The War on the Old

John Andrew Sutherland is a British academic, newspaper columnist and author. Currently he is an Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London.

At the age of 78 John has taken up his mighty pen and written a polemic which has recently been published. In the book he examines intergenerational combat as a new kind of war in which institutional neglect and universal indifference to the old has reached aggressive and routinely lethal levels. He sets out to provoke but in the process, tells some deep and inconvenient truths, something British society would rather not think about.

In the post-Brexit world, there is an overwhelming sense of blame from younger generations, it was the wrinklies, the grey-haired plutocracy, who voted Leave, who are overburdening hospitals, shutting the youth out of the housing market and hoarding accumulated wealth. By 2020, we are told, one in five Britons will be pensioners and living a longer retirement than ever before. For politicians, the old are a social, economic and political inconvenience.

On the fly-leaf of this book, the author quotes Jeremy Paxman, who famously offended Mature Times readers and was taken to task by its publisher. Inside, he has plenty to say about the disgraceful way old people are treated and as part of his rant (his word) he has this to say: “I iterate and re-iterate that there is a covert, but state condoned campaign against the nation’s old. By analogy with ethnic cleansing it could be called demographic cleansing. I have called it war. Call it what you will, it’s happening, there are casualties – hundreds and thousands of them – and it is very wrong.”

Strong words indeed, but as he trawls through the newspapers of the last year, he finds many examples of how the establishment is biased against older people. There is constructive negligence for example, Do Not Resuscitate orders secretly imposed on hospital patients, elderly abuse, and lack of dignity in care homes.

The Professor has some tips to help you live a healthier better life which are fairly self-evident: staying fit, eating well, not smoking, not taking too much alcohol but some advice is more contentious. He does suggest the Government hands out free gym passes as well as, or instead of, bus passes.

He also comments: “The theme throughout the short book is that ageing is not merely a biological process. It involves a battle for survival and is conveniently pictured as an intra-societal intergenerational civil war. In that conflict wrongs are currently being perpetrated against the old. The evidence is all around us.”

In conclusion, he directs us to the Dylan Thomas poem:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at the close of day,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

John Sutherland advises us “Rage on, old friend.” The book The War on the Old is published by Biteback Publishing.