HOW SAFE IS OUR BUS PASS IN THE HANDS OF NICK CLEGG AND THE COALITION GOVERNMENT

The Deputy Prime Minister has been indulging in what can best be described

as "Simplistic Sloganeering" 

• The Deputy Prime Minister is on record as calling for the bus pass to be means-tested. Mr Clegg's justification is to argue that millionaire pensioners are ruining the economy by claiming their free bus pass when they simply do not need it.
• However, this is a bit of shroud waving. Official figures show that 6m pensioners do not pay tax, 4m pay at the standard rate and 400,000 pay at the top rate. Therefore in order to raise serious amounts of money, the means tested line would have to be drawn not just at millionaire pensioners but to include not just the well off pensioners, but the 4m who have an income just above the £10,000 per year.
• Whilst denials have now been issued and the Prime Minister has reiterated that the bus pass is "Safe", we must remember that only through our continuous protest and indignation at the prospect of withdrawal, do we make it increasingly difficult for anyone to actually move against. Supporters are therefore encouraged to sign the online petition:
• http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions.28908

Go back to work and downsize!

A senior Number 10 aide has suggested that older people should downsize to smaller properties and return to the workplace as a way of solving the country's housing crisis and ending loneliness. Whilst on the face of it such comments can be easily dismissed, they come as the latest in a fairly long line of "anti-pensioner" comments. "The economy is in ruins because of free bus passes, the NHS is crumbling because of an ageing population and young people cannot afford to buy  a house because older people are refusing to move.

Such comments are seeking to blame older people for the economic situation and are seeking to lay the ground for the purpose to either remove or diminish the hard won benefits such as the winter fuel allowance. The national Pensioners Convention (NPC) has appeared regularly in the media on this issue because it is important that we continue to promote the valuable economic and social contribution that older people make to society through charity work, volunteering and unpaid caring for family members.