Shocking attack on rights of older people by Paxman
THIS week Britain celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Act which gave the vote to women for the first time. No less importantly, though given rather less attention, the same legislation extended the franchise to 5.6 million working class men – men who were still fighting in the trenches at the time but who had had no say in electing the government that had sent them there.
Surely, I thought, there can’t be many people left in Britain who don’t support the concept of universal suffrage, where every adult has the right to vote. But I underestimated Jeremy Paxman, the former Newsnight presenter who told an audience this week that he is in favour of removing the vote from anyone over the age of 65.
Given that Paxman is 67 his proposal would include banning himself from the polling booths. But that doesn’t make his suggestion any the less objectionable. Even if intended as a joke – I am not sure whether it was or not – it is a disgraceful attack on the rights of older people.
Paxman’s beef is that the elderly have done very well out of life and that they are now using their voting power to ensure that they, rather than young people, are getting the best out of the state.
“I think that my generation have behaved like spoilt children,” claims Paxman. He says his friends never had any problem getting a job and were able to afford their own homes. Yet now they expect – shock horror – a decent pension.
PAXMAN is particularly offended by the winter fuel payment – an allowance of between £100 and £300 – to help pensioners cope with high fuel bills in the colder months. “I don’t take the fuel allowance and I was offended to be offered it, frankly,” he said.
If he wants to turn down his allowance that’s up to him. I could even go so far as to call it public-spirited.
But Paxman betrays a shocking lack of understanding about the financial pressures faced by millions of older people. It is not every pensioner who owns their own home: 25 per cent of the over-65s do not. Many of them are living in privately rented accommodation, trying to make ends