I took part in an interesting Older People's Council hustings at Brighton Town Hall yesterday, where we all got a real grilling on issues as diverse as social care and how we would pay for it, fox hunting, pensions, Trident and the crisis in the banking sector - but the recurring theme seemed to be how we can ensure a fairer society, which does not discriminate against older people.

A timely coincidence, as that was the day we also launched the Green Party Older People's Policy.

It's a scandal that after a lifetime of hard work and contributions to society, many of our most vulnerable people are having to scrape by on inadequate pensions, with as many as one in four older people living in poverty.

That's why our policy is to provide a basic, non-means tested pension of £170 per week, as well as providing free insulation for any resident who wants it, making it easier to heat homes and keep them comfortable.

Was very pleased to see that Help the Aged and Age Concern have labelled our proposals to abolish the default retirement age and increase the basic state pension "key to improving the retirement prospects of millions of people."

Alongside this, the chairman of the National Pensioner's Convention has said that "The NPC welcomes the Green Party's commitment to improving the basic state pension for Britain's 11m older voters and hopes that other parties will see the economic and moral sense in tackling pensioner poverty."

I hope so too.