A BLEAK FUTURE

It is the constant hope of members of the working class that no matter how bad things may seem at present the future will somehow improve their economic and social position. "A generation of pensioners face lives of poverty and loneliness, without enough money even to heat their own homes, says the first report on life for the over-60s in austerity Britain. The future for many of the country's older people is bleak, according to the Age UK report Agenda for Later Life, to be published this week. Sixteen per cent, or 1.8 million, of people over state pension age are living in poverty; 3.3 million are unable to warm their homes (an increase of more than half a million in the past two years); and 800,000 are not receiving the care they need." (Independent on Sunday, 4 March) According to the experts on the subject the future looks far from bright! RD