The Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has urged better-off pensioners not to claim payments such as the winter fuel allowance, free bus pass and TV licence.
Today (24 October), a man with a substantial pension and a seat in the Lords demonstrated either his ignorance of, or indifference to, values which almost all cultures understand as underpinning the cohesion of a decent society.
People in Northern Ireland are caught between the impact of the recession and a programme of austerity and welfare reform, according to new research published on 2 May.
Gordon Brown has annoyed pensioners, environment campaigners, trade unionists, anti-poverty activists and his own backbenchers by refusing to impose a windfall tax on energy companies and give more support to the fuel-poor.