Don't patronise old people with free passports

12:24pm Friday 15th August 2008

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THE older I get, the more I dislike the way elderly people are patronised by both society and the state.

We're all guilty of it, particularly newspapers.

Anyone over 65 is depicted either as a fluffy grandparent, or a loveable cantankerous Victor Meldrew character in need of our charity.

So the elderly tend to get patted on the head and congratulated for living so long.

Even if they happen to be fabulously rich, they are often treated as impoverished helpless creatures relying solely on our goodwill and welfare.

And while there are legions of needy old folk, there is also a large number of well-to-do active healthy pensioners who do not need our charity.

That's why the free passport scheme for the wartime generation annoys me so much.

Did you know that every British citizen born on or before September 2, 1929, is now exempt from application or renewal fees for UK passports? This is in recognition of the bravery of veterans and civilians during the Second World War.

The scheme came into being in 2004 but I only noticed it last week when there was a story on the radio boasting about how the Government had just given away its 500,000 free passport.

The standard passport costs £72. So by my reckoning, this piece of gesture politics has cost the nation £36 million.

Now, many of you may be getting angry at me for daring to say this, especially with Home Office minister Lord West describing the scheme as one which "honours every adult who helped defeat the evils of Nazism".

Lord West said earlier this month, after the 500,000 passport was given away: "This is a generation which faced incredible hardship and loss and demonstrated tremendous bravery both on the battlefield as well as on the home front."

I agree, I totally agree - especially the part about civilian bravery. I have heard horrible first-hand accounts of what it was like to live through the Blitz and to have families torn apart, sometimes permanently.

This wartime generation should be honoured. Of course it should be.

But free £72 passports given to all and sundry? Don't make me laugh.

Presumably, anyone in prison at the time would also qualify as would wartime deserters. So would millionaires who don't need the cash.

Anyone who requires a passport is likely also to need a fair bit of cash to travel abroad, so £72 isn't really that much to an individual.

But £36m is a hell of a lot of cash that could be targeted in a far more effective fashion.

What about spending it instead on the pensioners who cannot afford to pay the crippling council tax fees, or the ever-increasing water bills? Or the massive utility charges which are currently spiralling out of control?

There are masses of elderly citizens who now cannot afford heating, gas, electricity and water.

It's a sweeping generalisation, I know, but the wartime generation are proud, self-reliant people used to living within their means and fending for themselves.

But as they reach their old age, they suddenly discover huge increases in basic household bills have made it virtually impossible for normal pensioners to live comfortably in their own homes without large savings.

I know through my work a ton of these people who wouldn't want to be patronised with a free gift.

They want instead to be able to afford to survive in a country where all but the wealthy are being priced out of basic vital necessities such as food, heating and water.

Getting a passport is the last thing on their minds - unless of course they want to flee the country and go somewhere cheaper.