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Posts Tagged ‘Pensions’

I must start by declaring that I am a thief of other’s intellectual property but whilst I do not know the photographer of the above picture I give full honour to them. However,  in ‘mitigation’ of my offence, I offer the following: It is a brilliant picture and whether intended or not, achieves a similar level in its own right because of the detail in the characters to the best of the Hogarth prints and as a statement on our current society.

Obviously the topic is the Public Sector strikes over changes to their pension ‘entitlements’ and as someone who sold pensions during the 1980s in the private sector when only people well beyond 40 could “envisage the whole idea”, I can hardly believe in this strike. This strike is not about pensions, it is about FEAR of the immediate, not the long term future !

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Although it doesn’t matter too much today which Newspaper or “Other Media” outlet you choose, they all feed at the same “Handout Trough” rather than gathering too much original material. I was amused to see some froth concerning “First Time Buyers” and “House Prices” in most of them following a couple of recent “Reports” on house buying. This likely hardly surprising as the authors mostly live in and around London where property prices, will always buck the trend national trends.

However, even in London when you have bought on a “New Frontier of Gentrification” as most media people have/will, the desperate urgency of there being first time buyers available so that you can sell (dump the shit) and therefore “Move On Up”, must be a major concern to them. Otherwise, they get stuck in some Hell Hole in Hackney (or similar), with their kids getting beaten up by those of the local drug dealers/pimps and to them most importantly, there being no capital appreciation either !

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It was interesting the other day to see David Cameron’s conference speech being received by people like Nick Robinson of the BBC as “…trying to evoke the spirit of Winston Churchill” and all said with a smarmy sneer.

The reality I suspect is slightly different I believe that Cameron is trying to do a good job under extremely difficult circumstances. Given what we already know, it follows that there is little that he can say when the cupboard is bare of any money because the previous Government has been both profligate and cowardly.

He cannot appeal to the electorate by promising them various bribes in terms of tax breaks and benefits, quite the reverse he has to cut public spending severely. It therefore follows on, just how do you engage the electorate in helping to resolve the situation ?

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Of all the former Labour Ministers, John Hutton was one of the better ones and at least as Defence Minister, looked like he cared. His very public resignation had a degree of ‘principle’ to it and the ever craven David Miliband would have done well to have followed him and set off a change of Labour Leadership before the General Election.

The Labour Party has very little ‘talent’ available as the current Leadership Election demonstrates only too clearly (a bit like a Muppet Show), they really couldn’t afford to lose people like Hutton who stood down at the last election.

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I should be neither unkind nor unfair but I was not that impressed with an article in the Independent today written by a lady called Yvonne Roberts and entitled; “The age of the aged has at Long Last Arrived.” The link as follows: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yvonne-roberts-the-age-of-the-aged-has-at-long-last-arrived-1855413.html

I thought the article rather lightweight simply because in a style typical of people like her, there is far too much “either/or” rather than  “and”, life is not simple, it is complex and “individual people” based but, read and judge for yourself. To say that the old are wise and the young foolish maybe correct in some cases, the point is, it is not true in all cases and likely, not in most either.

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Apparently the other day, a Labour Housing Minister addressing the Fabian Society said that the era in which all Britons can aspire to own their own home may be coming to an end. He suggested that Britain may be moving towards a European model, with renting on a roughly equal footing with buying.

He then said that home ownership had fallen from 71 per cent of households in 2003 to 68 per cent today, noting that this trend began in 2005, well before the recession. “I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing,” he said, what a prat ! I notice he neglected to mention the uncontrolled immigration during that same period.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/its-time-to-give-up-the-dream-of-home-ownership-says-minister-1838189.html

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Whilst we can all be grateful for the fallout from the Telegraph’s expose on MPs expenses which has shaken the general public out of their normal torpor, it is not yet clear where this may end or where it will take us to in terms of meaningful Constitutional Reforms but something else is certain…

I keep banging on about the economy and the need for there to be a General Election sooner rather than later and my views seem to have been backed up today by Edmund Conway writing in the Telegraph, this is where it is really at…

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Joanna Lumley who is rather more than still “top totty” despite being over 60, has led an inspired campaign based upon personal conviction concerning Gurkha settlement rights driven by the fact her Father served with them in action.

People who like to snipe, complain about her “celebrity status” and yet over many years, she has earned it through hard work as model and actress. This is no air head famous for being famous or being in the jungle or on Big Brother, this is a very smart and articulate lady who carries herself with dignity, grace and as is now clear, is totally lethal.

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I was torn between calling this essay, “Buddy can you spare a dime ?” and “Move Over Darling” but decided against both because they were far too light hearted. Following today’s blatantly political “do nothing Budget”, the situation is far more serious, things have got worse.

Like most political lobby journalists who get too close to their “prey”, I have little time for Nick Robinson of the BBC but to be fair he made a very good point today. He called this an historic Budget because of the circumstances but, if Darling’s rather optimistic growth assumptions don’t materialise, the next Budget will be truly Historic !

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The question that surrounds the Home Secretary is whether she can survive in her current job, the answer I suspect is that yes she can and will, but not because of any personal merit. Without being partisan, she has a poor track record, has demonstrated that she is incompetent, unlucky or a combination of both plus has a very marginal seat.

Bearing in mind the the former “Home Office” has been divided into two, Home and Justice, one wonders just how much worse she might have been with the full job. However the truth is that she is symptomatic of a Government on its last legs and is hardly much different from all the other talentless deadbeats that collect around the Cabinet Table in Drowning Street.

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