When I think about people in the UK, and probably especially London, don't care for their elderly as much as people in Cyprus (where I'm from), I can't help but think there's something deeper to it. Intergenerational debt seems very different (imbalanced) in the UK. 
It's complex but to be really blunt: I don't think most White British parents help their children out actively to get a good life going anywhere near as much as for example ethnically Cypriot people do, who directly gift their children houses.
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There is of course a mix of indirect and direct help and of course these things might not apply universally. I don't think they apply much to my parents because I emigrated to the UK about a decade and a half ago. I obviously have not been gifted anything after help with uni.
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Most of my peers in Cyprus have been given apartments from their families to live in (in Cyprus). This is very rare in the UK — although of course it also happens.
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However, I am not convinced this active helping is all that is needed there is passive (most distributed) help that works too. Like social services, which are completely absent pretty much in Cyprus. That's something we have (or did have) in the UK.
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I think this dependence on great social services is why older generations are now abandoned — the Tories dismantling our NHS for example.
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I forgot to mention, that in Cyprus it's very rare for old people to be abandoned and lonely. The levels we see in the UK are really really high compared to Cyprus.
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Part of the reason IMHO is the relationships within families are literally stronger by physical artifacts as well as emotional bonds. Parents genuinely can and do help their children out. This kind of help is less possible and less done in the UK.
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There's pros and cons to this of course. But overall I prefer the UK way — it's just that we're now defunding social care and ruining old people's (and many others' too) lives.
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