Does the older generation have it easy?

IN REPLY to the young lady complaining that the older generation got free education and a job for life, denied to her generation (Letters), I was born in 1925, one of seven children. My mother died when I was two. No food was wasted and we wore jumble sale clothes. My education ended when I was 14; I had to get a job in a grocery shop for ten shillings a week — 50p in today’s money. When the Second World War broke out, I joined the Land Army, while two of my brothers joined the Army. Two of my sisters died of TB. I spent a year in a sanatorium and was lucky to survive. My husband, too, left school at 14 and worked until 65. He was an honest man who died not owing a penny. I do appreciate free travel, prescriptions and TV licence, but I don’t feel I’ve been a burden to the State.

KATHARINE SUMNER, Boston, Lincs. I’M IN full agreement with Jennie Gardner (Letters). By permitting people to work beyond retirement age, the Government has allowed the blocking of jobs. The young who cannot get jobs will never be able to afford their own homes, will struggle to afford foreign travel and, when they do secure employment, are made to work longer to get a pension. Come on, retirement dodgers, make way for the rest of us.

IAN BALDWIN, Hingham, Norfolk. I WAS incensed by Jennie Gardiner’s reference to ‘hypocrites’ (Letters). She’s under the misapprehension that our generation got free education — the fact is that most of us started working full-time at 15 or 16, as our families could not afford a university/ college education. The majority of us stayed with our parents until we got married — or longer — as buying a house was a huge commitment that many could not afford. Debt was frowned on. Very few owned cars or went on holiday each year, as these were not a necessity. Jobs for life — yes, but we still had to work hard and sometimes take jobs we didn’t want to keep a roof over our heads. Ms Gardiner blames us for standing in her way. Does she honestly believe that we — who have had to work hard all our lives and may still need to work to pay our bills — should leave our jobs to make room for her so she can get on with the rest of her life?

MARY MASON, Stirling.