Experience over youth?

This is my third General Election campaign. I fought, and lost heavily, Luton South in 2001, then narrowly lost Sittingbourne and Sheppey in 2005 by 79 votes. One of the facts of life as a parliamentary candidate is that the closer you get to Polling Day, the more mail you receive from special interest groups.

Not a day goes by without me receiving a letter or “manifesto” from one organisation or the other. From the National Housing Federation to the RSPB, the mail keeps on coming. I fastidiously read all the literature I am sent, although I am careful only to respond to those organisations who do not expect specific spending commitment.

Occasionally, I receive a manifesto from organisation that I am happy to endorse. Two in particular spring to mind. The first was from the Royal British Legion, for whom I was happy to sign a pledge to do my bit for the whole Armed Forces Family. The second arrived today and was the Saga Manifesto, which in its own words “crystallises the views of the over 50’s”.

Since I had already made up my mind that one of my top priorities should I be elected at the next General Election would be to represent the views of the over 50’s in general and pensioners in particular, I found it easy to endorse the policy areas that Saga set out. It is worth repeating a couple of them that resonate with me.

Saga would like to see ageism abolished in the NHS, and as somebody who has witnessed at first hand the apparent indifference with which sometimes very elderly patients are treated, this is an objective with which I wholeheartedly agree.

Similarly, I have a personal empathy with Saga’s aim to see political parties favour experience over youth when selecting candidates so that there is a representative age balance of people entering Parliament. As somebody who will be 62 by the time of the General Election, how could I possibly do anything other than agree!