The War On The Old

John Sutherland

• Publisher: Biteback Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781785901713
• eBook ISBN: 9781785902000
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

The war on the old has been declared.

In the post-Brexit world, intergenerational conflict has become a visible phenomenon. 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. 'A good thing', politicians add, through gritted teeth. The truth is that for them, 'the old' are a social, economic and political inconvenience.

John Sutherland (age 78, and feeling keenly what he writes about) examines this 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. This is a book which sets out to provoke but in the process tells some deep and inconvenient truths, revealing something British society would rather not think about.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I: Declining to Die: Part I
• Part II: I Must Be Cruel, Only to Be Kind: Part II
• Part III: Final Solutions: Part III
• A Personal Afterword
• Copyright
• Advertisement