5th July 2013

I am trying to understand exactly whose future it is that I am stealing.

But that is the accusation levelled against me by politicians, pundits, columnists and others.

It seems that as a baby boomer I have been blessed with final salary pensions, rising house prices, social security, health care and now in retirement I can live high on the hog, benefitting from the excesses apparently owed to the ‘me’ generation of which I am clearly and inescapably a part.

Well, it is certainly true that for some of my contemporaries that is true, especially I might add for the politicians, pundits and columnists amongst them.

However it is not true for a retired clergyman in the Church of England.

There was house price inflation, but it benefitted the Church Commissioners because I lived in a tied cottage called, The Vicarage.

My pension whilst certainly not ungenerous is tied to a formula linked to the average stipend, which is and always has been a figure somewhat below average wages, and, because I left my last job before 65 in order to support my wife who is disabled, I forfeited a percentage of my pension.

So with the state and occupational pensions we get by and remain fairly self-sufficient.

We neither complain nor do we believe that we are stealing anyone’s future.

Having for years woken up in the night worrying about money and trying to work out how to get to the end of the month in one piece, its certainly nice not to have to do that now, but as for stealing futures, I plead not guilty.

The real interrogation is due not for the elderly but for the politicians and the financiers.

Tony Blair tends to be criticised for the part he played in going to war in Iraq, but his failure to address the welfare crisis is something that he deserves greater criticism for.

Gordon Brown acted to head off financial melt down but failed to lay the blame squarely at the doorstep where it should have been placed.

And the con-dems have continued to reward the guilty and punish the innocent having neatly played the Labour Party into a corner where they are busy earning the soubriquet of the layabout party.

When the new governor of The Bank of England addresses the issues which have brought the economy to the brink of recession, indeed almost leading into a depression it might be that he will begin to steer the economy forward, but if that is to happen he will have to address investment, get the banks lending again and responsibly this time but also get the economy moving with investment in infrastructure development and, most importantly, ensure that we start to build houses again.

I can say with some confidence that I am not personally responsible for house price inflation, I have not forced bankers to accept large bonuses against their will and that, unlike some I might mention except that I have no desire to be sued, I still pay my taxes.

The headlines are relishing the plight of the Labour Party and the embarrassment caused by Unite’s involvement in the selection process.

But the Labour Party should now be making clear that it is a party of the left, that it does have a socialist manifesto and that he seeks to replace banditry with social justice and a better and fairer future for people in the UK as part of a wider vision for Europe.

The elderly are not stealing younger people’s futures but we do have a Government which is failing young people whilst laying the blame at anyone’s door rather than taking responsibility.