Polly Toynbee says that to pay for pensions and care, “the money is right there for the taking, in wealthy pensioners’ assets” and that “one in five over-65s live in households with assets worth more than £1m” (During Covid, callous Tories knew this about old people: they’re very expensive, 3 November).
But most of those “assets” are their houses, not things they can trade. A home is not an asset. You can’t survive without one, so you can only sell if you move to a cheaper area, and damage your health with the stress of moving away from the place and the people you know.
