Pension off this term of abuse
What exactly is a pensioner these days? What’s the definition? What’s the point of the word? Why do we describe someone in terms of their eligible age to claim the state pension?
Just asking because the following headline really annoyed me: “Spiteful pensioner could lose home…”. It’s not the ‘spiteful’, so much as the ‘pensioner’.
I detest that term, which to me signifies that someone’s not as worthy of note anymore, somehow diminished, not valued. The fact is, the older you get, the wiser you become, as anyone who dares to call me a pensioner when/if I reach 65, will find out.
I mean, you wouldn’t call Helen Mirren, 72, a pensioner would you? Nor Mick Jagger, who turned 74 on Wednesday.
Just wondering if Michael Gove, lover of free schools, as well as the worst Education Secretary on record (just ask a teacher), has read about the fortunes of pupils attending Route 39 Academy, a free school based in Devon? It’s just been placed in special measures after failing to enter ANY year 11 pupils for their GCSEs. Truly scandalous.