1 hour ago, fourbanks said:

I keep telling you, you're all wasting your time with this, as Alf Garnett would say 😁

 

 

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. (Bertrand Russell) Thanks Malc for updating us. 🙂

Heres another beauty - if you're from Yorkshire standby, 

"Last year she published her book ‘The Age of Ageing Better? A Manifesto For Our Future’, aimed at helping policy makers and practitioners to make the radical changes needed to ensure that no one misses out on a good later life."

This refers to Dr Anna Dixon MBE, awarded the gong for running the Centre For Ageing Better and now MP for Shipley who voted FOR cutting the WFA 🤯

Labour the gift that gives giving, 

10 minutes ago, GMB said:

 

I know it's a bit off topic but this is from that bastion of free speech the Daily express aka  The fear-mongering rag.

BUT- Can anyone tell me which one is Angela Rayner?

Well the one on the right can't change it's bought clobber! 😂

2 minutes ago, GMB said:

Rachel Reeves just hit the nail on the head in her speech just now, after 10 minutes of self congratulation.  She said she will improve productivity and get "spades in the ground". I presume this will be needed to bury some of the frozen dead pensioners??    To me the speakers at the Labour conference sound a bit weird - nuff said.

Couldn’t agree more. So far it's all been spend spend spend. Self congratulation of being first woman chancellor no mention of first woman prime minister. Trashing the Tories and still in campaigning opposition mode. And £1700 increase in pensions over this parliament. That's equivalent to 3% a year on the full SP of which only 50% claim it. And it conveniently forgets the fiscal drag on not increasing personal allowances meaning more pensioners being drawn into 20% tax. This is pretty despicable stuff from a "honest transparent government 🙁

40 minutes ago, Kevin Williams said:

Taxpayers fork out £68,000 for Angela Rayner’s ‘vanity photographer’ as pensioners freeze

Angela Rayner has made history by being the first Deputy PM to be awarded her own £68k photographer, even as pensioners suffer the loss of winter fuel payments

Is there no end to their profligacy? And manipulative lack of veracity 

1 hour ago, GMB said:

Lies, damn lies and statistics. I read that the old state pension ( which I gratefully receive as a generous gift from our leaders! ) will be about £350max. Because I have a small private pension that will all be taxed at 20%, so take away £70, that leaves £280 per year. That will not even cover the loss of the £300 WFA or  council tax/water rate rise or one of the car insurance rises never mind the cost of living. Who do they think they are kidding?  Oh, it's us pensioner numbskulls.🤡

BTW this rise is just over £5 per week, that won't even buy a couple of cups of coffee at Costa or Starbucks or similar. On that note I assume that most people will have cut down on visits to expensive coffee shops, as we have.  Work it out - four visits to a coffee shop by a couple £7.60x4x52weeks= £1580.p.a.    As one politician said " You know it makes sense"   Who said that????

Dell Boy if I remember right 🤣

11 hours ago, steve2006 said:

Now that is interesting as my mp stated “ This is not a decision I took lightly. I have listened to and read the opinions of hundreds of Amber Valley residents both in support of and against restoring this payment as a universal credit.”

I have written back asking for a percentage breakdown of those in support and against along with her claim that all labour mps backed the government when it is documented that 1 voted against the government and many more abstained.

Her claim that the state pension has risen by £900.00 last April with another £480 next April is also misleading and only applies to those in receipt of the new full pension. Those on a reduced pension due to insufficient qualifying years received only a percentage of those figures.

I am also in Derbyshire at least you got a response from your MP! For what it's worth to date I have not met one person yet who supports stopping the WFA. As to the pension numbers this may interest you:

The following table shows the estimated number of people receiving the new state pension, November 2022.

No. of females

No. of males

Total

Received at least £185.15

594,000

934,000

1,528,000

Received less than £185.15

649,000

881,000

1,529,000

Total in receipt of state pension

1,243,000

1,814,000

3,057,000

Source: DWP

Under the old, pre-2016, system, of the 9,576,000 people receiving the basic state pension in November 2022, 26 per cent received less than the full amount of £141.85.

The following table shows the estimated number of people receiving the old basic state pension, November 2022.

No. of femalesn

No. of males

Total

Received at least £141.85

3,622,000

3,488,000

7,109,000

Received less than £141.85

1,968,000

498,000

2,466,000

Total in receipt of state pension

5,590,000

3,986,000

9,576,000

Source: DWP

Apologies for lack of formatting but as you can see less than half receive full new SP and 75% of the old one. So no 900/480 for millions of people. 🙁

14 minutes ago, LenT said:

Apparently trouble at Conference this morning as the Management tries to postpone this vote until Wednesday - the last day - when fewer delegates will be present!

You couldn't make it up! 

1 hour ago, Boomer54 said:

My only concern is that the TUC may have an underlying motive. That is, if Starmer suffers enough damage to be dislodged is there any chance that their perennial favourite Corbyn could yet arrive at the top via a backdoor opened by them?

Spot on Malc, but I think it's simpler than that. The WFA argument by the TUC is not about pensioners it's about who "controls" the country. Having caved in to pay claims within days of attaining office the unions know when they see a vulnerable animal. This has all the echoes of a 70's style Arthur Scargill moment. 

53 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

In his defence, maybe Dennis Healey missed the opportunity to thank anyone due to his forest like eyebrows obscuring his view!

"in his defence"? As the longest serving Minister in that illustrious post I admire your pun 🙂

26 minutes ago, LenT said:

As another insight on Denis Healey, MrsT was PA to a leading merchant banker who would invite a select group on various ‘freebies’.  One she organised was a salmon fishing event on Iceland which Healey - also a keen photographer- accepted with alacrity.  Apparently the verdict of the other guests was that Healey was boorish, offhand with the hotel staff and he turned out to be the only invitee who never bothered to send a note of thanks to his Host.

Totally believable 😎 don't you know who I am? 

1 hour ago, LenT said:

I never had much time for McDonnell when he was a Labour MP and attempting to defend the actions of the Labour Party.  But I find myself more in agreement now that he appears to be more inclined to attack the Party now that he is no longer an MP!

Just wondering which of us has shifted their position the most?

Very reminiscent of the Labour great Dennis Healey who savaged property speculators when Chancellor and introduced a top rate of income tax of 83%🤯. Yet in his will of nearly £3 million pounds (when 3 mn was a lot of money) £1.9 mn of that was his house!! He also had a damascene conversation it appears? 🤔🙂

44 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

I don’t agree politically with virtually anything John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn and those on that wing of the Labour Party believe in. Not now anyway. However, I do believe they are sincere, and generally honest, unlike ‘new’ Labour whether that be Blair, Miliband, Mandelson, or Starmer. 

As for ‘shifting position’ we all have a political journey. As a student I mainly studied Labour and the left, civil rights movements in South Africa, India and Rhodesia, as well as European Union treaties and systems (EC as was) and US political history post Civil War. Fair to say, like all students should be, that I was ‘right on.’ Free Nelson Mandela. Resist student loans. I briefly met Tony Benn, still a hero of mine, and also Barbara Castle completely by chance. She was delightful company on a train I happened to get onto, really lovely and very interesting to speak with. She was also - whether sincerely or not - seemingly very interested in my political views. Given my studies and her part in Labour history it was a bit like my equivalent of meeting a pop star!

My Father was an ‘old school’ Conservative, and had been a party doner. He was a member of what David Cameron called the ‘tie and blazer brigade.’ He told me I’d grow out of my left-wing phase, and he was right. He hated Margaret Thatcher, instead looking back to the golden age of titans like Macmillan, Anthony Eden and others.

Anyway, along with adult life, the world of work, a mortgage and all that jazz my politics shifted. I have always considered myself a traditional Liberal, and over the years I’ve voted Labour, Liberal, Alliance (remember that?!), Conservative, Green (yes, really) and even UKIP in specific circumstances. 

Where do I think I am now? Still a liberal, probably slightly right of centre on most things but left of centre on others. I want to live in a tolerant and inclusive society, and I value meritocracy in terms of opportunity. I’m happy to pay slightly more tax if - and only if - I believe that money will be properly and sensibly spent. I’m not holding my breath on that one tbh…

Anyway, that’s my political journey from awakening to now. Almost forty years of different opinions at different times. I think that’s how it should be.

I used to be indecisive but now there's a definite probability of a firm maybe that I can't make my mind up 😂

23 minutes ago, GMB said:

 

Rwanda looks nice, can you recommend a good hotel?

Ask any German they can assist you I am sure 😅

11 hours ago, GMB said:

Yep, it's awful innit. The deceit, betrayal, lies, from these charlatans, but it's too late we are all ****ed for the next 4 or 5 yrs. And to think us mugs believed them.  It would be nice to see some justice and fair play but I doubt if that will happen any time soon. Anyway let's try and cheer up, it will soon be Christmas.... OMG...the expense! It's cancelled this year.🎅

Mugs are what you drink from not vote for 🙂. Watching youtube just now on the Reform conference from Birmingham what struck me was ; with the exception of Dr David Starkey I know of no other who are totally supportive of this countries history, achievements and gifts to the world. Yet withdrawal of the WFA is one example of a very clear attack on the very group trying to protect our very culture. 

14 hours ago, Boomer54 said:

My Rwandan work visa is proceeding apace. Current offer of employment has understudy to the assistant witch doctor. Just getting in some practice casting the bones. So, yahoo sucks to you  Kierless Sturmfuhrer

Which doctor? How lucky are you getting time with a doctor? 😅

21 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

Or retired MPs and highly paid Civil Servants now retired on Gold Plated Pensions  ………. and remembering I ( Malc ) said much earlier in this piece that any OAP recipient had the opportunity to simply DECLINE RECEIPT of the WFA 

wonder how many of these Wealthy Pensioners did 🤔

this analysis will never be forthcoming of course …….bit akin to the non-existent IMPACT ASSESSMENT that Sir Keir says was never done 

there’s however some 

AGE  UK   Petition 

528,000  ( all bar 21 )

Signatories …….. that have a different view to Lisa ( Numpty Dumpty)  Nandy  right now 

 

Malc 

 

 

Neither will the 22bn black hole analysis, or Rayners 5 days in a luxury penthouse in New York for a value of £1250 🤯🤯🤯. 

On 9/19/2024 at 4:24 PM, Boomer54 said:

I read that the Unite Union are trying to force a vote on the WFA at the Labour Conference. All is not unity over this by any means.

From today's BBC interview of Lisa Nandy , Ms Nandy said: “Well, actually, there are mixed views out in the public about the winter fuel allowance. I think most people will accept that the very wealthiest shouldn’t be in receipt of something that costs the country over billion pounds a year. I think most people would accept that the very wealthiest pensioners shouldn’t be in receipt of a free allowance.”

Charlie cut in and said: “Sorry you were pointing the finger at very wealthy pensioners.” Ms Nandy replied: I’m not pointing the finger at anyone.” Stayt said: “That is the phrase you used.”

Presumably she means the House of Lords? Or retired Union bosses? 

On 10/8/2022 at 5:56 PM, First_Lexus said:

Coming back from Bristol to Reading one evening last week, there was an issue on the M4.

Not being in a hurry, I decided to take the A420 out of Bristol to Chippenham, and then the A4 through Calne, Avebury, Marlborough, Hungerford, Newbury, Thatcham and then Reading.

This wasn’t a quick journey - M4 usually takes about 75 minutes, and this took two hours…but, with an average speed of 40-50mph rather than 70mph, I managed a fuel economy I never thought I’d see on an RX. 

42.3mpg shown. Sometimes it’s nice to take the ‘road less travelled.’  It was a lovely drive. Just not the best if you’re in a hurry!

"The unripe grape becomes as sweet as honey, at a slow pace" (ancient Greek proverb"

19 hours ago, Boomer54 said:

I read that the Unite Union are trying to force a vote on the WFA at the Labour Conference. All is not unity over this by any means.

I also read this today from the open policy forum 

"

The Labour Party’s largest-ever donation came from a Cayman Islands-registered hedge fund with shares worth hundreds of millions of pounds in fossil fuels, private health firms, arms manufacturers and asset managers.

While the £4m donation by Quadrature Capital is the sixth-largest in British political history, it is noteworthy not just for its size, but also its timing.

I wonder what they expect as well as the unions? 

9 hours ago, The-Acre said:

An important announcement has been made by our Prime Minister, he has announced "I'm in control" Well that's such a relief, it means I can sleep soundly tonight, safe with the assurance that he surely won't last too long!

Reminds me of Captain Mainwearing 😎

8 hours ago, Malc1 said:

Blimey, Child Benefits ……. don’t remember much about those …… my eldest ‘ child ‘ is 50 next month and the others not far behind 🤣😂

HMRC has made it simple they tell me to keep all my tax / income affairs on track and urging one to complete it all as early as possible …….. I shall obey of course …… like all good simple tax obedient souls in the UK 

My OAP State Pension covers my E5  V8 4ltr ( and more ) fuel costs ……. should it cover more. ? 😇

Seriously tho’. I’m quite distraught with people cheating with their HMRC stuff 

It’s unfair and a drain on Society …… and Expenses for MPs and Prime Ministers do need to be fairly met, of course, from the Public Purse AND if other benefactors can give our PM free “ working “ clothes and tickets to football matches, well, so be it 

Snout in the trough however comes to mind …….

our PMs Socially Aware Socialist colleagues will see the subtlety of it all and there will doubtless be a “ day of reckoning “ by said colleagues and society at large 

 

In the interim however 

AGE. UK.  Petition now at 

523,347.    Signatures 

WINTER FUEL PAYMENT 

 

Malc 

Just to update you Malc from the MSE site 

"Child Benefit is a monthly payment for anyone with parental responsibilities for children under the age of 16 (or up to 20 in full-time education). It's worth claiming as it can be worth over £17,000 (or more if you've two or more children). We've full detail on how it works, how to claim, and what happens to the Child Benefit payment if you or your partner earn more than £60,000 a year." how lucky are you not to have any qualifying 🙂

8 minutes ago, fourbanks said:

Sad to say, nothing has changed since the sixties. 

AGW (@agw494)’s video of alf garnett | TikTok

how to keep warm in winter 

 

OMG Nick 🤯, what a brilliant find! In the sixties being the yoof we couldn't care less, being old was something over the hill and far away,my how things change 😐. I wonder if this can be played automatically on a tik tock or Facebook sign in page 🤔

24 minutes ago, GMB said:

I remember child benefits. It only just covered the cost of decent shoes for 3 kids. It was a joke. I think most people spent it on beer and fags anyway.

Hic! 🍷What's wrong with that hic! Make mine a double! 

9 minutes ago, GMB said:

The irony and the unfairness. I know of certain folk who have fiddled the system for years and are very comfortably off Thank you. There is the foreign fellow who had over 100 different identities fraudulently making hundreds of thousands from the taxpayer.   The irony, as I see it, is that there is no reward for being honest and paying your way. There are honest ways to legally avoid taxation but most of them involve voting with your feet and going to live somewhere more friendly and reasonable with the common people.  Most of those countries are now pulling out of accepting foreigners now though - Xenophobia - protectionism - envy? Who knows?  At the moment the rule seems to be "Batten down the hatches".

From a pensioner in the country with the worst state pension in Europe.

Couldn’t agree more Gray. Essentially our version of democracy is now pandering to the minority on the falsehood of "fairness" at the expense of the majority, talk about an upside down world. As to honesty listen to Groucho Marx " The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you got it made" 😅