Inter generational fairness

Sapphire

ukcarper wrote: »

To be fair housing was improving by the time most boomers bought. I bought my first house in early 70s it was a new terraced it had no central heating just an oil fire in lounge no floor coverings or appliances and the garden was unmade. As you said other things were expensive we had no phone, no TV a second had fridge and used the launderette. This was heaven to me after being brought up in a old terraced house with just a coal fire, no bath or hot water and a toilet in the back garden.

Indeed. Then there were the paraffin heaters (metal things with three legs), which were very easy to knock over and could cause fires. Also lovely frost patterns on the (insides of) windows, and icicles hanging off frames. And it was really cold at night. Kitchens were also tiny in many places – there wasn't space for any units, just some shelving, a deep sink, a cooker and possibly a small table wedged in between the sink and cooker (though no chairs). I think these things were still prevalent until the late Seventies and possibly even the early Eighties.

Apodemus

I'm not going to join in the "three Yorkshiremen" sketch, but I remember when I was 22, my boss saying (as a group of us we're going somewhere in his Mercedes) that we would never feel as rich as we did then. I disputed this, comparing my crumby bed-sit and rust-bucket mini with his large house in the country, his cars and yacht. But I now understand what he was getting at. At that time I had no dependents and all my income (although I was well below the tax threshold) was completely mine to spend as I chose. In later years I have had better salaries and undoubtedly a more comfortable life-style, but never that financial freedom that I had then.

BobQ

GreatApe wrote: »

So few people now understand this. My grandfather would often tell me about how poor they and most working class people were in the 1930s-50s. He would often say 'it is hard to imagine how poor we were and how little we had but no one complained as everyone you knew was just as poor'. He would often tell me about how little they had as a children ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I often wonder what part the media and social media play in these perceptions

When I was a lad there was relatively little coverage of such things in the papers that working people usually bought, or on the limited television service that only broadcast part of the day.

Today's 24/ 7 news coverage, the internet and the other social media now make people more aware of the facts. So people are more conscious of what others outside their immediate circle enjoy.

The divisions in society are now far more apparent and breads a culture of jealously. IN the past ignorance was bliss. You did see some people were better off than others but that simply made people aspire to better. When I saw people living in a better house my first thought was what mst I do to live in one like that. Today in seems many think - who did they steal that from? who did they trample on to get that?

chiefie

To me a lot of the debate Thais going on is being fuelled by government nudging - to get us prepared for shifts in government financial policy.

Soon the state pension will be bilked as a benefit with a capital B.

Sure some older people have benefitted but more in my opinion are as poor as anything. And it's not like they personally did anything to make it so, it was past governments.

The only fly in their ointment is that older people vote and younger people don't. But that is going to change soon enough.

Cakeguts

BobQ wrote: »

I often wonder what part the media and social media play in these perceptions

When I was a lad there was relatively little coverage of such things in the papers that working people usually bought, or on the limited television service that only broadcast part of the day.

Today's 24/ 7 news coverage, the internet and the other social media now make people more aware of the facts. So people are more conscious of what others outside their immediate circle enjoy.

The divisions in society are now far more apparent and breads a culture of jealously. IN the past ignorance was bliss. You did see some people were better off than others but that simply made people aspire to better. When I saw people living in a better house my first thought was what mst I do to live in one like that. Today in seems many think - who did they steal that from? who did they trample on to get that?

The jealousy thing is interesting isn't it? I always understood that life was not fair and not everyone gets everything they want. There are always going to be people who are poorer and there are always going to people who are richer. This is human nature.

What I think I am seeing is that the people who are jealous of the what older people have now don't know anything about what they went without to get there so the jealousy is all based on wrong information.

ukcarper

BobQ wrote: »

I often wonder what part the media and social media play in these perceptions

When I was a lad there was relatively little coverage of such things in the papers that working people usually bought, or on the limited television service that only broadcast part of the day.

Today's 24/ 7 news coverage, the internet and the other social media now make people more aware of the facts. So people are more conscious of what others outside their immediate circle enjoy.

The divisions in society are now far more apparent and breads a culture of jealously. IN the past ignorance was bliss. You did see some people were better off than others but that simply made people aspire to better. When I saw people living in a better house my first thought was what mst I do to live in one like that. Today in seems many think - who did they steal that from? who did they trample on to get that?

I think another contributing factor is the articles by privileged boomers liked David Willet and Jeremy Paxmam who suffered none of the disadvantages working class boomers faced.

LHW99

I'm not going to join in the "three Yorkshiremen" sketch,

Yes, I thought of that too - I guess plenty of boomers could say - YOU had

it had no central heating just an oil fire in lounge

- WELL we had a single coal stove with a broken door and a hole in the front window (well we did), plus a mattress on the bedroom floor for the first 6 months

ukcarper

LHW99 wrote: »

Yes, I thought of that too - I guess plenty of boomers could say - YOU had - WELL we had a single coal stove with a broken door and a hole in the front window (well we did), plus a mattress on the bedroom floor for the first 6 months

It's not a matter of 3 Yorkshire men just that some people don't seem to be aware how much housing has improved over the last 40 years. In the 60s and 70s most of the now desirable Victorian terraced properties had not been modernised and the house I was reffering to was built in the 70s and was a good property at the time yet it still didn't have central heating let lone things like double glasing and built in appliances.

buglawton

Apodemus wrote: »

I'm not going to join in the "three Yorkshiremen" sketch, but I remember when I was 22, my boss saying (as a group of us we're going somewhere in his Mercedes) that we would never feel as rich as we did then. I disputed this, comparing my crumby bed-sit and rust-bucket mini with his large house in the country, his cars and yacht. But I now understand what he was getting at. At that time I had no dependents and all my income (although I was well below the tax threshold) was completely mine to spend as I chose. In later years I have had better salaries and undoubtedly a more comfortable life-style, but never that financial freedom that I had then.

The grain of truth in the 3 Yorkshiremen is (if I recall correctly) the comment at the end "but we were happy then".

Dird

I took out a mortgage last year at 26. 2 school friends also did. It's pretty hard to say who has it better/worse as we don't know what it'll be like in 40 years time.

There's people struggling on NMW now but there will have been in the 70s too. Compared to then we have a better standard of living with technology advancing. I imagine when I retire I'll be watching rubbish TV in my self-driving, 2nd hand car.

I was lucky enough to avoid the £9k/year tuition fee rise so I should be tuition free in a couple years but even for those younger than me they're only paying £50-200/month for 25 years, a small price to pay for the step up a sensible degree choice can provide.

Problem is these oldies just don't want to die. If their companies don't go bust then they got a good deal with the pensions. Bus pass/winter allowance needs means testing, NHS needs to go like Germany/Switzerland