NEWSNIGHT presenter Jeremy Paxman has turned his famously acid tongue on himself and his fellow baby boomers, labelling them "the most selfish generation in history".
Writing in the Daily Mail, Paxman says what he calls the "Lucky Generation", born between 1945 and 1965, are at least partly responsible for the findings of a new study that claims today's young will be 25 per cent worse off than their parents when they reach the age of 65.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
After making money by "sitting on their backsides" while their houses increased in value, Paxman says, baby boomers then selfishly bought up buy-to-let property, preventing the young from getting a foot on the property ladder.
"Surprising numbers" of baby boomers claim they are "anti-establishment" - yet "the truth is the Lucky Generation are in authority and have been for years now".
Paxman quotes the author Francis Beckett, who wrote that the parents of baby boomers "had battled for healthcare, for education, for full employment and economic security". Their children, by contrast, "fought for, and won, the right to wear their hair long and enjoy sex".
What of the offspring of the Lucky Generation? "Their children and grandchildren have been sent out into a plundered world, shackled by debt, unable to contemplate early home ownership or starting a family,” says Paxman.
"And then the Luckiest Generation tut at the level of anti-social behaviour they claim to see. It strikes me as more of a wonder the streets aren't full of demonstrators demanding compulsory euthanasia."
-
Woman in Mind: a ‘triumphant’ revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s dark comedyThe Week Recommends Sheridan Smith and Romesh Ranganathan dazzle in ‘bitterly funny farce’
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will Uganda’s pop-star politician prevail?Podcast Plus, is dodgy data undermining medical research? And what does a new app reveal about Chinese society?
-
Properties of the week: impressive ski chaletsThe Week Recommends Featuring stunning properties in France and Austria
-
The high street: Britain’s next political battleground?In the Spotlight Mass closure of shops and influx of organised crime are fuelling voter anger, and offer an opening for Reform UK
-
‘Care fractures after birth’instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Is a Reform-Tory pact becoming more likely?Today’s Big Question Nigel Farage’s party is ahead in the polls but still falls well short of a Commons majority, while Conservatives are still losing MPs to Reform
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
What difference will the 'historic' UK-Germany treaty make?Today's Big Question Europe's two biggest economies sign first treaty since WWII, underscoring 'triangle alliance' with France amid growing Russian threat and US distance
-
Is the G7 still relevant?Talking Point Donald Trump's early departure cast a shadow over this week's meeting of the world's major democracies
-
Angela Rayner: Labour's next leader?Today's Big Question A leaked memo has sparked speculation that the deputy PM is positioning herself as the left-of-centre alternative to Keir Starmer
-
Is Starmer's plan to send migrants overseas Rwanda 2.0?Today's Big Question Failed asylum seekers could be removed to Balkan nations under new government plans
