General Chat

I can't agree that young people are greedy.

We had free university education, they have to get into tens of thousands of pounds of debt to get the same. The housing market has risen so much that they struggle to get on the bottom rung of the ladder - we found it comparatively easy. There are no council houses any more, just social housing. Many young people are forced into the private sector while single pensioners squat in 3 bedroomed houses with subsidised rents. That's just not fair, frankly. The right to buy at a ridiculously low price took thousands of houses out of the social housing sector and the money raised cannot be used to build more, thanks to Thatcher. That isn't fair.

One reason young people are finding it a struggle is that they are paying for our non means-tested and generous pensions and allowances. That doesn't seem fair to me.

We all knew we were going to get old and most of us made some provision for our old age. Just because we are old doesn't mean we are entitled to a better standard of living than the young. We didn't pay for our state pensions we paid for the pensions of our parents. The young are subsidising us to far too great an extent. It is unsustainable.

Well, that's not going to happen anytime soon, is it?!

Rather than insulting the majority who receive it, I still say it should be scrapped except for those who are receiving other pension related benefits.
I'd guess that 99% of Pensioners who don't get those ,won't even miss it.

DET, page 2, I posted the following:

"In 1972, then prime minister Ted Heath introduced a £10 Christmas bonus for pensioners. It was worth £98 in today's money (this was 2012) and was considerably more than the £6.75 a week basic state pension that pensioners of the time received."

It's no longer a 'bonus', just a salve. It's been the same for over 40 years!!!!

Should be nearer £200 now.

As for the £10 Christmas "Bonus" it's a joke!

Agreed - just scrap it or include it in the pension credit for those who really need it.

Sylvia .I was not implying anything just passing comments on how I feel .This Thread has gone from TV licence having to be paid by over 75yr olds to big discussions on other subjects .its good when an open forum can be used to express .all aspects of thoughts & topics :-) Barbra .

Sorry Sylvia, but I never expected those things although I find I now get them and I am happy about it.

Extraordinarily cheap rail travel is something we don't get, though. There are several railcards for ALL age groups which, if bought, entitle the holder to a discount on normal rail fares.

I do use my bus pass occasionally but I know several pensioners who rely on it. If one travels before 9.30 am the cost is 50 pence which is not prohibitive as far as I am concerned but I can't speak for others.

As far as free prescriptions are concerned, while I've been lucky, thank goodness, I know plenty of pensioners who, if they had to pay for every item on a prescription would have to go without elsewhere - not good for a pensioner with poor health who relies on only the State pension. Similarly the heating allowance.

I would complain if something was taken away from me, like thousands of others who have had cuts from government monies in one form or another. More especially so when one sees how global conglomerates are 'let off the hook' or negotiate 'special' tax arrangements.

I believe it would cost too much for government to check up on every pensioner's income and entitlement to services hence we all fall under one umbrella ..... and if they decided to do so, by the time they finished some of us would be dead and there'd be complaints over the waste of time and money.

Barbra .........

what I am trying to say is that you are not the only ones who have, as you say "worked paid my tax national insurance .have a small private pension ,so just thinking is that why if we are well of here in the UK.No wonder the migrants want to come & live & get free health care, child benefit housing benefit ..oh pensions they have never paid for"


You might well be .......... " . just sick of outsiders saying we have a good deal .we worked for it & why shouldn't we get something back in our old age"



so did we, so did Allan in Australia, and all the others in countries around the world

but we don't seem to be as "expectant" or as, yes, greedy as so many of the British pensioners.

If you wish to take my words as applying to you personally, then do so, though they were not meant as such.

They are just my observations after years of watching threads such as this appear on GR, on reading news items from the UK


Yes, you're getting the migrants ................. but so are we, and so are many other countries around the world! And we are giving them just as much as you say you are giving yours ....

Again, it isn't just "you, the UK" that is paying, so are we all.


But, you know, start a thread on here, and you'll get people who disagree with you just a you will get people in agreement with you.

If you don't want that, then don't start threads.


But remember .................. I was born and raised in the UK, paid taxes, NHS, etc before I left England, so I know one h*l of a lot about what it was like, and I know what a lot of my friends and even rellies do, say, and get!

Some of the comments on here begger belief .I worked paid my tax national insurance .have a small private pension ,so just thinking is that why if we are well of here in the UK.No wonder the migrants want to come & live & get free health care, child benefit housing benefit ..oh pensions they have never paid for . just sick of outsiders saying we have a good deal .we worked for it & why shouldn't we get something back in our old age ..The younger generation are greedy they want Big House*s Fancy cars, Holidays abroad ,& their children want every gadget that's going, fancy clothes .When I first got married if we couldn't afford things we did without .would not go into debt for fancy goods .We were frugal & we wonder why the country is in such a mess now .borrow of Peter to pay Paul ..live within your needs & stop moaning .stop spending all your wages .to keep up with the Joneses & if the children get told no .maybe they wont grow up to want.as their parents do now .There are lots of OAP who have nothing & young family*s who struggle but come on .young unemployed can buy cigs & drink ..to many are living a life they cant afford & they never have enough .fed up Barbra :-|

My Mum 'expects', and gets, all of the above.

She could well afford all of them as she has a state pension plus Dad's superannuated Civil Service one. She's been a widow for 36 years. However she has a bolshy 92-year-old's sense of entitlement and would be incensed to lose any of them :-)

Sometimes Rollo talks some kind of sense :-D

Looking at Britain from outside, it often does seem that those who receive pensions "expect" a lot lot more than is given to or expected by pensioners in other countries.

For example .........

You "expect" a Christmas" bonus

You "expect" a winter fuel allowance

You "expect" free bus travel

You "expect" extraordinarily cheap rail travel

You "expect" free prescriptions

Those are all things which pensioners in other countries have to pay for, and don't "expect".

The only thing that we here even approach receiving from that list is a reduction in bus fares and in train fares of about 10% less than the full fare.


For once, I can see exactly where Rollo is coming from!


Our Old Age Pension and Canada Pension Plan are at or just below the poverty line ......... they're intended to allow pensioners to feed and house themselves, and there are quarterly increases tied to the Cost of Living.

There are subsidiary grants that can be applied for every year by those in real need

But that is all

The expectation is that those who are able will have saved and paid into private pensions, either entirely funded by themselves or as part of an employer/employee benefit plan. All contributions to those plans come out of after-tax money.

I'm not saying that those who do not have such private plans are well looked after because they're not. The OAS and CPP should be double what they are ....... but they are also funded by today's workers.


But you should perhaps start thinking in terms of how lucky and how "rich" you are compared to other countries, and do less complaining.

"As it is we live in a "democracy" with an unelected prime minister for the sixth time in living memory," Rollo @5 Dec 2016 16:53

I see the same argument in Australia, but surely, in both Countries, no one 'votes' for a Prime Minister. People vote for their choice of MP and the leader of the majority party usually becomes PM.

If PM's change mid-term so what? Another elected MP is chosen by the majority party to take over.

I seem to recall that the same information was supplied by Rollo fairly recently, but I have neither the energy, nor the time, to trawl through his numerous posts!

Put it down to my age.....but please don't put me down (euthanized) because of my age! :-D :-D :-D

Rollo, if you are a pensioner or about to become one it would make more sense for you to push the pensioner perspective rather than that of any other group.

Other groups are well able to stand up for themselves in the same way as MPs do when voting themselves high salary increases and expenses.

In fact, I would go so far as saying that everyone who expects to get old one day should be supporting the pensioner stance. It makes more sense

You might like to enlarge on your third paragraph because, while I agree that all wars can enrich some people (and watch how the sunbelt industries thrive if Trump has his way) I can't quite get my head around how you've tied everything together.

It's my age you know. ;-) :-S

Well, as JoyLouise said - that's just ageist.

As for living in a 'democracy', I have to agree, it's a strange one, run by a bunch of elitists with apparently, no concept of what 'social equality' means, and in the case of Cameron, run quite literally by the 'Old Boy's Club.

MW should not read between lines which are not there.

I only suggested that people over 70 should be working (inc part time) if they want to vote. Working does not mean managing your offshore funds from the comfort of Nassau.

As for those under 70 the voting age should be reduced to 16 for all elections. Just possibly if women and all those 16-21 had been able to vote after 1901 securing the state pension would have been easier and a million men might not have died in France protecting wealthy men who had the precious wisdom said to come with old age.

As it is we live in a "democracy" with an unelected prime minister for the sixth time in living memory, an unelected upper house and a panel of law lords as unrepresentative of the country at large as could possibly be about to pronounce on its future. To take a popular R4 panel game the common factor is they are all old.
.

"With their age comes experience; they are less likely to be taken in by politiicans rhetoric"

brexit for instance ?
some of them haven't even got the hang of spelling.

the sinking of the SS Politician
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTHKwoM9_Mc
Dermot and I both believe in a wee dram or two

The world belongs to the young. It always has done and always will. The fact that the old ( which includes yt ) are trying to steal it changes nothing.

Any society which values savings and unearned income of one sort and another above wages will come crashing down. Now is not a good time to be getting old 'cos life is only going to get worse. Enjoy while you can :-)

Governments promised today's pensioners that it would look after people in their old age in exchange for grabbing far too much of their income in tax rather than giving them some choices. It lied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWS8BLFbPs

My goodness Rollo - you've opened a can of worms with the 'over 70's' statement.

*Some* people in every age group are 'selfish', so why siingle out the over 70's? With their age comes experience; they are less likely to be taken in by politiicans rhetoric. They'd have 'Been there. Seen/been promised that. Got disillusioned'.

The next wonderful idea you'll be expressing is that everyone would need a verified IQ score in excess of the 100 average.

"I would be fine with those over 70 voting so long as they had a job, even MPs."

This ignores the fact that the older person is more likely to shop locally, therefore contributing to the Country's wealth.

Okay, so we take the theory further -
The unemployed - no job - therefore no vote?
Those on low wages in receipt of Tax Credits - should they have a vote - they (thanks to their greedy employers) are costing the country money.
People who stay at home with their babies (apparently this isn't a 'job') no vote?
Should we still allow non-doms a vote?
The over-wealthy, who don't 'need' to work - should they have a vote?

I'm also intrigued about the statement:
"The greediness, arrogance and stupidity of the old knows no bounds."

Bit of a sweeping statement. Who might they be? Friends of yours?

The greediness, arrogance and stupidity of the old knows no bounds.
I would be fine with those over 70 voting so long as they had a job, even MPs.

When the buying power of pensions takes a serious hit - as it will do under brexit - will the pensioners expect the rest of the country to make it up for them ?

The Tories have already announced that the "triple lock" for UK pensions will go after the 2020 election. FreeTV and the rest of it will be paid only to those receiving pension credit. So there you go.

So a 70 year old wouldn't be allowed to vote in their 70+ MP :-S