When George Osborne tried to assert that his Budget was one for “the next generation”, he was obviously playing to the gallery that are becoming increasingly concerned alarmed at the plight of today’s younger people.

Of course, strip away the bluster and there wasn’t that much in the Budget for anyone striving to pay their students fees, pay the rent or pin down a job in an age of zero hours and short term contracts.

Yes, there was LISA (nothing to do with the Simpsons) which might help some save for their deposit/pension, but speaking as the father of five young people aged between 25 and 35, all busting a gut just to pay the bills, quite where the £4,000 a year they can now tuck away is going to come from is anyone’s guess.

The facts are these: the generations coming up now are far less likely to be homeowners than their parents or look forward to a secure and generous pension. Even the much-vaunted increasing longevity looks will be of little consolation if you run out of money in the last few extra decades.

I find it a quite astonishing turn of events, having spent much of the last three decades campaigning on behalf of older people who were getting a raw deal from society – particularly with a State Pension uncoupled from the rise in average earnings.

The Triple Lock has seen (for this Parliament at least) an end to that… but lest we get carried away with the narrative that the see-saw has tilted too far in one direction, remember this: there are an estimated million older people in this country unable to afford the basic social care they need. A million are living in non-decent homes (mostly their own). Fuel poverty – often the result of under-insulated homes and being on expensive tariffs – accounts for another one million plus older people.

Small wonder last year’s toll of “excess winter deaths” ratcheted up to 50,000. Researchers are now pointing to austerity cuts as being a primary cause of the rise from the usual mark of 40,000 – in itself, hardly a reassuring figure.

So whole there are plenty of pensioners enjoying a very comfortable retirement indeed, the very opposite is true for far too many. Huge numbers are stumbling towards retirement without an adequate income – large numbers of women in particular – who will be working well into their 70s to keep the wolf from the door.

The houses that (seemingly) only older people can actually afford to buy these days will also be required to fund many people’s care in later years. On top of this, a great swathe of “boomers” are actually funding their children (through college as well as housing them well into their late 20s) in addition to caring for their own parents: the so called “sandwich generation”.

Those caring for, or even helping to fund, their grandchildren, are in an even tougher place: the “club sandwich generation”.

But the fact remains that it is also very tough indeed for millions of younger people. And the fact that it’s older people who vote is not helping the situation.

The solution? Firstly, for more young people to vote and demand THEIR say in the policies of our Government.

Secondly, for housing prices to return to a vaguely sensible level, so that young people can afford to buy… or at least rent. And that requires house building to be seriously stimulated – not the half-hearted measures we’re seeing at the moment.

Thirdly, longer term, we need those new housing developments to be far more a mix of ages – building intergenerational communities that can be mutually supportive, not set apart.

In years gone by, the villages where many of us lived operated in this way, and to everyone’s benefit. It won’t happen overnight, but there’s no reason not to start now.

Finally, older people being in work doesn’t keep young people out of a job, but boosts the economy, creating more jobs. But not everyone can continue to do a 35-hour week, often because of caring responsibilities. The same is true of many younger people who have young children to worry about – especially during school holidays. Enlightened employers would do well to harness this potential by allowing job shares between the generations.

There is more that binds the generations than separates them. Fostering an intergenerational war of words is not the way forward: closer cooperation is.

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