Posts Tagged ‘Pensions’
The Final Straw, Time to Clean the Stables Out !
March 23rd, 2009 | 
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In some ways and based upon whenever I’ve seen him interviewed, I have quite liked Tony McNaulty because he seemed a far more solid chap than the average Labour Cabinet Minister. However his involvement in the current Parliamentary expenses scandal and his lack of honesty merely demonstrates that there is absolutely no one in this Government of any integrity what so ever.
It is also perfectly clear that there needs to be a radical reform of how much, what and under what rules, any Member of Parliament gets paid, the current situation being clearly no longer tenable and clearly, MPs of all parties being far too venial to produce decent and transparent changes to clean up Parliament’s oh so tarnished reputation.
Posted in Law, The Media | 
Tags: British Interests, Parliamentary Reform, Pensions, Politicians, Within the UK | 
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Bankers the City and Bonuses
In Thursday’s Telegraph blog, Iain Martin put forward an interesting perspective on City Bonuses by pointing out that in the “cut and thrust” of the City, Bankers and Traders feel no loyalty to their employers because they know, their employers have none to them. At the first sign of any turndown in trading, the employees get shown the door’.
The consequence is that “big bonuses” are the only way to recruit and retain the available talent. I suppose from that, the argument must follow that in the current economic circumstances, you need the best talent and that means bonuses, whether the Bank is partly owned or even fully owned by the taxpayer. I do not know whether that is true or not…
Posted in Community, The Media |
Tags: Anglosphere, Pensions, Political Ideas, Within the UK |
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You Need to Plan Ahead
It is not wrong to use public money to invest in major infrastructure and construction projects to provide real work for people that will keep the economy moving forward during a Slump, however, there are some basic rules that should be applied.
The projects should have major economic benefits moving forward into the future. Rather than treating this as a “failure” it is an “opportunity” to do things that in other times just would not happen or be affordable. If you want to build a hydro electric dam, railways and so forth, now would be the time to do it but it cannot be done on the spur of the moment, you needed to have planned for this long before; you need to have a sense of “A Vision or at least a Road Map…”
Posted in Law, Politics |
Tags: British Interests, Pensions, Political Ideas, Political Parties, Politicians |
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UK Pensions – Political Change
The two previous essays were to describe a current and a possible future situation but in this one hopefully, I can try to pull the various elements together. As to whether my ideas are practical is a matter of opinion but at least I’m thinking about it and trying to communicate with others in order to provoke thought and discussion.
I want to move on to the more important part of these 3 essays, the politics and political impacts of change. The principles of democracy are far more important than just “one person, one vote”, they extend to the structures too and within which democracy is served.
UK Pensions – Alternative Solutions
This is the second article concerning using Pension Provision Reform as a major policy tool in the UK and as previously, I am deliberately being ‘simplistic’ in describing possible solutions. As always, the Devil is in the Detail but in generating ideas, one should never be scared of being “shot down” by the naysayers and people with vested interests in the status quo, it goes with the territory.
My proposed solution is that over a period of 40 years, all UK pensions both public and private should be moved over to a “money purchase” system which whilst lacking the security of outcome that a final salary scheme delivers, is potentially both more realistic and fairer for all in society. If you like, in terms of social fairness and harmony, all the best government policies will emphasize “we are in this together” rather than the “Us and Them” mentality so sadly common of late.
UK Pensions – A Tool for Change
This essay is about UK pension provision, but it is as much about looking at the way our parliamentary system works and the impacts of a major change in just one policy area. However odd, it is intended to raise some questions and hopefully designed to provoke thought, in that regard it is the first of 3 essays – Background, Alternatives and the Political Dimension.
In order for me to explore some ideas, I need to set the background which means laying out the current situation in the UK on pensions before I can project a different course of action. Yes, pensions are boring but I don’t want to sell you one, I just want to broadly describe the terrain so that you can form your own opinion.