Esther Rantzen: Britons treat older people 'worse than animals'

People prefer animals to old people because they are "not cuddly enough", Dame Esther Rantzen has said as she appealed for funds to support her loneliness charity for pensioners.

Dame Esther also told how she bans any talk of leaving the European Union when friends and family come to stay to avoid “civil wars” breaking out over Brexit.

Earlier this year Dame Esther said that Silverline, a helpline which has a turnover of £5.1million, is in danger of closure after coming to the end of a five-year package of support from the Big Lottery Fund.

Dame Esther, who also founded the Childline charity, told today’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast said: “If you are not in constant contact with people from different generations you forget how crucial they are – they know stuff.

“Then you get the media talking about all the problems: older people are bed blockers, house blockers, they suffer from all kinds of things from dementia through to loneliness.

“Then you get the idea that nobody wants to be old - ‘I hope I die before I get old’. But we are going to get old and we don’t want to think about it so we go into denial.

“For all those reasons older people have come off the national agenda when it comes to donations, compassion, generosity, inclusion.

“And that’s why if you look at the top 10 charities, top 20 charities you will not find older people numbered among them.

“You will find [charities for] dogs, cancer, lifeboats and the National Trust – you will not find older people.”

Dame Esther said “some people” liked animals more than pensioners because they are “charming, cuddly".

She added: "Maybe older people are not charming enough, maybe we are not cuddly enough.

“It is shocking and it is stupid because we need to look after eachother because people are growing older. Don’t make us a problem, make us a resource. Look after us, care about us.”

On Brexit, Dame Esther said she had banned the topic from discussion in her home when family and friends come to stay because it created domestic “civil wars”.

She said: “The trouble with the referendum is that it creates civil wars in homes, in bathrooms, in sitting rooms, in pubs.

“I find them. I say ‘anyone who mentions the B-word you have to pay for the drinks’. We can talk about anything else – religion, sex.”

Chopper’s Brexit Podcast is available on the Telegraph’s website (https://choppersbrexitpodcast.telegraph.co.uk/) from 6am on Friday morning.