It’s us ‘codgers’ who keep the UK going
So Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her new tax tsar Sir Edward Troup believe that all the ills of modern times are the fault of the Boomers who have had it ‘ridiculously good’.
I was born in 1947, a year before the welfare state was born. Rationing was still in place. People didn’t ‘bother’ the doctor because they had been brought up in an era where you had to pay to see one. Most food was homegrown or bought in season.
We lived in an ex-Army Nissen hut (which had been part of a gun site in Yeading, Middlesex) for the first five years of my life. We had no central heating, no fitted carpets, no luxuries. No phone, no TV until 1953 so we could watch the Coronation of Elizabeth II. But there was always food on the table and we were clothed according to season (including hand-me-downs).
I was not deprived and had a wonderful childhood. We were taught to be self-reliant and, if we wanted something, to work for it. We didn’t whinge about how tough life was, we just got on with it.
It is a pity that these days people feel ‘entitled’ to everything.
Bette spRy, highcliffe, Dorset. ThAT Labour has appointed a new tax tsar — who called pensioners ‘codgers’ who had it ‘ridiculously good’ and argued for them to be taxed more — is infuriating.
Everywhere I go it is the ‘grey brigade’ who are keeping the economy going. Pubs, restaurants and places of interest are generally reliant on us ‘old codgers’ spending and keeping staff employed.
Giving people like us more money to spend will keep generating employment for the younger generation.
p. constaBle, colchester, essex. MoST senior citizens have worked hard all their lives and scrimped and — if they are lucky — saved to buy a home. our parents quite often lived in rented accommodation and were in no position to provide financial help.
Mortgages were granted on only one salary and in 1979 the interest rate was 17 per cent.
If we managed to acquire a little nest egg, we are probably helping the younger generations to get a foot on the housing ladder.
So can I politely ask that us ‘codgers’ are granted a little slack. a.l. caRteR, sandbach, cheshire.