SOMEHOW I don't think there will be any great displays of joy unconfined or even a small outbreak of dancing in the streets as those of the Third Age contemplate the magnificent rise in their state pension, just announced.

Seventy-three pence is hardly going to allow a night on the tiles. It will not even buy a bottle of beer these days, let alone a glass of wine or a gin and tonic.

It certainly will not buy anything in the way of the necessities of life for those of our number who are growing older.

They rely on their pension for the everyday mundane things such as

groceries, water rates, council tax, petrol and all the other things which,

in spite of the fact that we are told that inflation is going down, seem to rise

not only year on year but month on month.

Low inflation is seen by those in authority over us to be a good thing and I'm sure in the larger things of life, such as mortgages, it is.

But as far as the state pension is concerned, where it is used as a bench mark each September for the following tax year's pension calculations, it is a

disaster.

This year sees the lowest rise in inflation since 1963.

No one would wish to see a return to the terrible days when inflation was in double figures but at the moment the Chancellor is sitting on a massive nest egg, some of which could be targeted at the elderly without unleashing a rise in either the headline or underlying rate of inflation.

It is being said that if the Chancellor decided to give a larger rise to the pensioners there would be an outcry from the unions, especially those in the public service sector, for a large increase in their wages.

It is undoubtedly true that they have had very small rises recently, and the pressure for wage increases in careers such as nursing is one which no reasonable person would decry.

The sad fact of the matter is that pensioners have been left behind and are not really in a position to do much about it.

Those still in work can, in the last resort, threaten to go on strike and withhold their labour. The pensioners cannot.

They have worked all their lives and many have saved what they could for their retirement. There are, of course, many who, for whatever reason, are comfortably off.

But there are far more who are living on a knife edge, balancing food against heat, food for their pets against their own needs.

Age Concern and Help The Aged are desperately aware of the problems facing a generation who, for reasons of pride, may not wish to apply for Income Support, to which many of them are undoubtedly entitled.

They would, however, feel perfectly able to accept a proper rise in a pension for which they have paid over the years and which they badly need.

Some of the millions in the Chancellor's war chest would be so welcome to the "grey warriors".

Then there really would be dancing, if not in the streets, at least in the hearts of many pensioners.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.