PENSIONERS are not by nature a militant body. They tend to be gentler souls from a more courteous age when people asked nicely for what they wanted, and were polite even if they didn't get it.

But ... it is a sign of the times that they are now taking action to back their claims for a more realistic pension.

True, their protest in Bury town centre at the weekend was still pretty orderly. Commandeering a zebra crossing is hardly in the same league as firebombing a laboratory, but, comparatively, it counts as extreme action.

The Bury Pensioners' Association is calling on the Government to raise pensions to at least £9, and to link rises generally to the average national wage. And they would do well to take notice of this call -- echoed across this area as in other parts of the country -- during their conference deliberations in Brighton this week.

Dissatisfaction is in the air, and now the pensioners are following the example of the lorry drivers and the farmers and making their protest felt. Even the motorists who were inconvenienced by the local weekend protest supported the pensioners' call.

So do we.

These are not only people who have largely contributed to the current wealth of this country but -- and it is scarcely fashionable to remind the population -- also fought to keep this country free to thrive.

A reasonable, living pension is little to offer to the many who now have no other means of income, especially when this Government has made much of its anti-age discrimination policies.

Tony Blair should heed these these latest rumblings of discontent. They could easily spread across the nation, and prove severely embarrassing to a Government keen to prove to the rest of Europe that it has an even-handed, caring pedigree.