RICHARD ORD: Millionaires get Winter Fuel Allowance! Bit rich isn't it?

​Sprawling estates clearly take a lot more to heat up than the small homes of less well-off OAPs and that’s before we get onto the cost of keeping a castle toastie during the long winter months. Those saunas don’t heat themselves you know!

I mention it only because the government has been given a lot of stick for deciding to means- test the Winter Fuel Allowance. And by means-test, we should assume that those who don’t have the means will get it, and those who do have the means, erm, won’t. As a government policy it does come with significant concerns, particularly as it’s from a Labour party which exists primarily through its determination to help less-well off ordinary people, but it does seem to be prudent to make this a means-tested helping hand.

I mean, not all pensioners are poor, yet all pensioners are entitled to the £200 minimum. Sir Paul McCartney may well be one of the recipients. And at 82, he’s entitled to the full £300. But he’s not the only millionaire pensioner. According to latest research, one in five pensioners are worth more than a million. Some are a couple of quid over the £1m and some are a few million over the million, yet they’re all entitled to it.

Personally, I think those in the millionaire bracket shouldn’t get that cash and, instead, should just turn the outdoor pool down a degree or two in October. Either that or give their personal newspaper ironer the weekend off.

And just in case you think that number of OAP ‘millionaires’ must be very small… there are more than 1.7 million of them. Anyway, just thought I’d throw my two penneth worth into the mix. I don’t want to see any struggling pensioners being denied help, but the government shouldn’t be chucking cash where it’s not really needed.

Of course, the millionaires can opt out of receiving the allowance thereby negating the need for ministers to step in and nanny us all. So far, of those 1.7 million, a whopping 0.03% have opted out. It’s not clear if Sir Paul is among them, but it’s better the government step in rather and just let it be…

(Let It Be! Geddit?)