Editing Silent Generation (section)

====Mid and later life====
Heavy industry had been troubled in the UK throughout the 1960s,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=High |first=Steven |date=November 2013 |title="The wounds of class": a historiographical reflection on the study of deindustrialization, 1973–2013 |journal=[[History Compass]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Wiley]] |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=994–1007 |doi=10.1111/hic3.12099}}</ref> this combined with a [[1970s energy crisis|global energy crisis]] and influx of cheap goods from Asia led to rapid [[Deindustrialization|deindustrialisation]] by the mid 1970s. New jobs were either low wage or too high-skilled for those laid off.<ref>Tim Strangleman, James Rhodes, and Sherry Linkon, "Introduction to crumbling cultures: Deindustrialization, class, and memory". ''International Labor and Working-Class History'' 84 (2013): 7–22. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0147547913000227 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131200038/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0147547913000227|date=January 31, 2017}}</ref><ref>Steven High, "' The Wounds of Class': A Historiographical Reflection on the Study of Deindustrialization, 1973–2013". History Compass 11.11 (2013): 994–1007</ref>{{sfn|Harrison|2009|p=295}} This situation led to significant political instability and industrial unrest causing a great deal of frustration and inconvenience to the general public.<ref name="Turner2009">{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Alwyn W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UK30AgAAQBAJ |title=Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s |date=March 19, 2009 |publisher=Aurum Press |isbn=978-1-84513-851-6 |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115031459/https://books.google.com/books?id=UK30AgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Beckett2009">{{cite book |last=Beckett |first=Andy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NURERF4hb8C |title=When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies |date=May 7, 2009 |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=978-0-571-25226-8 |access-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150629/https://books.google.com/books?id=-NURERF4hb8C |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, another set of problems was developing in Northern Ireland where politics had become increasingly tense and divided during the 1960s. This developed into a sectarian conflict with the British Army involved known as [[The Troubles]] which continued over several decades.<ref name="Dixon2008">{{cite book |last=Dixon |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IwQdBQAAQBAJ |title=Northern Ireland: The Politics of War and Peace |date=September 26, 2008 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-05424-1 |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=August 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816043314/https://books.google.com/books?id=IwQdBQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Farrington2006">{{cite book |last=Farrington |first=C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s17NCwAAQBAJ |title=Ulster Unionism and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland |date=February 28, 2006 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-80072-4 |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115031458/https://books.google.com/books?id=s17NCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> This conflict caused more than 3,500 deaths.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Status_Summary.html |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk |access-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118204006/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Status_Summary.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1979, [[Margaret Thatcher]] became prime minister and brought about the end to some aspects of the [[Post-war consensus]] on economic policy.<ref>Rudolf Klein,  "Why Britain's conservatives support a socialist health care system." ''Health Affairs'' 4#1 (1985): 41–58. [http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/4/1/41.full.pdf online]</ref> For instance, her government created the [[Right to Buy|right-to-buy]] scheme which allowed renters to buy up their [[Council house|council homes]] at a reduced prices.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |last1=Beckett |first1=Andy |date=August 26, 2015 |title=The right to buy: the housing crisis that Thatcher built |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/26/right-to-buy-margaret-thatcher-david-cameron-housing-crisis |access-date=June 27, 2017 |archive-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706155821/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/26/right-to-buy-margaret-thatcher-david-cameron-housing-crisis |url-status=live }}</ref> Middle aged people were one of the social groups which particularly benefited from this policy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beckett |first=Andy |date=August 26, 2015 |title=The right to buy: the housing crisis that Thatcher built |url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/26/right-to-buy-margaret-thatcher-david-cameron-housing-crisis |access-date=January 15, 2023 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203081313/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/26/right-to-buy-margaret-thatcher-david-cameron-housing-crisis |url-status=live }}</ref> Her policies have been described as giving millions of people direct ownership of [[Capitalism|capital]] through [[Shareholders in the United Kingdom|share]] or house ownership but have also been associated with high unemployment, rising poverty and social unrest.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 21, 2010 |title=Obituary: Margaret Thatcher |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-10364876 |access-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-date=January 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117125558/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-10364876 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=Simon |date=April 8, 2013 |title=15 ways that Britain changed under Margaret Thatcher |url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2013/apr/08/britain-changed-margaret-thatcher-charts |access-date=January 15, 2023 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115131515/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2013/apr/08/britain-changed-margaret-thatcher-charts |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Pensioner's houses, Omagh - geograph.org.uk - 2124666.jpg|thumb|Houses adapted for elderly people in [[Omagh]], [[Northern Ireland]] (2010)]]
For several decades prior to 2010, women received the [[State Pension (United Kingdom)|State Pension]] from the age of 60 and men from the age of 65.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 3, 2019 |title=Waspi campaign: The fight against changes to women's state pension age |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49919029 |access-date=January 18, 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150631/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49919029 |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2019 report stated that Pensioner [[Poverty in the United Kingdom|Poverty in the UK]] had increased rapidly during the 1970s and the 1980s but fell in the 1990s and early 21st century. According to the report 20% of the silent generation, which it described as individuals born from 1926 to 1945, had lived in poverty at the age of 70 in comparison to 45% of the Greatest Generation and 15% of Baby Boomers at similar ages. The report attributed the change to more [[private pension]]s, increased home ownership and government policy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 22, 2019 |title=Pensioner poverty rates have fallen by two-thirds since 1980s peak • Resolution Foundation |url=https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-releases/pensioner-poverty-rates-have-fallen-by-two-thirds-since-1980s-peak/ |access-date=January 18, 2023 |website=Resolution Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150635/https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-releases/pensioner-poverty-rates-have-fallen-by-two-thirds-since-1980s-peak/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Commentators suggested that older people were somewhat insulated from the effects of the [[United Kingdom government austerity programme|austerity programme]] in the 2010s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Heather |date=March 11, 2015 |title=Pensioners escaped effects of austerity while young suffered most, says report |url=http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/11/pensioners-escaped-effects-austerity-young-suffered-most-resolution |access-date=January 18, 2023 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150635/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/11/pensioners-escaped-effects-austerity-young-suffered-most-resolution |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 11, 2022 |title=Rising interest rates will split the Conservatives' electoral coalition |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/08/11/rising-interest-rates-will-split-the-conservatives-electoral-coalition |url-status=live |access-date=January 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150631/https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/08/11/rising-interest-rates-will-split-the-conservatives-electoral-coalition |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |issn=0013-0613 |quote=Since 2010 a combination of tight fiscal policy (for everyone bar pensioners) and loose monetary policy has created an effective electoral coalition. Older voters, who overwhelmingly vote Conservative, avoided the worst of austerity. Pensioners were protected by a “triple-lock” rule that kept the state pension rising inexorably, regardless of the wider economy or the state of government finances. The National Health Service, the public service that older people use most, was ring-fenced.}}</ref> Though pensioner poverty was rising slightly by the mid to late 2010s and early 2020s, especially among women.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 20, 2022 |title=Pensioner poverty rates |url=https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/pensioner-poverty-rates |access-date=January 18, 2023 |website=JRF |language=en |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119150652/https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/pensioner-poverty-rates |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Youssef |first=Anna |date=March 24, 2022 |title=Why is pensioner poverty on the rise? |url=https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-03-24/why-is-pensioner-poverty-on-the-rise |access-date=January 18, 2023 |website=ITV News |language=en}}</ref> The average life expectancy was around 80 years old, a few years older for women than men, in the late 2000s and 2010s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National life tables – life expectancy in the UK – Office for National Statistics |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2018to2020 |access-date=January 18, 2023 |website=www.ons.gov.uk |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203081314/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2018to2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>