Even the government is saying it.

Andy Burnham, Health Secretary, confirmed that a report from the Department of Health will say what many have susupected, that older people, over the age of 65, are receiving poorer treatment from the NHS. This is true of cancer survival rates, which may be due to longer referral times, and those with mental health problems. Psychiatrists point to the cut-off date for some kinds of treatment and support.

The problem seems to be one of resources, human, physical and monetary.

If you are 75, it could be assumed that you will die fairly soon. You may have unattractive qualities - incontinence, mental confusion, mobility - all of which will make the same treatment more expensive.

The discrimination has been condemned by all and sundry, but where will the extra finance come from?

There now seems to be no mileage in the point that older people contributed their NI all their lives in the belief that their health needs, at least, would be met until they die.There is thus a contract with society. The stronger argument is surely that if it is convenient to "neglect"one vulnerable group, because of costs, where could this end - educationally challenged, physically handicapped? If we start on this road, then we are going down the road which took Nazi victims to the gas chamber!.

The mark of a humane society is that it cares for the vulnerable - the poor, the helpless, the elderly, the misfits. (You don't have to subscribe to the Ten Commandments, but it's there - "honour your fathers and mothers".)