Things Go Swimmingly For Those Generations Who Shout The Loudest

4th July 2023

"Right now, it is younger generations who are again bearing the brunt of economic failure." Paul Johnson writes for The Times.
Paul has been the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.

I have been swimming regularly — several times a week — at the men's pond on Hampstead Heath for about five years now. I love it; it's become an important part of my life. It costs me the princely sum of £139.50 for the year — less than a pound a time. Nevertheless, during last Tuesday's swim I was fulminating about the injustice of it all. For, by chance, I discovered that for the over-60s a morning swim in the pond is free. There are concessionary rates if you are poor, or disabled, or a student. But other than those caring for another swimmer, the only people who get in for nothing are the over-60s.

And only before 9.30 at that — exactly the time that we wage slaves need to go to fit it into our daily routine. That may explain why the early-morning swim is the only time, other than my weekly game of bridge, when I still feel relatively young.

I had just about got used to older colleagues and friends luxuriating in their free travel passes, but this one additional trivial example of the coddling of the country's wealthiest generation just about pushed me over the edge. My mood wasn't helped by last week’s commitments, emanating from both government and opposition, to retaining the pension triple lock for at least the period of the next parliament. Spending on education, working-age benefits and local government may be squeezed and squeezed again, but we must guarantee that the state pension will rise every year by the higher of price inflation, earnings growth and 2.5 per cent.

Read the full article At IFS