Have pensioners ever had it so good? Should they have been sidelined as they were in the budget? - Jayne Dowle

The couple looked cross, but sat down, with their arms folded. Then the woman told the man to tell the manager they were leaving and stormed out.

As she slammed the door, she muttered that taking photographs - when clearly, customers should immediately prevail - was “bad for business”. The manager just shrugged and said such rudeness is commonplace these days.

Just an everyday happening then, or a startling reminder of what some people are calling ‘elderly entitlement’? Now before the letters flood in to say I’m being unfairly harsh, I would just like to remind readers that I am fortunate enough to still have my parents, who are both 80 years old.

Like many people of their vintage, age has not withered their sense of humour, nor kindness, patience and concern for other people. However, there is another part of this demographic that seems increasingly convinced that it should come first, at all times.

Over-60s who benefitted from buying their homes when property prices were not beyond the reach of ordinary salaries, and long paid off their mortgages, can often forget that life is a huge struggle for those further down the decades.

And yes, there are many – up to 2.1 million, according to the Centre for Ageing Better campaign organisation – pensioners living in poverty, struggling daily to subsist. But there are also many others enjoying a comfortable retirement younger people never will experience.

Which brings us to last week’s Budget. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been castigated for ignoring pensioners in favour of the young. Yet the question hangs in the air; have pensioners – in general – never had it so good?

Eight million pensioners, who already face average tax rises of £960 a year as a result of the Government's stealth freezes on tax thresholds, were left empty-handed in Hunt’s giveaways, which saw cuts to National Insurance (NI) that will benefit workers, not retirees. It was a brave move.

This 2p NI cut will see more than 12.6million pensioners who do not pay the levy missing out on £450 of personal taxation giveaways for the second time in two months. NI was already reduced by two percentage points at the start of the new year.

The Resolution Foundation, an influential economic think tank, says retirees now face a collective hit of £8bn, according to analysis of the policies announced in the Commons.

Torsten Bell, chief executive of The Resolution Foundation, said: “The likely last budget before the General Election showed that this has been a parliament of flatlining growth, falling living standards, and notable redistribution from the old and the rich to the young and the poor.”

Sidelining pensioners has been described as a ‘seismic shift’ by the Tories. What’s known as the ‘generational politics’ of the last 10 years or so has seen David Cameron and George Osborne pander to so-called Baby Boomers by promising the state pension triple lock and inheritance tax cuts.

So has Jeremy Hunt shot his party in the foot come the General Election? Although nothing has been set in stone, the Chancellor made it clear that the Conservatives want to “continue to cut” National Insurance, maybe even abolish it altogether, suggesting pensioners will continue to miss out.

Older people do have long memories, you know. And retirees are disproportionately likely to vote Conservative. In the last election, 67 per cent of over-70s voted Tory, compared with 21 per cent of those aged 18 to 24.

Still, there is some positive news for pensioners.

Although many will have been disappointed by the Budget, they will receive a bumper increase in the state pension next month as it rises by 8.5 per cent – approximately £900 a year – under the triple lock policy.

Pensioners have fared well in recent years by dint of the triple lock whereas workers have been hit, not only by wages failing to keep pace with inflation and rising prices, but also by the freezing of tax thresholds.