Please sign both my petition at the “base”of this article.....

Please sign both my petitions at the “base”of this article.  Please pass them on, and tell/ask others to do the same.   And please bare in mind that this crisis for our elderly people has been on going for over 30 years, yet it has never been seen as a priority for the BBC.......This is disgusting!.  This crisis for our elderly people began under Thatcher.  Before the bedroom tax.  Before the food banks.  And it’s been ignored to date courtesy of the BBC TV media.

180 pensioners died every day as a result of cold conditions during the 2010-11 winter months in England and Wales.

The annual ‘Excess winter mortality’ report found that an estimated 21,800 people over the age of 65 died as a result of adverse conditions, on top of the average mortality rate for the same period of time (4 months from December 2010 to March 2011).

Over-65s accounted for 84% of the overall 25,700 ‘excess’ deaths during the winter months.

“The numbers of excess winter deaths are a disgrace,” say the charity Age UK. “We like to think of ourselves as a civilised society which protects the most vulnerable but the numbers of older people who do not survive the winter here is far higher than most European countries where the weather is far co

“These deaths are the tip of an iceberg of illness, misery and anxiety which grips Britain every winter,”, “The Government must do more to tackle fuel poverty and ensure that housing is better insulated.”

Latest estimates from the Hills Review suggest that 4.1 million homes in Britain are living in fuel poverty – being forced to spend over 10% of household income to keep a “satisfactory” heating condition. Fresh concerns have also emerged over the rise of energy prices over recent months as EDF, British Gas, npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy and E. ON have all hiked prices- taking the average household energy bill up £161.

“Many of our poorest pensioners, families and disabled people, put their health at risk by having to choose between heating their homes or putting food on the table this winter,” said Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at Consumer Focus. “This is one of the most pressing and neglected concerns facing the government’s energy strategy.

“Recent energy price hikes have left fuel poverty levels soaring, with energy bills almost double what they were five years ago,” she added. “With around nine million people in England living in fuel poverty under the current measure, this has been a running sore for successive governments and we desperately need a coherent plan to address it.”

Consumer Focus estimates that the spike in energy prices could see 5.1 million homes facing fuel poverty.

Please sign the pensioners petition below...................

I was a Labour party supporter and activist until Tony Blair embraced Thatcher's free market policies from 1997, following all of his anti Tory speeches at Labour party conferences prior to 1997.

Tony Blair threw away a massive mandate from the British people at the 1997 general election by continuing Thatcher's right wing free market policies, and our elderly people have suffered the worst, to-date, via having to continue living on a diminished State pension and means tested handouts. FACEBOOK MEMBERS HAVE GOT ONE YEAR TO GET 100,000 SIGNATURES SO THIS PETITION SUPPORTING OUR ELDERLY PEOPLE FOR A MUCH HIGHER STATE PENSION GETS DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT AND CARE OF THE BBC MEDIA.

The petition reads as follows. With the petition link below.

Re-link increases in Britain's State pension, directly with British prosperity or inflation whichever the higher.
Responsible department: Department for Work and Pensions
We the undersigned, know that with this country's real wealth we can afford a decent State Pension for our elderly people, particularly in a country that reports to live by a set of civilised values.
The State Pension should be substantially increased for today's pensioners and directly linked to national prosperity. This is what National Insurance contributions are for.
Pensioners should be not have to endure means testing for miserly handouts after paying into the system all their working lives.
SIGN THIS PETITION.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/67201