Energy prices real scandal

Not mentioned, but its a scandal that energy prices are added to by HMG with 5% VAT and 11% "green" surcharge. As they go up so HMG gets more money. Its also the fact that most on pre-payments are either on low incomes or benefits thus HMG is making THEM pay over the odds to the Companies when HMG is paying them. If you work out the cost per unit they are proportionately more for the first units, plus the standing charge so again unfair to those on low incomes and trying to economise. But also if we had better insulation and lower energy appliances/lights etc we'd all save money. Then they give the companies building Nuclear billions in subsidies yet cut off the measly subsidy for solar panels on your roof. I despair - it will never make sense.

Getting Killed at work?

If I died in an accident at work I would expect my employer to investigated by the HSE for any breaches in "safe Working practices" and if they were negligent I would expect them to be prosecuted. Any one at work expects their employer to use heir duty of care and protect you as far as is reasonably possible.

How come then Ann Maguire a teacher killed in her classroom does NOT appear to have the same protection, Is the school or LEA to be investigated by the HSE? No.

This is scandalous.

What will be done about it - what does her union have to say?

BBC Sell it off - they sold the PO

BBC - sell it OFF!

£5 billion in tax and none of them are elected or accountable. Your council gets cut to the bone yet BBC can carry on regardless - its a SCANDAL.

Why ENTERTAINMENT paid for by TAX ?

BBC advertises Apple

Why should the BBC give Apple - one of the biggest companies in the world free advertising?

Scandalous. I thought that they weren't allowed to advertise - is it in their Charter?

I wonder who's palm was greased?

BBC - not elected by us, takes £3.5 billion off us to do what it likes!

PRIVATISE IT!

Bankers have all the Power?

I watched Wolf Hall the other week and I thought that it was extremely funny that Cromwell threatened Harry Percy with Bankruptcy if he did not co-operate. No physical violence just that he was so in debt that Cromwell could make him a pariah by getting his Banker friends to stop his loans then he would have no one and no one would want to be his friend.

Funny how this is still true today.

How would ISIS function without money.

They get money from several sources, oil, and rich supporters who have oil, plus dealing in antiquities.

To me what is astonishingly scandalous is WHO handles this money for them? Surely they don't carry cash around in suitcases?

If we in the West could simply cut off their supply of money by breaking all internet links they have and confiscating/freezing the funds wherever they are and anyone else who is connected to them - thsat is these dealers in  these antiquities, the millionaires who buy them, the arms dealers etc. etc. 

Surely we could then stifle them out. NO FIGHTING necessary.

Come on Obama, Cameron, Merkel, UN, etc. etc. STOP IT, or does the dirty money go up even to these hallowed places?

Look at thes pictures showing ISIS parading in Libya in TOYOTA CARS. Lets all Boycott TOYOTA as a supporter of ISIS. They'd soon stop supplpying vehicles to terrorists if the rest of the world became a no sell zone!!

Come on Obama, Cameron, Merkel, UN, etc. etc. put sanctions on Japan/Toyota - see what happens?

Worlds Fattest Man has died

So the Worlds Fattest Man has died after he tried to lose weight.

After weighing 70 stone he tried to lose weight. He had not been out of his house for 10 years.

He had six-egg fry-ups for breakfast then pizzas, kebabs, Chinese takeaways and Big Macs for lunch and dinner, all washed down with six pints of coffee and two litres of fizzy drinks.

What I don't understand is when these people get this fat where do they get the food from, who cooks it etc etc.?

So someone must be buying it and feeding them. In this case his sisters are suspects.

If he was a child then making fat like this would be "cruelty" and they would be prosecuted and the child taken into care.

Is there no way we can stop these sort of people from abusing and killing another human being? They killed him by overfeeding him.

If he had to feed himself then he's struggle to get the food, cook it and eat it on his own. He's soon lose weight. Besides how did he afford all this food? What was his income? He didn't work did he? Was he registered disabled? SO what was the authorities responsibility in this? He was drug addict, his drug was food. How dare the professionals no doubt involved in this allow this to happen? Surely when he got to 20stone they should have acted but it went on, he gained another 30 stone.

I despair.

Yet apparently so many folk are starving and dependent on Food banks because they can't afford to eat.

I know of poor people who don't cook. they survive on takeaways and ready meals. The Microwave cooks for them. Surely this way must be so expensive? After the last war we were in rationing - there were no Fat people then and we were much healthier - just! On the brink of starvation but people knew how to eek out food, cook sensibly and reduce waste.

Frankly we must just be too rich here in this country or we wouldn't waste so much or get fat.

The Rape of Savers

Bank Interest rate has stood at 0.5% for 5 years. in 2008 the Government gave £40billion of our money to the Banks to stay alive.

Yet here we are as poor as ever and Bankers still get Million pound bonuses courtesy of you and me.

In 2005 I thought I was at that time of life to pay my mortgage off and live with a nice nest egg earning some interest. Not any more. We've not had a payrise for 5 years and nil interest has decimated our ideas. Wish I'd kept the mortgage and spent it. Now we've spent it anyway - no point saving.

What should happen is the Government should help out savers and increase savings rates then they can spend that money and reduce taxes etc. That's how it used to be. We all know to borrow to the hilt got us in this mess but its getting worse.

I despair.

End of the TV Licence?

Is this really the beginning of the end for Taxed Entertainment? At last it seems someone is listening to me.

PRIVATISE THE BBC!

Making not paying your TV Licence a non-criminal offence is a start. Then we just won't be locking up TV dodgers. Why do we all have to pay it?

£32 BILLION the BBC gets from us for TV and Radio - now THAT's CRIMINAL!

I wonder what SKY's turnover/income is? bet they PAY tax too!

Yes Simon Heffer in the Daily Mail has it almost right - let the BBC become subscription (pay per channel) with one or 2 free Public information /news services and a radio channel.

Hooray for New Nuclear Power Station at Hinkley Point - No to Asserby Windfarm

I'm against Windfarms and Nuclear but in this case I think we've got a good deal for the New Hinkley point Power station from EDF and the Chinese.

Forget for now my anti- Nuclear stance for another day. In this case I think the £92.50 per Megawatt hour they will get. Remember this is not until 2023. Quite probably the price of electricity will have doubled by then. the wholesale price is£50 per MWH right now. It has doubled in the last 10 years and this power station is about 10years late due to the last Governments dithering and the Dash-for-gas - which is why we're in a pickle now.

WE NEED THE POWER.

IT WILL ONLY GIVE US 7% (Less than a tenth what we need). What else will they build?

Compared to Wind Energy which is unreliable at least this will give us a reliable decent chunk. 

Don;t forget that £92.50 per MWH 

WINDFARMS already get £100 per MWH and £155 per MWH if they're at sea. This payment is index linked until 2037. No wonder all these wind turbines are going up. Its not to power Britain just to make the Landowners very rich.

Who's complaining about that?

Not to forget that Windfarms get paid for NOT Generating electricity - now what about that!

Who's is complaining that they get over £200 per MWH when NOT generating electricity. these are known as Constraint payments and are perfectly legal under current (daft) rules.

Windfarms get the wholesale price for selling their electricity plus 1 ROC on land, 2 ROCs at sea.

When the Grid doesn't want their electricity, for example when its WINDY and WARM in summer they CHARGE compensation to the GRID but can get £220 per MWH.

Is this not JUST PLAIN STUPID?

Complain to Dave about this. Tell him to cut the ROCS and build proper power stations. Or does he just like to be plain sCameron?

We're not fooled.

Privatise the BBC

Why doe we run a publicly funded Entertainment Empire called the BBC?

The Government have just privatised the Royal Mail for £3.3.billion - what would the BBC be worth?

WE don't pay SKY anything, you're free to subscribe or not. Buy a newspaper or not, go to the Pub or not, smoke or not, its your choice your money but why does every household in the UK have to pay.

The TV Licence is £145.50

Roughly if there are 24million households in Britain and they all buy a licence (watch TV) that's an incredible £3.5billion pounds a year. Just about what the Government got for the Royal Mail. SO sell it off and give us all shares in it. No more TV Licence - let them make money like Sky and BT etc.

That's and end to wrangling in the Houses of Parliament of who got paid what etc.

No one is elected to run the BBC. I pay £120 a year to my local council in Council Tax - for this they empty my bins every week and more - that on its own is good value. What if all the council employees left all their lights and computers on 24 x 7 you'd be angry? YES! Yet the BBC every day I see the news and behind there is a room full on top notch computers and screens all left on with no one working there. The lights are blazing too - no dim withs there! Yet yes the BBC is just like your council WE ARE PAYING the bills! SCANDALOUS. but do They care - no because they're accountable to no one. If it was private it would be different the Board would insist that all teams were accounted for their costs or they'd be out.

I believe in Public Service Broadcasting but not at £3 billion. Some of the Overseas aid budget could be diverted into this perhaps.

They need to do something for the unfortunate folk who either won't or can't get on broadband, education by the BBC that could be paid out of the education budget. 

Surely in the 21st Century, especially in a financial crisis, when we're cutting Benefits,  we shouldn't be paying for Entertainment on our taxes?

Or maybe I'm wrong and its Opium for the masses? We don't want riots in the streets, let folk stay at home and watch Eastenders/ Coronations Street or X factor (oh dear the BBC doesn't do 2 out of 3 of those).

Tiring day in the Garden

Today's task was Cut the Grass. Well its done.
Beginning with fixing the caravan cupboard door. The trim had started coming off. Just needed sticking back, but it had to be the door next to the Microwave which was partially covered so necessitating me taking the whole door off. any way glued, but it curves so had to "bend" it around. Some tape stuck along would hold it in place. then grass cutting. Finally disaster a gust of wind took the poly tunnel door and broke it. Granted the wood is ageing but so I spent an extra 45mins fixing it. Now sat with a  glass of wine and poacher cheese.

So the Government have heeded my advice and moving in the right direction and announced measures to ensure one's pension pots move with you when you move jobs.

As I have said before its a scandal that if you move jobs (frequently - and who has a job for life these days) each company pension you have is worthless if you've oly got a few years in it. Less that 2 and you can cash in but then you end up with no pension hence the Pension Crisis we're in now. If you add up all the years then if you were in one scheme it should be quite good. So if the Government puts its foot down and MAKES the Bankers (Pension funds) play fair then transferring should not be penalised (so much), In the long run the Government benefits as we all get fairly decent private pensions, we all want to join a scheme and thus don't need to depend on handouts.

Benefits Cap? too right

Its this "something for nothing" society we are breeding that gets me. What right have people to think that they can "claim" everything in their benefits?

Right, we are a rich society and I believe we must look after the unfortunate, vulnerable and disadvantaged/disabled in our society. This does NOT give everyone the right to have their whole living allowances paid by the benefits system, there has to be a limit.

Mr Miliband is wrong when he says that Benefits must take into account where you live. Yes it is more expensive to live in the South than the North but generally wages are higher in the South. Does that mean benefits must be hoigher in the Southh than the North - well upto a point.

If I chose to move down south I would choose to live somewhere I could afford. If I was on benefits I would expect my benefits to cover my housing costs too? NO. If you do that then effectively the unemployed have a right to FREE housing whatever the cast and their circumstances.

No, No, No.

If you can't afford to live there on your Benefits then move - up North if necessary. Surely its the same being unemployed in Wakefiled as it is in Wandsworth, but houses are cheaper.

Hospital Scandal

It seems to me that cost cutting on the front line is to blame.

Also why do Nurses have to have degrees now? I guess if you've got a degree you think yourself a qualified clinician and not stooping to wipe someone's bum?

Fair enough.

What happened to girls (or boys) wanting to be Nurses because they wanted to care?

They don't need degrees just some intelligence and compassion. They used to go into Nursing at 16 with 3 or 5 "O" levels. What has happened?

WE are told there are thousands of unemployed youngsters. Can't we recruit them to do Nursing, in the old fashioned way. You don't all have to go to University and be a genius .

pensions 4 everyone 2

I said it on 2nd Oct:-


Lets just hope G Osborne  and D Cameron  sort out the mess over charges and how you "take your pension" with you. 

At the  end of the day unless its a very good company scheme only the Bankers win - AGAIN

Didn't I say it and now the Daily Mail agrees with me.

The Government MUST regulate these pension schemes and stop the Bankers from getting rich quick on poor people. They are gambling with peoples only hope for the future. They take their whole lives to save any sort of pension, these bankers make that much bonus in 1 year! There must be certainty in pensions and a guarantee that you can take it with you without loss if you move jobs.

Now in a letter to the Daily Telegraph these organisations agree with ME, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), the TUC, charity Age UK and the consumers' association Which?.

So you heard it first from Monty.

Everybody IN Pensions

So at last everybody is to be IN a Pension. You will have to Opt out if you don't want to be in.

Good idea. The pensions crisis has largely been forgotten in the Economic Crisis but its not gone away and in fact could be both the cause and the solution to both.

What is good - the theory is every one is in a Pension and contributing while they work is actually paying the pension of those retiring. Unfortunately recently its worked the other way - too many retiring and not enough paying in.

Largely the Government's fault. Remember Gordon Brown's raid on Pensions? If the money was in the Funds then they could invest it in business and thus create the jobs and growth we need. But no GB wanted to spend it - now its gone.

To put it right the Government need to address the issues that pension funds are ripping us off (after all they're the same financial folk who run the Banks). They are purely in it to make money, loads of money. The Government needs to ensure money in a pension is fairly invested - minimal and fair charges. If you change jobs you should be able to take your pension with you and not lose out.

Pensioners cough up to save economy

So Mr Boles thinks Pensioners should not be immune from the cuts and sacrifice their "benefits" to save the economy?


What planet is he on? Again we have these misguided millionaire MPs with no clue about the real world. You try living on £140 a week for 2 people Mr Boles and see what sacrifices you can make to save GB?


Basically if you've worked all your life, . Saved a bit paid into a pension then retired you at least expect to be able to "enjoy" life what it is. What is there else to look forward to if then HMG looks at your income and decides to slice some more off - remember I said "paid your Tax and NI". Since when do you have to pay twice? Surely its the millionaires who should be on double tax!! Just now you're lucky to get 3% interest on your money so to keep going they have to did into their savings - where will it end. Cameron etc wants us to work longer, pay more and then get less! Don't forget the MPs haven't sacrificed their gold plated pensions just yet.


Conversely those who don't work or save nowt, no pension, retire, what do they get taken off them - NOTHING. They get ALL the Benefits - that is just not FAIR.


Pensioners did NOT cause this crisis. Look at the Billionaire Bankers with their Billion pound bonuses. TAX them at 80% to get things sorted.

the Price of milk

So some Milk distributors are to cut the price they pay to farmers of their milk. The farmers say it is below cost.
2 things.

1. if its below cost then they'll just stopped producing it. Grow wheat instead.
2. personally I'd pay more happily!

On 2, what I mean is our supermarket does 2litres of milk for £1 - great. Rather than the farmers "starve" I'd happily pay £1.10 for 2 litres providing that the extra 5p a litre went to the farmers. If we all did this it would solve the problem?

Finally, just tell me why our corner local shop charges £1.60 for a 2litre milk? (where does the extra 60p go?).

Benefits scandal

Good news that Lone parents will have to look for work. I do sympathise with those honest hard working folk who suddenly fall on the situation "bereavement" for example but there are too many using "Kids" as a ticket to a life of Riley!

Maybe this initiative will help? I hope so.

I know of examples where single parent with 3 kids, (2 under 5), council house 3bed semi, colour flat screen TV, DVD Sky, Computers (yes kids have one too)., mobile phones, always buying kids toys, etc, go out for meals regularly (I don't). All this without working and getting benefits from OUR TAXES! Father absent but unemployed "looking" for work? Oldest is looking to  go to Uni but at the moment doesn't spend his "allowance" for attending school.

Gets decorator in, gardener, new fencing, kids go to nursery (free) what does Mum do? Now going to spend £150 on party for one of them! Unbelievable.

Is this right?

Great eh.