NB1878 retweeted
David Bowie | Warszawa
An ideal representation of Bowie & Eno's partnership, the former evoking the bleak atmosphere of his prior trip to the Polish capital, and the latter creating the 'song' while Bowie was away on legal business. The finished piece stands testament as one of Bowie's Berlin era defining masterpieces.
youtu.be/9Gy94N_mcWs?si=NOZN…
NB1878 retweeted
There needs to be a greater understanding of the triple lock. The reason many of us supported its introduction was that it began to redress the loss of pension caused by Thatcher breaking the link between pensions and earnings. Despite the triple lock being in force for a decade the response I received to a Parliamentary question some months ago confirmed pensioners are still £50 a week worse off. We spend 5.7% of GDP on the pension compared with 10% in Germany, France and Spain, with 15% in Italy. The Triple Lock enables us to bring our pensions into line with European levels especially needed at a time when final salary pension schemes are increasingly being phased out. The false argument about inter generational fairness fails to recognise that the fight for pensions now protects the living standards of young people in the future and that immediate support for younger people should be secured by the fair taxation of wealth. Let’s not let opportunistic politicians and commentators divide young from old in this way.
.@johnmcdonnellMP: ".. Thatcher broken the link between pensions & earnings.. pensions are still £50 a week less.. than if the link with earnings had been maintained.. we should maintain the triple lock until we get the pension level back up to what it should be.."
NB1878 retweeted
'Ending' the State Pension triple lock: what is really likely to happen? Many are confused, and think the State Pension won't rise. Actually the change is subtle, it's about loosening, not ending, one of the three locks - the link to average earnings. So I want to try to explain as simply as I can.
CURRENT TRIPLE LOCK
The State Pension(s) rise each April by highest of:
- 2.5%
- CPI inflation
- Average earnings growth
[State Pension(s) as it applies to the new State Pension and older basic State Pension. Though not the old additional State Pensions (eg SERPS) and a few other additional pension which only go up with CPI. The new system will likely be similar.]
PROPOSED NEW SYSTEM
The State Pension(s) will rise each April by at least the higher of:
- 2.5%
- CPI inflation
The 'at least' is because it will also rise due to average earnings, but not specifically for that year instead over a longer period.
Yet the exact mechanisms aren't set out, so I'm going to use one example of a way it could work, where the rise keeps up with average earnings since the system start date of 2030, as I think its easier to understand.
HOW THIS COULD WORK IN PRACTICE
Here's a made up example to set it out...
Current System:
Year 1: Inflation 3%, earnings up 2%. Pension rises 3%.
Year 2: Inflation 4%, earnings up 6%. Pension rises 6%.
Year 3: Inflation 3%, earnings up 1%. Pension rises 3%.
TOTAL RISE: 12.5% over the 3yrs as the increases compound.
New system:
Year 1: Inflation 3%, earnings up 2%. So it rises 3%.
Year 2: Inflation 4%, earnings up 6%.
A rise of only 4% would be a total rise since the start of 7.1%, yet that's less than the total rise in average earnings of 8.1%. So the Pension would rise about 5% that year to match the total rise in average earnings.
Year 3: Inflation 3%, earnings up 1%, so it rises by 3%.
TOTAL RISE: 11.4% over the three years
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I hope that makes sense, again this is just a rough example to give you an idea as best as I understand it, but I think I'm in the ballpark.
I will try and do a video on it if time as that may make it easier to understand.
NB1878 retweeted
Given Everton were docked a total of 8 points (6 and 2 across different accounting years) for breaching the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability regulations by a total of £20m, the scale of the punishment for Man City SHOULD be ginormous.
NB1878 retweeted
The Labour Party is supposed to be a PROGRESSIVE Government, things are supposed to get better.
Saying there is "no money" for an minor increase to one of the worst pensions in Europe because you refuse to stand up to billionaire donors makes your party pointless.
NB1878 retweeted
State pension is not a “benefit”.
It’s not free money or charity.
You pay into the system your entire working life.
It’s deferred wages you earned.
Stop treating it like a handout.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The State Pension is one of the foundational stones of the UK welfare state. Conceived universally in the 1942 Beveridge Report and established by the National Insurance Act 1946 and has being legally classed as a benefit from day one in 1948.
gov.uk/proof-benefits…
NB1878 retweeted
The long term goal of the right is to mean tests the state pension, and all the arguments about the triple lock being unaffordable and unsustainable are a dry rehearsal for that.
@UniteSharon is spot on, we have to defend the principle of universalism.
NB1878 retweeted
There should be both a triple lock on pensions ( we have some of the worst pensions in Europe for one of Europe's hardest working workforce) and social care spending.
Maybe the PM can start looking at where the money has gone in the last 25 years, who it went to and what it was spent on, alongside the routine and corrupt current practice of denying people social care who are having to sell homes and everything they have despite qualification for said care. Bookmark this because it will be a bigger scandal than Post Office and PPE combined.
We're a rich nation who's people ( out collective fault for voting for people and manifestos that change mid term, something that should be a legally binding document by the way) have worked hard for local and national services, care in old age, and a modest buffer to live on in retirement.
This is neither woke, lefty, righty or middly. It's what people vote for only to be u-turned by all governments.
Norway has 3 trillion in the bank, great pension provision, child care, public services and elderly care. They don't have a magic money tree nor have things like the City of London which should be generating huge revenue privately that also benefits us publicly. They simply hold politicians to account, make sound national decisions and aren't tempted by snake oil salesmen promising the earth but delivering zero to them but plenty to pals.
We do the opposite.
NB1878 retweeted
In 91 caps for England Pickford has NEVER had 3 goals knocked past him
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Jordan Pickford has conceded 3 goals in England matches, including 1-3 vs Netherlands in June 2019 and 5-3 vs Kosovo in September 2019.
englandstats.com/matches.php?mi…
englandstats.com/matches.php?mi…
NB1878 retweeted
Every single person that works a 40 hour week should earn enough money to have a roof overhead, put food on the table and and have a little left over to enjoy life
...and that should be a minimum accepted standard
NB1878 retweeted
The days are long gone of patriotic young men volunteering to be canon fodder for phoney wars started by corrupt politicians sat safely behind their desks getting rich on the proceeds. Send your own children to die for nothing.
Few of my former Tory colleagues appall me as much as Jacob Rees-Mogg former MP for North East Somerset.
Today he tells us that it’s our duty to go to war and fight against whoever our Government tell us.
War is when the Government orders you to fight its enemies.
Revolution is when you realise your Government is the enemy.
FYI Jacob’s first employment was at Rothchilds Investment Management.
I believe Jacob is a Quockerwodger.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments
