Search found 1581 matches

by jan19
12 Mar 2017, 11:49am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Winter Fuel Payment.
Replies: 210
Views: 6095

Re: Winter Fuel Payment.

I can almost *hear* some of you throwing stones at me across the Internet, but in for a penny....

Personally, if practical, I would means test ALL benefits. Including Child Benefit (no, I know its not practical). I'd include the State Pension in that comment, but as far as I'm aware it is means tested in that the maximum you can receive is based on the years you've worked? (Happy to be corrected if that's not the case).

Here's another *daft* one. Next year I will able to get a bus pass. Won't just pop through the door, I will have to apply. Now I do get the bus to work in the winter sometimes if its icy, so I will probably get one. I'm "entitled" to it just because I hit an age milestone. Our buses are good, and its a flat rate fare of £1.50 if you go one stop, or the entire length of the route. Nobody is going to check if I actually *need* it. I don't.

If we (as a nation) had money just to throw around, I'd say this would be fine. But we don't. Which is why I'm challenging this notion of "entitlement" due to age, not need.

(Collects tin hat on way out.....)
by jan19
12 Mar 2017, 10:06am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Winter Fuel Payment.
Replies: 210
Views: 6095

Re: Winter Fuel Payment.

I think I've said as clearly as I can that I've no problem whatsoever with benefits going to those in genuine need. Sorry if that's not obvious. My point - I'll try again to express it better - is that I don't agree with the notion of "entitlement" being linked to age, nor that working all your adult life somehow means you can have all sorts of benefits you simply don't need. If you can't afford to heat your house, buy the medicines you need, or afford the bus fare to ride into town, then I'm pleased the state will help you out.

But how many on here getting annoyed with me for saying this retired in their 50s, live very comfortably thank you very much, yet feel "entitled" to claim every benefit going? Should we give winter fuel allowance to Richard Branson, Andrew Lloyd Webber et al? Because they're all "entitled" to it - its a universal benefit.

A million people every week (allegedly) use food banks. So I'm challenging the notion that the state should jump in "just" because you're old. Please don't give me "yes, but I've worked all my life and paid into the state" - so did previous generations who got far, far less back and the current working generation will be lucky to get a fraction of them. Even for me, still working the goalposts have changed. When I started work, my state pension age was 60. Its now 66. For my daughters, its 69.

Call me "envious" if you like. You REALLY don't want to hear my daughter going on about how utterly priviledged she thinks the "Baby Boomer" generation are (I don't particularly like that term, but it will suffice for now as it more or less covers the point I'm trying to make)

If you need benefits - fine. If you don't, then I'm questioning why in a society having to make some pretty hard choices just being over 60, or 65 or whatever means you're handed money you don't need.

Just don't get me started on the *triple lock*.... :D
by jan19
12 Mar 2017, 1:45am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Winter Fuel Payment.
Replies: 210
Views: 6095

Re: Winter Fuel Payment.

Where is your evidence that pensioners "are going cold"?

You've completely missed my point. I 've given two examples of folk who've been given winter fuel allowance even though they simply don't need it. All I've said is that it should be means tested. As, I believe should all be all age related benefits.
by jan19
12 Mar 2017, 12:20am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Winter Fuel Payment.
Replies: 210
Views: 6095

Re: Winter Fuel Payment.

Al, when I retire, I'll pay no tax because although I've worked in the public sector since 1979 my pension is nowhere close to the point where I start paying tax. Ì don't qualify for a state pension for another 7 years.

If you pay more in tax than you receive in benefits, then in my world, you're doing fine, thank you very much. Which is my point - hubby *just* tips into paying tax when he retires next year, I' m short by maybe 2k yet we still feel we'll manage ok.

Which is my point. So many pensioners feel "because they've worked" they deserve some sort of priviledged status.My girls work hard too....but they won't ever experience the generous benefits given without any sort of qualification to our current generation of pensioners
by jan19
11 Mar 2017, 10:31pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Winter Fuel Payment.
Replies: 210
Views: 6095

Re: Winter Fuel Payment.

Edwards, that's exactly my point! Winter fuel allowance was introduced to make sure in a rich country like ours nobody was at risk from hypothermia.

Yet many who have not the slightest risk of dying from the cold claim this payment "because they're entitled to it".
by jan19
11 Mar 2017, 10:01pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Winter Fuel Payment.
Replies: 210
Views: 6095

Re: Winter Fuel Payment.

Sorry, and I know I'm going to upset a fair few on here, but I don't think winter fuel allowance should be automatic. Or indeed any other "age related" benefit.


My 84 year old Mum gets it. She also gets a free TV licence. She worked full time for 40+ years, and she has a good enough pension and enough equity released from downsizing from our family home 20 odd years ago to live very comfortably now. My late father in law got winter fuel allowance every year for the five he lived in a care home (didn't benefit him - just meant we paid less for his care that month).

Yet my girls struggle - eldest and hubby live in their own tiny home (bank of Mum and Dad made a big contribution here), youngest is still renting. I've no problem whatsoever with helping elderly folk who need help.....I'm just saying there are plenty that don't, and claiming "what they think they're entitled to" just takes help away from youngsters who need it far more than they do...

We are in an unprecedented crisis of health and social care. IMHO we're way beyond "we've worked all our lives so we're entitled to this or that". It surely has to be targetted to those in genuine need - and that doesn't apply to many retired folk. I will be retiring in the next year or so - I don't need all these benefits, and yet I'll be entitled to them.
by jan19
6 Mar 2017, 8:14am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: ** The Brexit Thread ** - 'Brexit Means Brexit'
Replies: 21765
Views: 849773

Re: 'Brexit means Brexit' ... ** The Brexit Thread **

You don't appear to know very much about food banks Boyd. Simply "being poor" doesn't qualify you to use them. I got talking to the volunteers in my Mum's one because I was interested and there's quite a complicated system of referrals in place that someone has to go through before they can use one.

I don't see this as scrounging off the state - I see it as helping people in genuine need. I do think we should be ashamed that there are people in a rich country like ours who should need food banks.
by jan19
5 Mar 2017, 10:27pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: ** The Brexit Thread ** - 'Brexit Means Brexit'
Replies: 21765
Views: 849773

Re: 'Brexit means Brexit' ... ** The Brexit Thread **

Well when I went down to visit my 84. year old Mum last week ( as I do every other week) she had a couple of bits to donate to her local Food Bank. Some gifts she'd been given but won't use like a carton of orange juice she can't drink because it affects her arthritis The same with a big box of chocolates which she'd love to eat but can't because they cause constipation..... They almost bit my hand off when I walked into her local Food Bank contribution point with her "gifts"

This is Chichester, West Sussex. Somewhere many on here would regard as a rich and pampered part of our country. Our country is really off kilter if in a comfortable, middle class, Tory area like Chichester is in desparate need of people contributing to Food Banks.
by jan19
6 Feb 2017, 12:04am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Libraries, public, renaissance of: DDC 020.336
Replies: 246
Views: 20971

Re: Public libraries, decline of

Not Orpington Council Landsurfer - we were part of the local government re organisation in 1965 and Orpington Local District Council became part of the London borough of Bromley, along with district councils of Beckenham, Chislehurst and Penge. We still stubbornly stick to our postal address of "Orpington, Kent" although we're technically London SE 19
by jan19
5 Feb 2017, 11:45pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Libraries, public, renaissance of: DDC 020.336
Replies: 246
Views: 20971

Re: Public libraries, decline of

Indeed he did. "Frontline" means one thing to me, and another to you. Each is valid, in its own sphere.
by jan19
5 Feb 2017, 11:39pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Libraries, public, renaissance of: DDC 020.336
Replies: 246
Views: 20971

Re: Public libraries, decline of

Thank you Meic. I hadn't seen your post before I posted my reply to Landsurfer, but yes, that's what I meant to say (but probably not as well expressed)
by jan19
5 Feb 2017, 11:34pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Libraries, public, renaissance of: DDC 020.336
Replies: 246
Views: 20971

Re: Public libraries, decline of

Umm, the front line dealing with the needs, hopes, desires and wants of the general public. You, me and anyone from Joe Public coming into a library and looking for help or information. What on earth does the military have to do with this?

Frontline = those dealing directly with custoners
Back Office - those like me who deal with the efficent running of the service without direct contact with customers

Is that difficult to understand? "Frontline" has a much, much wider meaning than just the military
by jan19
5 Feb 2017, 10:31pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Libraries, public, renaissance of: DDC 020.336
Replies: 246
Views: 20971

Re: Public libraries, decline of

Councils have failed to adapt to modern times because they have no need to do so. They insist that their employees get excellent terms and conditions of employment, including extra pay for evening and weekend work, even if that means making many of their staff redundant so that those who remain stay on those excellent terms. They'd rather close libraries rather than looking at ways to reduce per capita employee costs, something that most have to do all the time in order to stay in business.
Top


Oh dear Blackbike, your hatred of public servants coming before facts again. I joined my local Council more than 30 years ago. At that time - 1979 - the standard working hours were 8am until 10 pm. They are still the same now. You don't get overtime unless you begin before 8 or work after 10. I haven't ever claimed overtime. Not once, in all that time. I've put in a few 9.30pm's, and I normally get in by 8am, but that suits my cycling into work.

My council have a stated (and applied) policy about not making staff redundant. They're far too mean to pay the money out. In case you're wondering, my council is absolutely dyed blue Tory. They don't give anything to their employees the law doesn't force them to. If you paid any attention to staffing levels and abilities (which you obviously haven't) you'd see most local councils have reduced their spending on library staff (employing far more non-qualified staff, therefore reducing the level of expertise you can expect when going into your local library) . Those "staff" you observe chatting are no more likely to have any sort of library qualification than I am to have to repair your plumbing.


Saturday working is built into the standard contact. When I worked in the front line, I worked two out of three Saturdays- it worked for us because hubby also works alternate Saturdays (yep, in that other awful public service the NHS), and my Mum was happy to look after my girls. I didn't get paid any more for it - it was just part of my working week. But I got Thursday off, so that was one day more with my girls, and one day's less expense paid for childcare. Plus Mum enjoyed her Saturdays with her grandchildren. My service also includes Sunday working, although only one of our libraries currently opens on Sunday. But if they chose to open another library on a Sunday, any staff working that day wouldn't get a penny more.

But why pay any attention to someone who actually works in local government and knows what's she's talking about in favour of someone who just clearly has an axe to grind?
by jan19
29 May 2016, 1:53am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Podium Girls
Replies: 474
Views: 30756

Re: Podium Girls

Jan, I don't know what goes on over in Orpington, but it sounds like a perpetual horror show down there. Either that or you are more attuned and sensitive to these events than other people. You are calling for me to empathise and I do, but unlike other men here, I won't take anecdotes as matters of fact without evidence.



Provide evidence exactly how? How do I catch up with a car, where the driver has shouted abuse at me and get that man - yes, Freddie, man - to come on here and say he's done that ? Do you want everyone who posts a topic "On the road" about a close pass from a car to find that driver too?

How do I find that man who behaved so disgracefully in Woolwich Wavelengths swimming pool in front of two women and three small children? My friend would back me up, but as she's female, you wouldn't accept her statement either. Old Windbag asked whether Jessica Valenti's piece reflected life for women in another big city - ie London. Yes, it does. I haven't - fortunately - had the number of experiences she has, but it does happen. The swimming pool episode was the worst for me, because my girls were involved.
You either believe me, or you don't. I know all these "anecdotes" happened. I'm sorry you question my veracity.
Jan
by jan19
29 May 2016, 12:32am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: EU Ref...I Am Confused..Aren't You...
Replies: 1489
Views: 66167

Re: EU Ref...I Am Confused..Aren't You...

I'm with MrsHJ.

Plus I support the EU on environmental laws. I'm a bit out of kilter on almost everyones concerns, but this ones mine, I simply cannot believe anyone thinks anything is more important than the health of our small world. I don't believe anything is more important to our grandchildren than the health of the planet we leave them.

Retreating into small enclaves like the UK won't solve our planet's pollution or overcrowding problem.

Our government's record on "green" projects is abysmal. Our best environmental laws have all been "forced" on us by the EU.

I'm voting "in" for my childrens future.

We need to have a strong voice in Euope to counter Donald Trump who is an arch climate change denier. As is Nigel Farsge, As is Nigel Lawson. As is Owen Patterson.....need I go on?