Philip Inman takes a very London-centric view (Can a nation in crisis rely on the baby boomer generation to step up? I think the UK is about to find out, 21 August). Certainly in my small northern town, retirees haven’t had a financial bonanza from property price hikes. Also in my part of the world services that used to be provided by local authorities are now largely undertaken by an army of older people, including litterpicking, gardening in communal areas, local radio, school holiday activities for children, and food bank collection and delivery. Not to mention the myriad charities who couldn’t provide services without the time given by retirees.
At the moment older people are reluctant to move into the housing provided by some private developers, as this can leave a financial headache for their children when they die. Perhaps this is an area where Inman could usefully focus his journalistic zeal rather than scapegoating older people. This sort of reporting, which takes the experience of a small subset of the population and extrapolates that to a whole generation, is intrinsically flawed.
Dr Susan Graves
Lydiate, Merseyside
• Philip Inman appears to be out of touch with many baby boomers’ lived experiences. We tried to move from our three-bedroom detached home several years ago without success; none of our viewers were young families. They were couples our age seeking to downsize. We spent many weeks trying to find a suitable home, but were dismayed at poor-quality building, rabbit-hutch-sized gardens and tiny rooms, and huge, faceless estates without transport or facilities. We decided there was no point in reducing our circumstances as well as paying stamp duty and hefty removal costs.
We have lived here for nearly 30 years, we support village activities, local campaigns and local politics, and yes, we enjoy our holidays, but they are by no means all jet-setting. We have certainly, as many of our generation have, given back in time and money. This blame game serves no useful purpose.
Christine Hey
Nottingham
• I’d like to downsize. But houses in town, where activities and facilities are located, are more highly priced than where I am, 1.5 miles out of town. And there aren’t that many of them. I don’t want to live too close to the town centre – it’s noisy at night. If volume builders talked to us, maybe they would provide the houses for us. But we are ignored.
At 72, I’m not ready for a sheltered flat with carers provided. So, Mr Inman, you sort the problem with the builders. They might listen to you. On the other hand, perhaps a chat with boomers might help you. I recommend contacting a National Women’s Register group (previously National Housewives Register, set up following a letter to this paper). The ladies would welcome you for a lively discussion. Likewise, the University of the Third Age, a self-help group for older people. Just don’t get us started on how frugal we were in our younger days or on how much volunteering many of us do.
Judy Windwood
Wimborne, Dorset
• Phillip Inman urges older people to move out of their three-bedroom houses and he’s right, of course, but as a couple (79 and 82) in the middle of doing that, I understand why more don’t. Luckily our house sale went smoothly, but the whole process is still exhausting, frustrating and sometimes worrying.
There are the repeated trips to the tip and charity shops; trying to find out why the flat you are moving to is the only one in the block listed as not having full fibre broadband; trying to end a landline contract with a company that employs a machine to read the documents you send it, only to reject them because its machine can’t read them; trying to explain that you haven’t got your new address on your driving licence because you can’t change the address on your driving licence until you have actually moved; discovering that your once-expensive Georgian and Victorian furniture is worth almost nothing … and all this while navigating the usual hospital appointments etc, and cleaning bits of your house you haven’t cleaned for years.
I’m sure it will be worth it if we make it to moving day without murdering each other or jumping off the Suspension Bridge, but I can understand why others can’t face it and just stay put.
Rosemary Chamberlin
Bristol
• Not all of us boomers are lounging around in half-empty houses, ruminating on our next vacation. As a 70-year-old still in full-time freelance work, I, and my wife, share a five-bedroom house in south-east London that now sleeps seven. Both our children have moved back, along with three of their friends. All five pay a rent that helps us to afford the rocketing utilities, but also that enables them to live in London. If we downsized, that would throw five people on to a rental market they could not afford on their current salaries. And that’s if they could find anywhere; the reason they’re back living with us is precisely because they can’t. And we also seem to enjoy each other’s company. So if that isn’t stepping up, I don’t know what is.
Peter Grimsdale
Dulwich, London
