Chomper Higgot

Anyhow, now the sniveling little coward Yaxley-Lennon has gone on the lam, I guess we can look forward to news of his next arrest being accompanied by detained without bail, followed shortly afterwards by a stretch of his majesty’s hospitality.

A bit of a sly, though not entirely unexpected, misrepresentation of my post by deliberately truncating it. Full text of my post you felt you needed to bastardize below:

Thanks for imagining things I haven’t myself said. Now feel free to argue with the things you yourself imagine. Update me when it dawns on you that you are arguing with yourself.

Mates with?!

Correct. But while NI remains in place at pensions are an earned entitlement. People in mid working life or nearing retirement have a very reasonable expectation of receiving a pension on the basis of NI contributions they have payed. Remove NI and that link is broken, pensions become a benefit and just like ‘Winter Fuel Allowances’ can be means tested or removed altogether with a stroke of a ministerial pen. Binning plans to get rid of NI is a very positive move for ordinary working people.

I don’t recall you complaining when it was only Trump dishing out the personal attacks.

Agree. But my point is pensions are directly earned and the link between paying NI and pension entitlement is firmly established. Remove NI and pensions become a benefit not an earned entitlement.

Absolutely not. The current Government hasn’t enacted any policies that could possibly result in outcomes within the less than a month they have been in office. So yes, inane, that’s the word.

I’m sorry your life experience hasn’t extended to well paid work with final salary pension rights. It has for millions of pensioners in the UK. They certainly don’t need winter fuel supplements from Government.

A normal professional salary for the industry in which we worked together.

I just can’t help holding those elected to run the country accountable for their mismanagement.

An old colleague visited us from the UK a couple of months back, he was pleased to get his state pension but complained that together with his company pension it pushed him into the 40% tax bracket. I need to get in touch to invite him over for the winter, can’t have old friends freezing for lack of money to keep the heating on.

Or in the aftermath of being treated.

A problem inherited from the Tories, but that is at last being dealt with.

2% Gosh.

Firstly the waiting lists were created by over 14 years of Tory mismanagement. Secondly, the waiting list in Thailand is how long if you don’t have the money to pay?

Until you need healthcare.

Who made such a pledge and when?

Do you mind if we wait to see what taxes Labour change and who pays those taxes.

Now under new management.

Because it’s an earned entitlement. But I have zero doubt that the proposed cancellation of NI was intended to break the link between payment of NI and entitlement to pensions. It’s a common refrain, ‘we earned our pensions’. No other ‘benefit’ is do firmly linked in people’s minds as something they have earned.

And de-link contributions from pension rights, immediately making pensions a ‘benefit’ not an earned and paid for entitlement.

There’s a lot of work to be done fixing 14 years of Tory mismanagement, much of which will be done by those working in the public sector, they deserve a living wage. Meanwhile, there’s huge savings by cancelling the Rwanda scam and hundreds of millions to be revived from COVID related corruption. The budget is going to be fun.

You probably missed the fact the pay awards were outstanding after years of suppression and the recalculation of department spending was due to budget deficits that had been ‘hidden’.

What costs of means testing? If a pensioner is in receipt of Pension Credits or Means Tested Benefits (ie already means tested), they get the wi tee fuels allowance. If not, they don’t get it. No additional means testing required.