John Oxley

The elderly don’t need more political representation

(Photo: iStock)

Young people feel economically adrift. Homeownership has become increasingly unaffordable, and rents have escalated exorbitantly. Younger workers have borne the brunt of wage stagnation, with real pay largely frozen for the last decade and a half. Politicians, however, think the way to fix this rift is to focus more on the feelings of the ageing.

The Women and Equalities Select Committee has waded in on the side of the greying. A new report has proposed a Commissioner for Older People and the establishment of a cross-government minister to champion the rights of the old. This has been announced with a broadside against ageism, with a particular objection to portrayals of the elderly as ‘frail, helpless or incompetent,’ or as ‘wealth-hoarding “boomers”’.

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