General News Chat

[Mason89]

If you want to raise the state pension age, do it to the 16 year olds.
Everyone else entered into a contract the minute they started paying tax.

Couldn’t agree more.

I still maintain everyone should lose their right to vote, the moment they claim their state pension

[donsdaft]

Fair enough
But given that really rich people could keep their vote then just make it age related.

55 I’m pretty sure I was promised

[TheDeeDon]

If you want to raise the state pension age, do it to the 16 year olds.
Everyone else entered into a contract the minute they started paying tax.

In the year 2023, no country should be raising the state pension age.

Good on the French for trying to do something about it

[WhenTattieFlooredChas]

Imagine this yahoo being your poster girl

https://twitter.com/prguy17/status/1...1hoqdL1abV878g

Much better turnout for her latest try 😀
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...protests-erupt

[WhenTattieFlooredChas]

In the year 2023, no country should be raising the state pension age.

Good on the French for trying to do something about it

It could be argued that as we are living longer we need to work longer. The longer we're retired the more it costs the state, but there isn't enough money in the pot.

But as donsdaft points out, those who started work previously shouldn't be penalised at short notice.

I would also say if we had a fairer tax system, where the rich paid a bit more to society, with little effect on their needed wealth, then we could keep retirement ages static.

We are also hell bent on keeping people alive for as long as possible, even if that means leaving them with no real quality of, life pissing themselves in a home for years. That costs a lot. Personally I say let me die and not be a drain on resources when i have no real quality of life left.

The French (for the most part) also have a way more generous tax scheme than us (i haven't researched this, i was told by an aussie colleague living in Bordeaux). That needs to be paid for somehow, and people are taking advantage of it for longer because they live longer.

And finally, do you want to be sat retired for 30-35 years? I saw my dad retire at 58. He's 82 now and has just pottered aimlessly for the last 10 years. He was smart, sharp and witty, and I believe if he hadn't retired so young he still would be. My father-in-law kept working to about 72/73 and is all the better for it at 79.

But it has all been a bit sneaky, and those nearing retirement shouldn't be penalised at short notice.

Don't prolong life, lower pension payments, raise the retirement age or (my preference) have a fairer tax system so the rich pay more. I'm not rich, I don't earn loads, but my wife and i are not on the breadline. I would pay a couple of pennies in the pound more if it meant better conditions for all.

Don't know what my point is, and haven't really moved this on much, but i a accept I will likely work to 68 with the way things are right now.

[donsdaft]

I’ve a week to go, although no state pension until the end of next year.
Still, Maggie persuaded me to opt out of serps so I can live high on the hog on £90 a month.

We simply have to stop keeping people alive until way after their natural time.
It’s cruel and completely unaffordable.

NO ONE wants to end their days , away with the fairies in a home.

[WhenTattieFlooredChas]

I’ve a week to go, although no state pension until the end of next year.
Still, Maggie persuaded me to opt out of serps so I can live high on the hog on £90 a month.

We simply have to stop keeping people alive until way after their natural time.
It’s cruel and completely unaffordable.

NO ONE wants to end their days , away with the fairies in a home.

My mother in law is horrified when we suggest she could keep going another 20 years (she's 78). My mum would have chosen to go how she did - quickly at 79 before being a 'burden'.

We have a shelf life. Don't f**k with it. You wouldn't keep a dog alive if it had no quality of life. Legalise euthanasia!

[donsdaft]

My mother was the same, thanks Mam.

Mrs donsdaft wasn’t so lucky with her father though.
I couldn’t stand him but I wouldn’t have wished that on him, or anyone else for that matter.

[57vintage]

“Broken Britain. How Scottish nationalism and Brexit pulled a nation to pieces” from i’day’s Sunday Herald. A pretty good analysis, and even in my dotage, it may be that I’ve been less aware about the influence of empire than I should have been. Perhaps we’re not as clever and classless* and free as we may have believed. A good read, interesting insights, and don’t point those blaady spears at me if you don’t agree. I didn’t write the fûcking thing, although I wish I’d had the insight so to do.

*some of the bottom-feeders on here may fall into that category, of course, having no class whatsoever

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/broken-bri...irAMiIDAWdNKq4

[TheDeeDon]

It's a good article Vintage and covers many of the problems facing the UK as a whole and the origins of the problems.

What I took from it was never trust politicians and happy to say I don't.