As a middle-aged old fart, I probably shouldn't care about the blatent ageism expressed by the government towards young people; after all they're all piss-heads and wastrels who can always tap mummy and daddy for a bit of spending money. And if the worst comes to the worst, they can always move back home to a palatial suburban house in Surbiton.
A bit like how before the fine ladies of Dagenham got involved, women didn't need the same pay as men because they were just working for a bit of pin money; their husbands were the main breadwinners.
I could reasonably argue that young people need higher pay and benefits rather than lower pay and benefits because they are less well established than older people. But that is really rather irrelevant – giving someone lower pay or lower benefits because of their age is just as wrong as giving them lower pay or benefits because of their sex.
It is all very well saying that young people can always tap the bank of mummy and daddy, but welfare is supposed to be a safety net and not all young people have parents; and not all that have parents who are willing to fund their children.
Time for some of those young people to sue the government for age discrimination.
