I am incensed by Crispin Read Wilson’s suggestion (Letters, 10 May) that “silver voters” are almost entirely responsible for Brexit and that the young “have been betrayed by their selfish, insular and xenophobic elders”. There is now a growing tide of comment against the baby-boomer generation, to which I also belong, vilifying us for every evil under the sun. Until recently it was largely because we might possess one more spare bedroom than necessary, now it is for pushing the entire country over a cliff. Not only is this divisive and dangerous, it is morally reprehensible. As a generation, we were the storm-troopers of diversity, fighting against racism, misogyny and homophobia. We marched with Martin Luther King in Washington and against the Vietnam war in Grosvenor Square. In old age, we have not all become the self-centred bigots of Swanage who Mr Wilson describes. I don’t know a single person in my peer group who voted for Brexit but I do know some young people who did. I have striven, in my small personal way, to leave a better world for the generations below me, I have “betrayed” nobody and I am both hurt and angry that I am now regarded by many as some sort of pariah.
Alan Clark
London
• I wholeheartedly support David Beard’s call (Letters, 9 May) for pensioners, other than those on benefits or on the basic pension only, to continue to pay national insurance contributions after they retire, for the rest of their lifetime. I am a pensioner myself and a taxpayer. I am not wealthy but could easily afford national insurance on top of the tax I pay. I believe it is grossly unfair on the younger generations to be faced with the future costs of care for those of us living many years beyond retirement, with accompanying health and care needs. To continue to pay national insurance after retirement would ensure that those who live longest have contributed most to the health and care systems – at present someone who dies at aged 70 will have contributed the same as someone who lives on into their 90s – this cannot be fair. This would be a much simpler reform to implement than recent correspondents’ suggestions of taxing benefits for the elderly such as bus passes and winter fuel payments. I call on all political parties to give serious consideration to this reform in their election pledges.
Jeremy Hilton
Tackley, Oxfordshire
• Letter after letter and article upon article remind us about the housing crisis and post-industrial economic insecurity effecting the young and the poor. We are also told these are the very people least likely to vote and therefore effect political decisions. Surely, in this age of ubiquitous social media, those vulnerable non-voters should be inundated with messages explaining that they have the collective power to change things and that if they don’t bother to vote they shouldn’t complain.
Martin Cooper
Bromley, Kent
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