MY Facebook feed is a contradictory place sometimes; a source of interesting news items from unlikely sources; a nostalgic trip down music memory lane; but more and more, it’s an insightful look at the current grumbles of the ‘boomers’.

Boomers, if you aren’t aware of the phrase, is a term used to describe those born in the post-war ‘boom’ between around 1946 and 1964 – hence the name.

Theirs was a time of economic prosperity and technological advances, the likes of which the world had never seen.

But the boomers are angry. My word, are they angry.

Why? Because the new Labour government is going to effectively means-test the Winter Fuel Allowance – a payment of anything up to £300 each year given to every pensioner to help pay their winter fuel bills.

I get that it’s bad news, and I wish it wasn’t happening. I still think there may be changes to the new rules, in a bid to somehow ‘taper’ the cut, perhaps? I hope that’s the case.

However, I really don’t wish to upset boomers everywhere – my own parents, for crying out loud – but I still think we need some context here…

To be clear – not everyone is losing their Winter Fuel Allowance. People in receipt of Pension Credit (the poorest pensioners) will still receive it. Do check if you are eligible at https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit.

Now, I’m not making excuses for this decision – I wish it wasn’t happening and that all pensioners (even those worth MILLIONS) were still getting the allowance.

But as we were just saying, by way of context, the boomer generation enjoyed a period of economic growth and social progress previously unseen – and they are, now in later life, enjoying the fruits of their luck at having been born in that period.

Yes, they were lucky to have been born when they were. And here’s why.

If they worked hard, they could afford to buy a house (and if they couldn’t, they could live in a council house and maybe buy that); they had largely secure employment; parents could, for the large part, choose if one of them wanted to stay at home and care for their children while the other worked.

What luxuries!

But you wouldn’t know it. Oh no, if you listen to a boomer for any more than five minutes (or have the misfortune to see one on your Facebook timeline) you will hear or see them moaning – either about how hard they had it, or how easy the following generations have had/have it.

That has only intensified since Rachel Reeves announced the change to the Winter Fuel Allowance.

The problem with many of their moans is – they’re simply not true. I hate to say it, it really does pain me, but boomers are, largely, a hugely delusional and defensive bunch.

Now, that’s not to say they didn’t have hard times. They did. It’s not to say they didn’t have to work hard to save up for their first house etc. I’m sure they did.

But – and I know this is tough to hear for many of them – it’s harder now.

Let me repeat that and put it in bold and underline it: It. Is. Harder. Now.

However, they seem – and this is a broad generalisation, I know – absolutely incapable of acknowledging anyone else’s hardship. They simply can’t, or won’t, see it.

Go on, check your timeline now, or have a look at the profile of a boomer you know, and it won’t be long before you reach the latest meme bemoaning ‘these kids’, or harking back to a golden age of the 50s, or 60s, or even the 70s (a golden age which, ironically, they laud but then dismiss in the next breath because they had it so hard, completely oblivious to the contradiction).

Internet memes are regularly on timelines…

The fact is, the generations that followed the boomers – their children and grand children – have and have had it much, much harder than they did. By any comparable standard, that is a fact.

I know they won’t believe me, so hopefully a few facts and figures might help (and they’re good ammunition when the boomers in your life plead they are the only ones to ever overcome poverty and hardship, the likes of which you wouldn’t understand, blah blah blah)…

• EXAMPLE 1: At the start of the 1970s, the average house price was £4,378 – less than four times the average salary (£1,204). In 2023, the average house price was £285,000 – more than EIGHT TIMES average earnings (£34,963). Deposits have gone the same way. So it’s much, much harder for people to buy a house now than it ever was for a boomer. Much harder.
• EXAMPLE 2: Between 1946 and 1960, nearly 2 million new council homes were built, around 133,000 a year. In the last decade, this number was around 14,000 – almost 14 TIMES fewer. It’s now nigh-on impossible to get social housing. Ironically, part of the reason is that millions were sold off to boomers under the right-to-buy scheme, which is great, but they weren’t replaced. Boomers bought our council houses and made an absolute fortune on their investment, too – then didn’t replace them, denying us the same route to home ownership.
• EXAMPLE 3: The average increase in wages/salaries between 1969 and 1989 (boomer years), was 12.1%. Between 1995 and 2015 (the next generation), it was 4.3%. Boomers worked through a time of unprecedented wage growth, enjoying annual increases around three times larger than anything their children have ever received.

So they had cheaper housing than us, accessible social housing, and got larger pay increases year on year than we’ve ever had. But still they moan.

It’s got harder – much harder – for the generations following boomers to; earn more money; to save; to buy a house; to get a council house.

And before you start, no amount of cutting back on a Costa here or a Netflix subscription there would make much difference – we’re talking about a lot of money here. (Believe me, if you had to face saving the equivalent of a year’s salary to get close to a deposit on a house, you’d drink a lot of coffee and watch a lot of escapist TV too).

That’s not to say it wasn’t difficult for boomers, of course it would have been – at the time.

Everything is indeed relative, but even relatively, it is much, much harder now. That is provably the case – and we have seen a few examples of how.

‘Young people today’ – as boomers are so fond of calling us – have it much harder then they did. They. Just. Do.

That is tough to hear for many a boomer, as they will have struggled to save for their first house, or to buy their council house (fat chance of that now, eh?), but it is the truth.

Ironically, it is the boomers that seem to get angry and defensive about this. I don’t know any Gen X-er (like me) who is angry, or resentful. We’re not.

Good on our parents, I say, I’m delighted they were able to do what they did, and are now enjoying the benefits of it, with mortgages paid off by retirement age – and a pension to enjoy when they hit that age (another thing many young people now simply can’t look forward to).

I don’t begrudge them what they have.

However, what does irk me is when the boomers in my life insist on telling me how easy we have it, or when they patronisingly inform me how hard it was for them, how they didn’t have mobile phones and Starbucks and how, if I didn’t have a coffee, I’d be as rich as Elon Musk…

Please, spare me.

Young people are constantly told if they drank fewer coffees they would be able to afford their own home…

Don’t lecture us, boomers. Take the win. Enjoy the house you’ve paid off and your yearly holiday (maybe more than one, if you’re lucky!), and be proud of how hard you worked to get it.

But don’t ever try and demean young people, because – whether you like it or not – it is much tougher for them.

The hardships facing young people trying to ‘get on’ in the world are so, so much greater than anything faced in years gone by.

But we’re not angry at you, so relax and stop lecturing us via your Facebook feed. It’s annoying – and we don’t want to fall out with you.

Just, please, the next time you feel the urge to berate the ‘younger generation’ and talk about how hard you had it, maybe just pause.

Instead, perhaps remember some of the facts we’ve explored and be more understanding, and hey, maybe a bit sympathetic. ‘Know better, do better’, as a friend of mine says. Now you know better.

We acknowledge it may have been really hard for you, so please understand how the ‘young people of today’ have it a damn site harder. Think about that – you had it hard, they’ve got it even harder.

Try to remember that when you lose your £300 Winter Fuel Allowance. Is it ideal? Absolutely not. But you do have a pension protected by the triple lock, and lived through a time of unprecedented wage growth, economic prosperity and social progression.

Times are hard for everyone, not just pensioners – and don’t forget, if you get Pension Credit, you’ll still get the allowance, so if you’re unsure, do check if you are eligible at https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit.

But bear in mind, however hard it may seem for you – and it is for many, many pensioners – the young people out there struggling to build a life are facing myriad hardships you didn’t have to.

That’s all we ask.

Now, maybe put that on your Facebook page.

by PAUL JONES
Editor in Chief

Agree? Angry? You can drop me a line at newsdesk@somersetleveller.co.uk, but please, keep it civil… You can also follow me on X.

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