David Knight: Hard-working pensioners have paid their dues – stop trying to milk them dry

I discovered tv drama Silent Witness a bit late in the day considering it started in the 90s, but it’s been back for yet another new series.

Some reviewers find it far-fetched.

Really? A tale of two soon-to-be-married forensic scientists up to their eyes in romance, gore and dismembered bodies – surely not?

However, there was something thought-provoking about the two episodes I watched.

What stood out was how we treat pensioners, the curse of Alzheimer’s Disease and who vulnerable people can trust these days.

It’s not surprising pensioners feel unloved when they seem to be demonised as virtual benefits’ spongers and a burden on young workers.

It doesn’t seem to matter that hard-working pensioners paid their dues via a lifetime of slaving away and paying national insurance in return for their state pension entitlement – about the same “pay” as a part-time job.

That was the deal.

It’s not the same as giving away billions for the Chagos Islands or funding doctors and train drivers’ eye-watering pay deals, or lining the pockets of real benefits’ cheats.

In Silent Witness, crooks masquerading as care-home workers targeted vulnerable residents and friends.

Bumped off, bodies dumped and life-savings or property stolen.

Back to reality, is it any wonder frail old people feel abandoned and a soft target when savage care-home cuts are being pursued vigorously by Aberdeenshire health bosses trying to save millions?

In Silent Witness, one old chap a lot brighter than he looks smells a rat when one of the gang quotes almost £70,000 to fix his roof.

But this pensioner is more concerned (quite rightly, as it transpires) that one of his elderly friends has vanished into thin air.

In return for his persistence, the police are called to stop him from being a pest.

He is quickly classified as a doddering old idiot who is ready for the care home.

The clear inference is that Alzheimer’s is setting in, and the cops seem keen to pack him off straight away.

Surely that wouldn’t happen in real life. Or would it?

Dementia is a plague of our time; it didn’t matter years ago when I was a child because no one seemed to live much past 65.

Is it possible, as in this TV show, that pensioners are written off too quickly sometimes?

The storyline also suggested rich pickings from pensioners’ property and savings, which fed into a current misguided narrative that “all pensioners are millionaires”.

Any assets are ultimately wiped out by horrific care fees, but if you say “millionaires” often enough people believe it.

Even old people with, say, a modest £200,000 property often lose it all to care costs.

Being retired doesn’t mean you need to live in penury

There are plenty of wealthy people who don’t need a state pension.

But most rely solely on a state pension or saved extra to boost it with a modest private pension to allow a comfortable retirement.

Not a lavish one, just enough to enjoy the final years.

Being retired doesn’t mean you are obliged to live in penury.

Conversely, my hairdresser – a barber/philosopher of some note – reminded me that pensioners are driving the north-east daytime economy (and jobs) in shops and cafes with their spare cash.

After Labour’s attacks on pensioners and farmers is it any surprise that many in later years live in fear?

Fearful that hard-earned pensions will be snatched away in another “means-tested” piece of Labour-sponsored highway robbery.

Starmer trumpeted a return to public service, but didn’t mention that he and Reeves would be spreading public fear and uncertainty as part of the “service”.

Last month the UK Government posted a statement that it “will not means-test state pensions”.

Can we trust the Government won’t means test state pensions?

How can you believe them after the winter fuel payments’ scandal?

Recent polling about Scottish voting intentions gave a blistering verdict on the UK Labour Government.

Less than 18 months before Scottish parliamentary elections, it looks like Anas Sarwar has been thrown to the wolves by UK bosses Starmer and Reeves.

But before the SNP could pop champagne, they were also hammered over the Scottish Government’s performance.

For all their huffing and puffing, the SNP can’t cover up a dismal domestic record.

I wonder how many pensioners in the north and north-east completed their working lives and retired while still waiting for the SNP to dual the A9 and A96 from Inverness to Perth and Aberdeen.

It’s another scandal, but at least the Scottish Government has maintained a consistent approach over this – of incompetence and deceit.

It was striking that only 500 people responded initially to their latest time-wasting “consultation”.

Worn out by being led up and down the garden path, as well as along the A9/A96.

There are many silent witnesses to this awful stain on the Scottish Government’s record.

I doubt if they’ll be so silent at next year’s election for MSPs.

David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal