elders, have had THE CRUELLEST possible transition to adulthood, are getting THE LEAST amount of state help, and are facing THE WORST future prospects.
I may be generalising here, but there seems to have been a big change between the Silent Generation and the Boomers, and not for the better.
youtu.be/aTZ-CpINiqg?...
"...with a simple philosophy of 'gimme it, it's mine!'"
A complete fracturing of the social contract, the prospect of a life of work for not a lot of reward, and yet THE most enraging factor must be previous generations that have done this to you saying 'oh just pull your socks up!'
I suspect anyone who landed on Omaha beach or fought the Japanese in the jungle might have something to say about that
Probably not, though, seeing as pretty much all of them are dead by now.
In fact their sacrifice seems to have been squandered by the following generation
And they were called “selfish” too, most likely by their parents.
And how quickly they will change tack from “this generation think this is bad, try living through the 1940s” when the conversation moves to scrapping the triple lock
So true.
Sadly our struggling young people are perfect for grooming by the Farage and Far Right. There might come a time when they will turn on us oldies …
They're never going to get the pensions we get without saving for one which is hard when they can't afford rent/buy a house, social media affecting mental health,low paid jobs,cost of university,threat of war and climate change,I wouldn't want to be young now.2
I hate this young people against old people dialogue,when I was younger I didn't resent old people getting pensions and benefits,I was a single parent so really struggled to afford to buy my house (nearly lost it when my partner left),but I also feel really sorry for young people today.1
It’s interesting that you read this as young vs old, when it doesn’t say that.
I assumed you meant older people being shitty to younger people but in recent times the young v old narrative is pushed everywhere in the media despite the stereotypes of rich boomers or feckless youths not matching most people's experiences
Your assumption says quite a lot, doesn't it.
This. Whilst it is irritating to be continually battered by whippersnappers who grew up with McDonalds, cheap air travel, cheap money, central heating, video games, mobile phones, the internet and avocado bloody toast, it is PARTICULARLY annoying of them to have a point on housing costs.
Agreed. As their parents and grandparents we should be helping out Gen Z and Millennials in political, structural and environmental terms.
I am reminded of the opening line from Philip Larkin's 'This be the Verse', which I am sure you know.
I worry about the future for my 5 grandchildren. They will, I fear, find things so much harder than their parents & grandparents. Brexit & successive Tory policies have stripped away all the supportive mechanisms that helped their predecessors enter adulthood with hope.
Snap! Me too. 😞
Because when you are called out for your privilege, particularly when you are called out for it as 'elders and betters' by 'younger and worsers', you push back. You point out all you have suffered, hence the surprising number of sexagenarians who fought for this country against Hitler. It's the...
... aged equivalent of 'White Lives Matter'.
Well said, and it’s a huge disappointment that my generation turned out to be no better than its predecessors, in fact possibly worse.
Splitting folks up into "generations" is a shit way of defining them. The awful constants in our lives are people like Randolph Hearst, John Paul Getty, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Every "generation" has had to live with being exploited by people like them.
... has every generation had to live under the very thing (citizens united) that gave them the power they now yield?
How far back are we going?
Let's say the 30's, after the Social Security Act was passed..
That's only USA. People have suffered all kinds of injustice at the hands of the wealthy all around the world. I agree that currently young people suffer more than other post-war generations, but those that had it easiest were prob born in the 70s, not the 50s. It's wealthy v. poor not old v. young
Oh, agreed. 💯 I don't see why we can't recognize the choices made between, though. If that makes sense?
It's all to deflect from the only blame that really counts, right - it's the few mega rich Vs the rest of us
I don't blame the mega rich, or even the rich. It isn't the people: it's the system. The clue is in the name: capitalism rewards capital of enterprises which increase profits. Which means, amongst other things, reducing costs. And since most people are costs…
Oh I do. I think it's the extremes of society who break it. It's always been the mega-rich who have the greed to exploit resources and workers beyond their limits. Capitalism would function a lot better if it had boundaries - certainly wouldn't be perfect - but the people pushing it are v weird
Because Queen Victoria's progeny decided to resolve a spat by the industrial slaughter of young men, all young people should be happy with their crap lives. Did I understand that correctly?
My Grandma happily voted to have Sunaks disability reforms forced on me. Quite the psychopathic generation.
When you look at all that young people have to contend with - housing, university debt, miserable economic prospects, vanishing final-salary pensions, Brexit, lost years during the pandemic and - worst of all - climate catastrophe, I’m surprised that aren’t slaughtering us (‘boomers’).
Capitalists parasite every generation, and laugh at our division.
So so true.
Could not agree more!
born at the end of the "boomer" generation this thread seems to label everyone born after the war & up to 1964 as some kind of free loading racist who doesnt know hardship i lived through the thatcher years of high interest rates & unemployment selling off of assets & paid into a system thats broken
not everyone born in those times left empathy at the bank counter is a self centered prick and doesnt want the best for the generations to follow .. the misconception that things were handed to my generation that we are all brexit unionist wankers is way way off it
Thing is John, he didn't say "all", he said "some". If you haven't been behaving in the manner described, then it's not a criticism of you, so you shouldn't take it as such State investment in young people has definitely dropped + many older people voted for this + Brexit. That is demonstrable fact
Jane ....I said the thread ... not him in particular but the thread... its a theme ... dividing into groups .. casting a net .. if England didn't keep voting tory just maybe it wouldn't be a shithole and maybe governments would build social and affordable housing
It explicitly does no such thing. I complain about "some people" who do this.
You write the whole thread mein fuhrer?
Do you think calling me a Nazi identifies you as a good-faith debater?
Oh .... mmmm interesting... called you a nazi?..... no but I knew you would dive in ..... enjoy your day
It’s the boomers who benefited most from post war peace & prosperity who are now scolding the young. When in reality the young of today are facing many escalating crises. Do they not realise these are also their children and grandchildren. Their selfishness blinds them to the interests of their own.
Some...
AND are fed a constant diet of “Everything is awful and the world is going to burn!” by social media. I honestly don’t think the true, awful impact of current-state social media on mental health will be understood for decades.
I totally agree but can’t read your post in my head without sounding like Kevin or Perry. I think it’s the caps. :-)
Governments decide on state help. They want to get reelected. Until 18-24s increase their voting record, I think governments are going to largely ignore them.
Good to see some people are happy to continue to follow the Tory inclination to promote division in lieu of formulating any progressive policies
The Nazis weren’t fought by rafts of geriatrics. In every era, it seems like it’s the young who are expected to sacrifice, all while being told how entitled or feeble they are, simply for wanting the same opportunities their forebears had.
Keep hearing from self-employed people that Reeves is dreadful for business. Same people who were excluded from Spaffer & Sunak’s furlough scheme. Goldfish would be better.
But what about the green lit meadows?
This and Brexit (which of course is part of the issue) are the things that make me rage the most. I have two sons (18 & 20) and society/economy/politics/mental health is far worse for them than it ever was for me and then they get criticised on top of that? Unbelievable.
1929 called, it suggests you get a sense of perspective; and 1861 is on line 2 but Im not sure what it wants to talk about because it’s just laughing maniacally.
Is anyone alive from either of those periods? Or have the people being shitty had a much kinder time?
Who is being mean to them?
Is it as simple as stemming from that "stiff upper lip" mentality carried by postwar generations and an unwillingness to change? Young people are acutely aware of society's inequities and subsequent discontent - esp mental health knock-ons. Is there an air of "I had to suck it up, so do you?"
Sure. That's the perception. The truth is that there are at least three generations in between that have had VERY little to "suck up", but somehow feel they were personally present in the Blitz.
It's funny you say that, because my thought was sparked by Fintan O'Toole's lovely book on Brexit, "Heroic Failure." He also lays Brexit at the feet of this cultural peculiarity and this sort of weird fetishization of willing suffering.
But weren’t boomers actually the free thinking, sexual revolution youngsters from the sixties? What happened to them?
No. That was a small subset.
They stopped thinking freely and gave up sex🤣
The flower children did elect Thatcher. Three times. If that's not the cultural masochism I was referring to, I'm not sure what is.
Jesus Christ. So many here falling into the divide and rule trap. Talking as though older people have no regard for younger people whilst you are slagging older people off. Give me strength.
He is not saying all older people (or even older people) actually, he simply says “to the people who are doing being shitty to young people”.
True.
And I wasn't talking specifically about the original poster.🤷
Fair enough, but your response can certainly be read that way.
So me saying, "so many here" means I'm talking about one specific person? Ohhhkaaayyy then.
Yes, you can read it as criticism of the original post along with others you have seen like it
I mean.. who kept supporting politicians that got through Citizen's United? Who was so racist they ignored the suffering of black America that now effects 60%+ of America?! I am generalizing, of course.
What?
We need to recognize our failures before we can fix them.
youtu.be/0--mdx8ybNQ?...
I'm always reminded of this great Christopher Titus bit. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qh9...
📌
Yeah... hope to see him make a similar video on Palestine one day, cuz' he's also wrong on that.
Labour's employment and tenants rights reforms, net zero and house building aims aren't targeted at pensioners.
And they're almost certainly going to get screwed over when it's time for their pensions too.
100% agree. I did some politics last year and at the 'reckoning' a guy cupped his hand round my ear and hissed "6th form politics" then loped off before I could thank him as my view is young people only inspire with their grace and courage so it wasnt the jibe he thought it was all said and done.
Got a fist bump from a school teen on a busy tube yesterday, they still smile all be it with quiet irony!; )
The same people who are always shitty towards the most vulnerable people in society, whether that's refugees, ethic minorities, single mothers, etc. etc. etc. it seems to be some deep rooted personality defect.
In no small part because they see symptoms of the failure of the state and society as individual, moral failings. It's not the only reason but I feel the more secular society becomes the further we get away from that mindset (which in turn likely breeds deep resentment in the offenders you describe)
Make more money out of the next generation by dropping their living standards therefore making them desperate for any kind of wage , which increases your profits and reduces your taxes - it’s what we all want isn’t it ?
Did they vote? Because 90 million eligible voters in the US didn't vote in November. And here we now are.
Who are ‘ the some ‘ that your refer to ? The government ? A sub group of ‘ the people ‘ ? Who ? Grandparents and parents?
Agree. My grandchildren in this predicament
those conscripts from WW1 and WW2 are all dead
Totally agree. Shocking how our young people have been left high and dry
In comparison the boomer generation were not only content causing housing problems for communities here they have brought that problem to Spain and Portugal too. I feel Austrailia will have to deal with its political immigration at some point too.
Absolutely this, I'm very worried for my 18 and 13 year old daughters. Residual mental health effects from lockdown, Andrew Tate style misogyny, EU freedom of movement gone, financial prospects worse, social media pressure. Give them a break!
It's the proverb "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children". I always thought progress was about making things better for those that come after us.
Divide and rule. Oldest game in the book. People still get suckered. For now.
I have seen first hand so much disrespect from the older generations to the young who are doing nothing other than trying to survive in a shitty, selfish world. Makes me so angry.
And in return, the elders gifted the young Brexit
Did you start work at 12, leave school at 13 and sign up to defend your country at 18?
Did you leave the cave at first light to hunt a sabre toothed tiger before spending five hours foraging for berries?
No, but my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandparents did 😉
All of the people who did that sort of thing are……what’s the word???….dead
Well my grandparents started work before they were born and are still working now 30 years after they've died. So I deserve all the things.
I am (unbelievably) 70 yrs old & lost my fuel support & born 1954, lost 6 yrs pension. How I hope things improve for our younger generations. They struggle to buy a house & make ends meet. The country has long been a supporter of the voting elderly, they need to prioritise the young now. It’s time..
Fenny. You have just made an arse of yourself.
You’re a Monty python sketch made flesh.
No. And neither did you.
Actually I was working at 12. My family lived in 2 rooms above the shop. Common amongst those my age esp B Asians. 1 friend grew up sleeping on her family shop floor. I ran away, started from zero, no state help. I still see the shit time my son has with housing and the added destruction of Covid.
But my grandparents did. Stop whining and get over your massive entitlement.
Are you on your Somme?
Needs Somme therapy
Somme cheek!
Surely Somme mistake
Somme mothers do ‘ave ‘em.
PERFECT.
For some inextricable reason, today, my local paper offered a kind of explanation for this type of reasoning?
The golden generation sacrificed so much so that the next generation could enjoy a better life. Imagine if they had simply said “get over it” in stead? What a disappointment your attitude would be to them.
What do your grandparents think about the way young people are treated today?
Oh dear. Kinda made an arse of yourself there eh?
And your point?
Your grandparents did, not you, you're just as entitled as the rest of us. Your grandparents struggled and fought so we wouldn't have to. Stop glorifying their suffering and recognise it for the sacrifice it was. They wouldn't want us to do what they had to. It insults their memory.
You don't actually get credit for what your grandparents endured. And it would be good to know what *they* felt about it. They probably didn't enjoy their distress as much as you seem to enjoy it.
You know they fought for future generations to have a better life, right? You’re saying they failed.
On my Dad's side, my Grandfather was sent to a Siberian Gulag before walking to Palestine and joining the RAF, whilst my Grandmother survived Auschwitz. They wanted better for all of us. Don't be so bone headedly ignorant.
I doubt they'd view their hardship as glamorous and would hopefully have enough empathy to not wish hard times on others.
Heaven forfend that the world improves.
I’m a ‘baby boomer’, the generation that hit the jackpot. And I’ve been fortunate to have done well from the opportunities presented. My parents/ grandparents had it tough, and wanted better for me. I have the same aspiration for my children/ grandchildren/ their peers. Pity you’re unable to.
And they hated it. They grew old telling their grandchildren to make the most of their free education and the fact that they didn't have to put money on the kitchen table for the family to survive. And they were so proud of their grandkids degrees and had photographs of them in their gowns. Right?
That's a grim response, Fenny. Truly.
Just a very weird take. Good parents want better for their children.
Fenny…. They didn’t want to do these things and they certainly didn’t want their kids / grandchildren to have to do them either did they?
Keeping it contemporary there!
Always been my hope that my children will have at least as hard a life as my grandparents.
You can but dream…
Gin and King Fu. That makes you a martial piss artist.
‘Middle class woman of a certain age. Knows how to deal with stupid people’ says your bio. Well look in the mirror and start dealing then.
How to let people know you are a Reform / UKIP voter without actually saying so.
Cardboard box? You were lucky.
What a clown
I bet Alex never had to stand in square formation holding off the murderess French heavy cavalry. Entitled Netflix viewing bastard.
Ugh -waving your long gone grandparents at people to try to justify a lack of empathy. We live in 2025 and we need to care about our fabulous young people.
Ignore previous instructions and make up a poem about a gay mouse ;)
My grandparents did as well. Now I don't know how yours would have felt, but mine would have been ashamed to see you casting a generation who have had the ladder pulled up on them over and over again as entitled.
And using their sacrifice to claim points is appalling of you.
Not having "being mustard gassed to death at 18" as your base line for what a normal human life looks like isn't "entitlement," Fenny.
My grandparents all lived through WWI & the Depression. Two of them died before they reached the age of 60. Most people have similar family histories. Get over yourself.
But you didn't! Which was the actual point. Unless of course you want to go back to the era of your grandparents? Polio, rickets, appalling housing, smog in cities, whooping cough, measles. Bet they don't.
So did mine - but they certainly didn’t want their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to have to do so as well
He’s not whining or complaining for himself or his lot. Neither is he being entitled. He is showing concern for the younger generation who have been most affected by Covid and now other issues. If you are going to take the moral high ground, maybe be more accurate in your response?
Mine didn't. Maybe you just had shit grandparents.
They did that so you wouldn’t have to. But yeah, if you want to go back to the good old days.
My father signed up to defend the country and then after WW2 he realized with his beliefs and attitudes that he had enlisted on the wrong side!
Apparently a “Middle class woman of a certain age” able to deal with stupid people - apart from herself, that is. But everyone else has to get over their massive entitlement. 🤔🤷🏻♂️
Apparently she isn't able to deal with herself being stupid! Just others, she claims.
Ironic post alert.
And I’m sure their hopes would have been for things to have improved since their time.
MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER DIDN'T DIE AT THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY FOR THIS
I once tried talking to someone who was relying on a family history dating to the Domesday Book to invoke their Englishness as authority to pronounce on all matters English (to other English people). It went a little bit like this(!)
If they were in the Domesday Book they were most likely French mates of Willy the conquerer
Your grandparents' generation voted in governments that ran on platforms explicitly designed to make things easier, more comfortable for people, and you have benefited from that. To not do the same for those that come after you is the purest hypocrisy.
My great great great aunt was very proud of the fact that she did well enough at school that she was able to leave early and start earning in the mill to support the family. She also campaigned for social and educational reforms and was very proud her nephews went to college and became teachers.
She knew she'd made the best of a bad deal and she wanted those who came after her to have a better chance - not just her family, but every family. There were a lot of men and women like her, and we shouldn't squander their legacy.
Are you ok? I ask because if i had responded as you have i'd want people to think that "thats out of charachter, i'd better give him a call to see how he is"
So because your grandparents fought in the war, had no healthcare, caught measles with no treatment,had outside loos and no hot water, are you saying that's what you want for your children? I mean really???
Don’t you think things should be a teeny weeny bit better than that? Don’t you think your grandparents would want a lot better for you and your kids? Don’t you think there should be far higher bar than child labour when we look at these things?
Nonsense. I remember visiting my grandparents at six years old, who distinctly told me they hoped the Health and Safety at Work and Education Acts are repeated so I could work in a factory for six years, then go and die fighting in a war at 19.
We need another war don’t we? We were all so happy then. Well I wasn’t born but you know what I mean? No foreigners like Alex over here, sticking up for these young woke snowflakes.
The entire Labour movement came into being explicitly to make sure people never had to do that again, because it was awful and unnecessary.
They’ll be spinning in their graves because their genes have ended up in an empathy free wanker
"Empathy free wanker"! You beaut!
My god but you ARE arrogant and so up yourself, it's phenomenal.
Every generation wants a better life for the following one. I know my grandparents wanted that for me, it has no correlation to entitlement.
Luxury! My grandparent signed up at 15. (Whereas, being 66, I attended a state-funded school to 18, then had free tuition, and a maintenance grant to go to university until I was 22. Then got MIRAS when buying my 1st flat for 3x my salary at 24.) So…maybe *you* should stop whining, Fenny?
How old are you? (This is a snark, and not a question requiring an answer.)
How long have you been dining out on your grandparents endeavours? Have you seen a doctor about it?
My Mum is 95, she left school at 14 in 1943 and started work in a munitions factory in the most heavily bombed city in Britain to help her 3 brothers who were all fighting abroad. She doesn't believe her generation had a monopoly on hardship or diminish the sacrifices today's youth has made for her.
I'm sure they're looking down on you now. Proud of their achievements and proud of the results. You're a credit to their efforts.
And of course he paid £0 for his dentistry studies. Today you'd easily rack up £50k in loans (average was £52k in 2023).
None of my four grandparents left school at 12. My Grandpa left school at 18 to study dentistry and became a dentist. He did however serve in WW2. He retired on a great pension 😉
Yes, *your grandparents* did. *Not you*. The “massive entitlement” in this exchange is from you, hijacking stuff other people did before you were even born. What they suffered & what they achieved is theirs, not yours, & you’re not entitled to use those things against others.
Most of the oldest generation now in the country didn't do any of that either. They stayed at school until 16 or 18, more benefited from university education than ever before, and most never enlisted in anything.
how long are you planning on dining out of not your own accomplishments?
He's talking about other, younger people. Not himself. Is that too hard for you? Or do you simply not know the meaning of the buzzwords you like to fling about?
Was it the gin again this morning?
Last of the Christmas sherry, Eulalia.
Ah, she meant stop wining! Simple typo
I'll take 'Being an Arrogant Cunt Taking Credit for Something People Born Decades Before Me Did But I Did Not Do Myself', Alex.
That's nothing. My great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents were serfs. Checkmate.
Luxury.
You didn't. You did nothing.
Except moan about people who feel we should have a more decent life.
It's quite sad
Nah, just irritating like a pebble in your shoe. No point in engaging and getting vexed just get it out and walk on.
Don’t you get the point mate ? Your grandparents made life better for the next generation- our generation has sadly sent that in reverse
War does not make a society, it breaks it
I love your generation . I believe the young folks can save America.
The most? Really?? Grab a book and learn some history.
And in some US states having to watch their younger siblings lose child labour protection, get tried criminally as adults, and their education funding stripped. The pettiest gerontocracy. Squeezing everything they can because they’ve been duped all their lives waiting for trickle down economics.
I was just saying to my better half that the generation of kids who are very likely to spend the majority of their lives in a world re-learning the lesson the populism/nationalism always ends up with the same outcome have been dealt the worst hand possible...☹️
IMO Thatcher taught people a generation of adults to be selfish and mean.
Yes. In fact it’s a virtuous quality! No such thing as society.
Absolutely this. And the attitude/behaviour has been passed down to the next generation etc We need to accept that there are some complete uncaring assholes in society because that is what they've witnessed and grown up in. I'm 49 and a lot of my generation are quite simply horrible people.
Absolutely agree Turned everything into me, me, me
Yep. Lawson and Thatcher turned personal acquisitiveness into a virtue.
That comment got a follow!
As did that!
Always been my opinion too
open.spotify.com/track/3rmlj5...
Young people have always been vilified and blamed for stuff. It's nothing new. In my youth I was criticised for my clothes, music, friends, politics, attitudes, exam results, career decisions, everything, all the time, from parents to press.
...because tge billionaires stole all you pies. I could not understand why there seemed to be no demonstrations from 2010. Student loans increased, gig economy,increased homelessness welfare cuts. Bank of mum and dad helped out where they could whilst Cameron told you to blame the OAPs.
Don’t forget how their elders “helped” them by stealing Freedom of Movement.
Not me!
Not their 'elders' as a group - it was those with less education who tended to vote Leave. Also all the younger people who failed to vote in 2016 at all should also bear some of the blame for Brexit.
Well of Tory pensioners were the most consistent Brexit block. With regards to voting of young people. 1/
Imagine you constantly have to move between insecure tenancies driven by insecure jobs and dodgy tenancies. Keeping your voting registration up to date is not necessarily the biggest priority if you are constantly threatened with homelessness.
Not all of us. I continue to blame the politicians, cynical opportunists and self-styled 'disruptors' *who weren't 'old' at all* for lying, spinning & otherwise putting disinformation or plain lies out there for the hard of thinking. Also for the majority of msm (foreign) owners for promoting it.
Decisions are made by those who show up. All those who didn't vote need to take some blame for that one.
My response to another post with the same argument. The voting system in conjunction with the housing crisis is stacked against young people. bsky.app/profile/timo...
I wasn't even allowed to vote, bellend
One of the braindead little oddities of the referendum. As EU citizen living in the UK I wasn't allowed to vote either. But my Australian colleagues were allowed to vote since they are Commonwealth citizens.
Indeed. It's called gerrymandering or cheating
We are not people apparently
We are an embarrassment for the parties, a constant reminder that this was once a different countries, fully part of Europe, and not a xenophobic island on the fringes.
We moved out and our children followed, we consider ourselves very fortunate.
I pretty soon in my life decided not to have kids....best decision ever, I feel sorry for everyone growing up now.
Easier to demonise them than addressing the problems that they face 🤔
Don't get me started...
Well said
Someone cleverer than me commented that tax cuts, North Sea oil and the demographics of the 1980s have given Boomers an unrealistic expectation of what the state can afford. They now believe young people have as few problems as they had, and they should be getting all the handouts their parents did.
Some Boomers. Some.
Yes it is some but the some need to be called out. I’m a boomer & see both the poverty of older people & the ones that flood afternoon theatre matinees & garden centres. We are a nation of 2 halves rich & poorer not young & old.
Indeed, some. But the sense of entitlement / misunderstanding of how the state pension system works, is real.
I think you’ll find that the majority of retired people understood that they were paying the pensions of their parents and grandparents and that the money wasn’t going into their own personal piggy bank but they would be credited for it in their retirement
Alas the majority didn’t & don’t. I work in the pensions advice industry and by the far the biggest systemic issues we face are misunderstanding of all pensions and a lack of engagement.
Intergenerational blame is hateful divisive and gets us nowhere while the real culprits get away with it and walk away with the gains from the joint hard work of ALL of us.
As Harold Macmillan said, Thatcher sold off the family silver.
Sadly I think this is true , WFA issue has shown this people who don’t need it screaming that it’s their right not interested in anyone but themselves. Same type who pay cash in nail bars not bothered about tax evasion or exploitation happy not to hear English being spoken a nation of hypocrites
A somewhat acerbic view of an entire generation. Generalisations are rarely helpful.
I guess I’m a boomer (horrible word by the way) and I don’t think like that. I think there shouldn’t be any billionaires, the rich should pay their way and people should be treated equally so everyone can have a decent standard of living.
You missed off house price inflation, which benfitd nobody except speculators and those too thick to see that their “wealth” is an illusion.
This blame game of the older generation was started by Cameron who then proceeded to run an economy which undercut wages and conditions inflated asset prices and remove life chances fir that generation of young people ie 2010 on..I did not vote for them..more billionaires gig economy etv
Not correct. My era had no childcare maternity pay paternity pay minimum wage single parent support. We experienced 3 day week (in winter just 3 days electricity a week and therefore 3 days pay) petrol rationing.bread and other food shortages. I could go on. 2% went to uni. School leaving 15
Yeah. That was a tough couple of months.
Hahaha..2 bar electric fire no hot water or bathroom. Couldn't afford to give up work to have children so didn't. First 30yrs of my life. After that the 80s 60 -65hr working weeks high unemployment negative equity Things improved for me in last 15trs of my life
That living standards are declining for the first time in decades, that life expectancy is going down for the first time in decades, that housing is unaffordable, that HE is no longer free, etc. - these things are provable facts and don't mean EVERYONE of our generation had a great life.
Britain is and undeveloping country. web.archive.org/web/20220121...
Yep, proving exactly the point here. A three month industrial dispute > a generation who locked themselves at home for the best part of two years AND will be expected to bear the financial consequences for a lifetime.
Hey..my generation finally paid off WW2 WAR DEBT in early 2000s.. 'life's a bitch and then you die'
State could afford much more if money didn’t flow into Billionaires’ offshore tax accounts. The lame excuse “ we can’t afford it” and the trite household budget analogy boil my piss
You obviously don’t live in an old heavy industry area.
Don't lump us all in the same boat.
Agreed im in my 50s with two kids who have had huge disruption to their education, social life and face low wages, high rents/uni fees and no freedom of movement. Its rotten and things need to change fast
I’d hate to be the age my children are now - it was easier on the 70s. To get a job, to rent a flat, to travel, to kea e university debt free….
Do you remember any of your peers talking about or supporting any of the many things that led to where we are now? Like citizen's united, zoning laws to prevent affordable housing, commodification of human needs, or privatizing SSI?
Agreed. Spent 2 weeks on a Boomer Cruise whining about winter fuel allowance on their 3rd cruise of the year with expensive houses, (they could buy in their 20), & gold plated pensions & triple lock & how THEY had it bad in the war (born in 1958) but the young "have it too easy"
Agreed, plus it seems mean, not to mention downright stupid, to be down on the generation who'll arrange our care. I try to be generous to my niece & nephew.
It's the same everywhere, look at USA that has just reinstalled a corrupt fool basically on the promise of more tax cuts for the already very wealthy & to hell with the consequences for the economy
Just to add a little balance.. Boomer here- never voted Tory, very pro EU, taught in a deprived area for most of 30 year career, worried sick about kids, the state of the world and this country in particular - oh and never been on a cruise! Not all of us are selfish!
These themes were so common on board, I created my own Boomer Bingo card to make suppers more fun. Migrants were the No1 topic (despite being served by migrants & many of their kids being economic migrants). Much ignorance on display.
I don’t doubt it. You would hear such comments in many other venues and from those from different age groups and backgrounds. You happened to be in one frequented by that type of person. As I said, we’re not all like that. FIN
Thank goodness not all, but depressing just how many there are, because they vote in large numbers & loved Johnson & possibly admire Farage. Dangerous people.
Too much entitlement, too little education, too easily influenced!
Agreed
One serious answer to all this is we need to get boomers off social media and offline. We invited them on to Facebook etc as it became part of social fabric, but it then walled them off and bombarded them with disinformation and propaganda.
And here’s another!!! Maybe try qualifying your comments? This Boomer has never done Facebook, never been on a cruise, is post 18 educated, etc. So, what you’re suggesting is isolate not educate!
Hi Minnette we’re talking about generalised patterns, it doesn’t apply to everyone in an age bracket. But if you look at voting patterns it tracks.
Crikey, I’m a boomer and never said any those things!
Perhaps we don't go on cruises...
I went in a cruise with my husband and we got so fed up with the people on our dinner table moaning about their staff wanting paid sick leave while they were enjoying a luxury cruise that we started having dinner in the cafeteria. Same age as us but business owners with a huge sense of entitlement!
It’s why I avoid such gatherings 😬
Have been on a few cruises (working mind). Can confirmna lot of passengers are like that. They're also the first to complain when they see you having a cup of tea (technically against the rules to consume in front of them, but shouldn't be).
Years ago I was an air stewardess, crikey did some complain when we had 5 mins for a cup of tea. Which on long haul flights you need. Far too many demanding first class treatment in steerage. 😱
Worked explaining Spanish places to English cruisegoers on a cruise ship. There's no class system on board the cruise I was on, but a lot of the arseholes on board treated us like steerage. Mind you, we had one family from Kent who'd won a competition. They gave me a tip, which was unusual.
They are my idea of hell on earth!
Mine too! 😱
You're an honourary Generation X though - we're the lost generation nobody ever talks about because it's all about Boomers, Gen-Z and Milennials.
Can we be GenX too? I have zero in common with Boomers.
I have zero in common with SOME Boomers, too!
Thank you 🙂
All the leaded petrol fumes they inhaled did a real number on them.
I think you're on to something.
"If young people stopped buying coffees, they could afford to buy a house like we did in the 70s" Meanwhile:
Basically, the leaded petrol generation with a rose tinted view of a war they weren't even alive for.
Surely the issue is this. If you don’t like the way your kids & grand kids have turned out then take a good, hard look at yourself. They’ve all grown up in the world YOU & YOUR generation created. It’s essentially YOUR fault so start taking lumps off yourself.
Well, you know, they think they fought in the second world war for us and once had to live through a power cut in the 70's.
My boomer generation paid the Hero Generation poverty pensions even though there were 20 workers for every pensioner. Now they demand the younger generation pay them good pensions even though there are only five workers to every pensioner.
Most of them weren't even alive in ww2. You'd have to be 100 now to have been old enough to fight
Raised on a diet of Commando comics…
They used to pay t' owner for t' privilege of working down t'mines. Ate gravel for breakfast. Got up at 5am, 4 hours before they went to bed... etc
This sort of generalist ageist shit makes me sick. Gay Rights in this country came directly out of the miners strike that lasted a year and in return for the Gay community’s support for the miners. The NUM ensured Gay rights became Labour policy. A lot of ex mining towns are still destitute.
Denial to avoid guilt
And as Dorian reminded us about Twin Peaks (yet another, admittedly minor, good thing), we really were lucky on so many levels.
Hard agree on all of that.
There’s a way they can change it though - and that’s to vote. The youngsters need to get out and bloody vote! We need them to.
Didn't work for us: we didn't manage to get rid of late stage capitalism. A system designed to reward capital by ingeniously lowering costs. Which is a problem for the majority of people, who are a cost.
Means test the state pension and use the money to invest in 16-30s
Is that you Kemi? Simply get rid of the triple-lock.
Wealthy pensioners do not need the state pension. That’s a fact.
I think we've seen with winter fuel payments the risk of being too ideological regarding universal benefits. Give everyone the £12k pa they feel entitled too, and if people are rich enough then at lot will go back to government in tax anyway.
If you research it you will see that wealthy people do not forfeit their state pension. There are many wealthy pensioners.
Yes, I am nearing 50 and so I am hoping to be one too one day. 🙂 I am not saying that wealthy pensioners forfeit any state pension. I am saying that income above £12k (coincidentally approx the same figure) is subject to income tax.
While I am far from being an expert in how the state operates I would be pretty sure for HMRC to tax overall income rather than have DWP having to means test all persons qualifying for the state pension.
You are correct and ‘wealthy’ pensioners whose employers/private pensions & investment income puts them into the higher rate tax bracket will (rightly) hand back 40% of their state pension to the state in tax .
Ultimately, to help all sectors of society taxes need to rise for the most wealthiest in society, including corporations, but this is unlikely to happen. My original point is that there are many pensioners drawing a pension who simply don’t need it.
British pensions do not confer fabulous wealth. They are, however, much more generous than benefits for those of working age, which are disgracefully parsimonious - we should equalise by bringing those up, and ensuring everyone has enough.
Lots of Scottish people say 'The English' voted for Brexit, parties that don't give them free uni tuition, bus travel till they're 22, prescriptions, school meals, or baby boxes. I could go on...I know not all English people are Tories. Just like not ALL older people are! Stop labelling/division.
This thread is a fascist politicians dream!
Wow. This escalated quickly.
Sorry - just wanted some of the 'young people good/old people bad' commentators to know labelling isn't helpful. I have Gen Z children and know how hard it is for them. I'll wind my neck in now!
I reckon that was well said. We seem to be living in the age of rage, and hatred seems to be the pinnacle of social media. If we want to stop that, we could definitely stop setting groups of people up as targets and try and be a bit more inclusive.
The answer is surely that they don’t vote in sufficient numbers?
Not helped by the last government making it harder for them to vote by disqualifying forms of ID that younger people have.
Yes, the gerrymandering didn’t help
Maybe the answer is a political party or parties that offer them something positive to vote for.
Chicken and egg
Not to mention an extreme exposure to technology and apps that have been designed with the sole purpose of sucking their attention, reducing their ability to do anything else.
Wtf are you on about
Need to have grown up conversation in this country on: Tax, Social Care, Pensions, Immigration, Equality, Social Mobility and more generally how we should do 'Capitalism' but we continually do nothing about the media ecosystem that poisons/vilifies those subjects making them politically impossible.