Times are changing and it is the elderly who may get the worst deal

The plan for us two oldies was to move from the depths of the country to where there were more people and enjoy a different lifestyle.

Having a boat and living away from water was not ideal so we set about choosing somewhere we could kick up sand at any time of the day and raise our sail to any favourable wind going. With what we hoped to be a long retirement ahead it’s fair to say initially we missed being around country folk because there seemed to be so much going on in the busy world that we had to customise ourselves to.

We weren’t the only ones tossing around the same thought process. We knew of some others putting up the For Sale sign. Life was to be enjoyed to the full at our age.

What many of us hadn’t bargained for was the fact that the United Kingdom was about to change – big time. That drive for progress in fact had begun to slow down within the population. Everyday living was becoming more expensive, politics were becoming loud and nasty and something called a `woke generation’ was stirring.

Oldies like us just put it down to the young wanting their way with everything – as usual. Trade unions were strong; employers were becoming restless.

And so whilst we settled into our new existence –retirement – in the distance we could almost see and hear change setting in. Was it decline and if so why and what could be done about it?

Our generation of retirees debated long into the evenings about what was happening in the world outside.

As I write I’m looking at one of the most frightening headlines I’ve seen since the days when I was a working journalist in Belfast, our beloved capital city, which was being bombed by the IRA almost daily. This headline is in a leading national newspaper - `Britain faces destitution unless it dares to admit the state pension is unaffordable’.

Another reads - `Insolent, unproductive and dominated by HR, the Civil Service thinks it rules Britain’ (both Daily Telegraph), From the Daily Mail `the race row that brought down the Queen’s most devoted lady-in-waiting’ From the News Letter: `Union `not as safe as we were told in 1998’ and `Scandalous £117k for Irish translation’ (relating to the cost of having an Irish translation service for a dormant NI Assembly. Then: `Motorcycling in crisis due to insurance costs’ from the News Letter.

And maybe the most worrisome also from the Daily Telegraph: `Britain deserves better than stagnation’.

These were all fretful headlines as they give us some idea of how messed up our society is with no-one with the power or imagination to start fixing it. One can only ask what is expected of us – particularly my generation which worked so hard to get ahead?

Is it true, for example, that the Civil Service thinks it rules Britain and what is going to be done to reverse it’s avaricious thought process?

The headlines get more frightening by the day. Himself has told me to stop reading newspapers and start digging that vegetable patch I’ve been studying all winter to see how much I can grow in it. Self help may be necessary since there appears to be an element of civil servants and politicians who think the country can no longer afford to pay the state pension even though we’ve paid for it all our working lives.

Times are changing and, dare I say it, not in a good way.