jackie I think that demonstrates (pun intended!) how society has changed. I did some protesting in my day for things I believed in but younger people seem to be all about themselves. We must have done something wrong.
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Spotted this taken from BBC news webpage
(113 Posts)Ministers should waste no time to make unpopular cuts to pensioner benefits, a think tank director has said.
Many of those hit by a cut to the winter fuel allowance might "not be around" at the next election, said Alex Wild of the Taxpayers' Alliance.
And others would forget which party had done it, he added.
At the group's meeting at the Conservative conference in Manchester, former defence secretary Liam Fox said spending cuts must be "for keeps".
Mr Wild said the Tories could not wait until a year before the next election to make the necessary cuts to the winter fuel allowance, free bus passes, the Christmas bonus and other pensioner benefits.
The cuts should be made "as soon as possible after an election for two reasons", said Mr Wild.
"The first of which will sound a little bit morbid - some of the people... won't be around to vote against you in the next election. So that's just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten by then."
He added: "If you did it now, chances are that in 2020 someone who has had their winter fuel cut might be thinking, 'Oh I can't remember, was it this government or was it the last one? I'm not quite sure.'
"So on a purely practical basis I would say do it immediately. That might be one of those things I regret saying in later life but that would be my practical advice to the government."
'Day of reckoning'
Mr Fox told the meeting that the government had to act now to make further cuts to pensioner benefits and welfare.
He said "we can never go back" to the "historically high" levels of public spending seen in recent years and the government's public spending cuts must be "for keeps".
"This is the time to fix the roof" he said.
"We have a broken opposition. We have just won a general election and we need now to take the tough decisions we believe are right."
Now that Labour was not such a "great threat", this was a "great opportunity for us to do some of the more difficult things, however unpalatable they will be in the short term are what we need to do for the country", said the right-wing backbencher.
He added: "We need to do what we all know deep in our hearts to be right."
Liam FoxImage copyright Conservative Party
Image caption
Former defence secretary Liam Fox said the government had to make further cuts
Mr Fox added that the government had to make the "moral" case for reducing public spending further.
"We are borrowing from the next generation to spend today. That is otherwise known as a Ponzi scheme," he said.
"It's what we are operating as a national financial policy."
He added: "If you continue to overspend there will be a day of reckoning."
He said this was because borrowing costs would rise and the era of low inflation would not last forever, meaning economic growth on its own was not enough to balance the books.
Older people would understand the need for cuts to their benefits to help the next generation, he suggested.
"We have got to start to get really honest with people because this is not a sustainable position," he said.
"We can't afford it now, we can't afford it in the future, why don't we try to get a longer-term plan put in place so that people can make the adjustments they will need to make for us to be able to get back into balance."
A few years ago I went to college as a mature student, not having had the chance of further education when I was young. I noticed that whenever the suggestion of peaceful protest arose among the young students, it was always in relation to their grants, not to supporting the disadvantaged.
In my day we marched for the miners, we marched for CND, not for self interest. I'd like to see older people get out onto the streets to support those who cannot help themselves.
I well remember my mother saying many years ago," If Maggie Thatcher could think of some way of getting rid of all the pensioners without there being a fuss then she would do so. Thet thinking is still there in the conservative party.
Anya glad you made that point, it needs reiterating all the time. Just this morning I have had to point out yet again that the Freedom Pass is only for Londoners. Several times I have heard MPs talk about it as if we all get it. They should get outside the M25 now and again and realise the country is not only London. I could go on about how much public money gets spent on the Arts in London compared to the rest of the country but if I got on my soapbox about that I might not get off again!
I have yet to hear anything coming out of this conference about tackling the massive issue of tax avoidance/evasion by large multinationals. I was glad to see the usually smooth and urbane DC looking a little flustered last night when he was being questioned by Evan Davis. I think that this matter of the tax credits being cut before the pay rises come in is going to be their poll tax.
This is why they are known as the NASTY party. They are making most of their changes in the backs of poorer people and feathering the nests of the rich. The gap is growing.
I'm with AdeleJay on this. Government and young people seem to forget that we get these benefits because we have paid taxes and NI for many years.
In fact I still DO thanks to my entrepreneurial DH starting up a highly successful business that currently provides work for hundreds of people and exports around the world bringing millions into the country's economy!!
And yes, I use my bus pass to travel into the city, thus helping to reduce carbon emissions and clogging up the roads.
I am really fed up being made to feel like a freeloader by these people!
[Angry]
My fears exactly vampirequeen.
If you let them take away the fuel allowance on the grounds that some people don't need it then it will be the thin edge of the wedge. How long before people with private pensions no longer need a state pension?
Are you sure about the age there wondergran? The Freedom Pass can only be applied for the month before state retirement age. I won't be allowed to collect my bus pass until after my 64th birthday.
Freedom Pass? Is that a London thing?
Personally I don't agree with people who receive a Freedom Pass but are still working. I know several men who received their Freedom Pass at age 60 but some of them were still working full time and earning well in excess of £30,000 per annum; that, to me, is bloody outrageous.
Yes, I can do without the £10 (although I welcome the fuel allowance as it does help with winter bills)
I spend the £10 (plus more) on food for the food bank.
It can't be a 'Think Tank', they obviously don't have a brain between them.
OK, abolish all the extra payments and give us the extra by an increase in the State Pension (which is not a benefit)
I thought of that all by myself, without sitting in a tank.
Think Tank? I don't think they do think. Nasty minded little squirts. Get rid of the 'Think Tanks' and put the money to better use! Wait until they get to be a pensioner, er, no I forgot, they all have gold plated pensions which presumably we will have paid for somewhere down the line! 
54 years old, he is. He will not get his state pension until he's 70, probably, by which time he will be dead, as that's what they are wishing on us.
Liam Fox - a discredited former Defence Secretary who resigned before he was sacked because he allowed a close friend who had no official position and no security clearance - at the expense of the taxpayer - to accompany him on 18 overseas trips, travelling first class and staying a top hotels.
This is the man who says the government should abolish all additional age-related payments to pensioners because the country cannot now, nor will it ever be able to, "afford" them. He refers to there being a "moral" case for reducing public spending - it's a pity that moral case didn't extend to his own and his friend's overseas jollies at the expense of the taxpayer.
I meant, of course, Alex Wild, since he is the person reported as saying we'll all have popped off or lost our marbles by the next election.
Nasty little man. Why not just out the WFA on to every annual state pension? That cuts out the means testing costs possibility, and those who dont need it will get it reduced through taxation anyway. It really is quite simple. These people are bloody fools. We are not.
It is one thing to discuss cuts, quite another to use such cynicism. How insulting to the elderly.
Perhaps we need to support the introduction of euthanasia, would save on NHS and we could all be gone by the next election.
I really do not think any of this will happen when they stop and think of all the votes they would lose.
Historically high public spending levels? Most of western Europe is higher than we are.
Anya I think that it would still require someone to process the paperwork. My bus pass application had to be sent off to the Council offices. I for one would apply for the WFA as it gives a bit more spending power. Although the £10 doesn't make much difference, I would still want it to put towards presents.
And it is a personal choice - if those who can afford it give it to charity - all well and good.
What a disgusting man. So callous, he should not be in any job that is paid for by us taxpayers - directly or indirectly
There are those who don't need the WFA or a bus pass. But the difference is you have to apply for a bus pass, it's not automatic. So those who don't need it generally won't bother to apply.
Yet everybody, regardless of income, gets the WFA. It doesn't gave to be means-tested, that's degrading, expensive and too much red-tape. Just make it that you have to apply for it. Simples!
And they can keep their stupid £10 at Christmas.
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