While Blackpool magistrates are protesting against retirement at 70, many are forced to keep working. They need a better chance of a stable, financially secure old age.
From birth to death our lives are marked by milestones that change our personal ambitions our perspectives on loved ones, friends and society. Each chapter in life offers new challenges and rewards, but retirement for some is an episode that is fraught with much angst over lost prestige or financial stability. For me, retirement was like a lucky dip because it meant leaving a rat race that Id been running since the age of seven, when I started my working life as a child labourer. But for others, forced retirement can seem like a death sentence because they define their value in society by their work title.
To a pair of magistrates in Blackpool, their scheduled retirement at 70 as prescribed by law has made them protest against their removal from the bench in verse. They arent wrong to decry in doggerel the fact that while their mental and physical functions are still on top form, their employment by the Ministry of Justice is being terminated. It a valid point considering that in the private sector, mandatory retirement was effectively scrapped a long time ago. It also makes sense that a government that is as driven by market forces as Cameron follows suit and allows those who are able and willing to continue their careers in justice for as long as they are healthy.
However the media focus on those happy few who like their vocation – compared to the majority who work to live – obscures a greater tragedy: those who deserve retirement but cant, due to a never-ending cost of living crisis. I feel very fortunate that I dont have to experience what most modern retirees face today, being forced to work past their sell-by date to keep a roof over their heads. According to the King Fund, 58% of people over the age of 60 have a chronic condition. As the body deteriorates over time, these will worsen, making either their mobility or cognitive decisions more cumbersome.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/13/retirement-compulsory-blackpool-magistrates-70