Having a go at OAPs is very rich coming from you, Paxo
IS TV presenter Jeremy Paxman just indulging in his trademark of dropping a controversy bomb for his own amusement? His suggestion that those of pensionable age be banned from voting (Mail) just because they were lucky enough to have benefited from an era of affordable housing, final-salary pension schemes and job security is a bit rich when he enjoyed a gold-plated annual salary from the BBC. Rather than turning down his winter fuel allowance now he is 67, could he perhaps not have saved the nation a few hundred thousand and accepted a salary in line with the average wage? Or is conscience something you only find in your dotage?
PHILIP BASSETT, Bracknell, Berks. JEREMY PAXMAN fails to acknowledge the tax paid over many years by hardworking retired folk of his age. After 37 years as a teacher, isn’t it right that I should get a state pension and have a say in how the country is run?
PAUL BRIDGEWATER, Beoley, Worcs. AS A man whose annual pension is likely to be well in excess of what most people earn in ten years, Paxo is in the position to never need money. He can rant about OAPs and the way they think, vote and are a burden on society as much as he likes, but here’s the real issue: most people have spent their lives doing the sort of work he never had to do. They have toiled while he has been paid to mouth off on TV. I will have to work until I die, and for my troubles I earn less in a year than Paxo was paid in a week for his pontification.
DAVE TUTT, Chatham, Kent. I AM 80 and still paying tax, as I have done since I was a teenager. It might surprise Mr Paxman to know my brain is able to make decisions about Brexit, and I will gladly debate this with him.
JOHN GARDNER, Kings Hill, Kent. I’D gIVE up my right to vote at 65 if it means I no longer have to pay taxes.
JACKIE EDWARDS, address supplied.