HIGHLAND pensioners are “too damn nice” to complain, according to Mary Macleod of the Highland Senior Citizens Network (HSCN). Speaking at the network’s AGM in Inverness Town Hall she described how elsewhere “Red Clydesiders” were pestering Government Minister Alistair Darling to restore the link between average earnings and pensions, and the setting up the APP (Angry Pensioners Party).

She said that although PM Tony Blair kept stressing that Labour had instituted a minimum income for pensioners, he never made it clear that this amounted to £78.45. “I expect Tony and Cherie spend more on a meal out,” she said. “It should be £200, at least.”

Guest speaker Susan Drew of Highland Advice & Information Network (HAIN), an umbrella covering CABs and allied agencies, said there would need to be a lot of pensioners if they were all to get what they were entitled to. Forms and criteria had to be easier to understand – one woman commented on the particular difficulties with forms experienced by those with poor reading and writing skills.

HAIN was working on the problem of the recent hike in water charges, which unlike council tax made no allowance for hardship. They have taken the matter up with both the Scottish Parliament and Westminster.

George Hobson of the network’s outreach project said the most common topics among pensioners throughout the North were prices, pensions/benefits, heating & housing, transport and exclusion through lack of it, safety, and services. He was wary of the attitude of improving things only for the “deserving poor” – the pension was a social wage and should not be means tested. “Would a private insurance company say we’re not going to pay you because you don’t need it?” he asked.

Anyone interested in joining the HSCN can ring secretary Molly Doyle on 01456 415438 or Sheila Mackay on Inverness 235448.