Ed Balls, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for Morley and Outwood. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: George Osborne MP, pictured speaking on the launch of the Conservative Party manifesto for the 2009 European Parliament elections, at Keele University. (805×1207 px, 283,711 bytes) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is an excellent and MUST READ blog from Benedict Brogan, Deputy Editor of the Telegraph. Check it out!

If we can now talk about spending on the elderly, George Osborne will have another reason to thank Ed Balls – Telegraph Blogs.

It looks like things are so bad in the UK that the whole political establishment are now going to declare open season on targeting the costs of the elderly, including social care and pensions. No matter that many of the pensioners have paid taxes all their lives; other pensioners have served in the armed forces;  now the political classes feel that the elderly are a ripe target for austerity.

For me, this raises some new open questions:

1. Looking at austerity cuts made in Greece as as a benchmark of worst case austerity, just how far will the political classes in the UK go in cutting the costs of the elderly?
2. Why don’t the political classes cut the bloated pensions of the Public Sector before tackling the whole elderly sector?
3. Why don’t the political classes cut the bloated costs of the scroungers on unemployment and social benefits?

Any thoughts?

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