"...Then there's the myth of 'every other pensioner is a millionaire'...

As mentioned in the Freedland post above I reckon its much the same as the myth of the "single mothers" that was promulgated by the media in the past: them all being young women who would get houses and everything else free if they just got themselves pregnant: propaganda designed to remove any empathy or sympathy. My sister at the time was a "single mother" because her idiot husband had run off and left them...it was no picnic.
The myth then essentially makes the old folks a similarly suitable sacrificial victim as were the single mothers with the Blair government.

-As above its bizarre to see policy based on "sacrificial ritual" but essentially that's what it is.