This later life - 23

Ageist attitudes

Difficult to believe this one: Iris Milne was reported in her local newspaper as having been turned down as a customer trying to buy a £5 jigsaw and a £6 candle from a catalogue because, at 84, she was ‘too old’. When she contacted the suppliers, their first response was that it had been a mistake, the rule only applied to the over 90s. Fortunately, another spokesperson for the company denied this. So we can all stop worrying – or can we?

Blonde is bad, apparently, if you’re a woman of a certain age. A writer recently in the Sunday Times bemoaned the fact that blonde-tinted women like singer Lulu, Camilla Parker Bowles and American domestic goddess Martha Stewart refused to go the blue-rinse route (when did you last see anyone doing that?) and were, by association, giving the blonde look a bad name for younger persons.

How we spend our money

• Average weekly expenditure (in England and Wales): £406 in year 2002-3,

  with 17 per cent of income of 75-plus age group spent on food and

  non-alcoholic drinks, compared to 8 per cent among the under 30s

• Restaurants and hotels:  6 per cent of income among 75-plus, 11 per

  cent among under 30s

• Fresh fruit, vegetables, potatoes:   50-64 age group spend most,

  under 30s spend least

• Chocolate and confectionary:  least spent in 75 plus age group

• Transport: biggest expenditure for under 65s

• Newspapers: highest expenditure for 65-74s, lowest for under 30s

Internet: 45 per cent of the population is now connected to the internet

 (but only 29 per cent own a dishwasher)

Mobile ‘phones:  70 per cent of us now own a mobile, compared with 27

per cent in 1998-99     

‘Grey martyrs take tax fury to the streets’ ran a front-page headline in

The Times a few weeks ago.  At least 30 groups have been set up to

campaign for the abolition of council tax, many of them representing

people who rely in their state pensions.

The fury increased when it was revealed that Elizabeth Winkfield from

Devon, aged 83, who refused to pay the increase on her council tax, had

gained wide publicity through public relations fixer Max Clifford and was

member of an anti-EU  political party.

Christine Melson, a mere 62, has, meanwhile, been hailed as ‘one of the

 most powerful pensioners in Britain.  She is founder of IsItFair, and is

persuading older people to withhold tax and face court appearances.

Ben Harding of Help the Aged sums it up for the ‘martyrs’: Many older people

feel left behind by today's society. In all sorts of areas, older people feel that they are getting a raw deal. Growing Council Tax and means testing of benefits, declining home care services and a crisis in long term care, the iniquities of age discrimination and changes in the fabric of the community like post office closures are all good examples of the things which are making older people angry and frustrated. The political power of the older generation should not be underestimated. They are a much more potent political force than younger people, who are much less likely to use their vote. MPs and would-be MPs of all persuasions would do well to listen hard to this debate.'

And also from The Times, comes this letter signed Chris Matthews:

‘In the first few weeks of this year, my 57^th,  I have bought

 an outrageously fast and sexy sports car, had a trendy

‘messy’ hairdo, sent dozens and dozens of text messages

on my new mobile phone, used the  ‘f’ word at every

opportunity and given my phone number to several

barmaids and waitresses’.

Oh do grow up Chris!