Chomper Higgot

We don’t need any mental gymnastics, we need only point to the dramatic impact vaccines have had in reducing infections, serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths.

“Why would anyone knowingly increase the chances of severe outcomes when there are simple and scientific ways to reduce them with effortand an instinct to survive what is survivable?” I agree entirely. Why would anyone refuse a safe effective vaccine. Apart from that, give up on your simplistic arguments on the obesity of others, you clearly have little if any understanding of the matter.

I take it you don’t count yourself among those who you accuse of not taking care of themselves.

There is another issue. Omicron exists alongside Delta and presumably Alpha too. Therefore patients presenting COVID symptoms may be infected with any of the currently circulating variants. The outcome of any infection nor the danger of an infected person cannot be assumed lower risk.

Fabulous. Deserves post of the year.

So now Imperial College is in league with drug companies conspiring to conduct a social experiment?! There is an alternative. No such conspiracy exists.

You completely missed the point I was making.

That is correct.

Regardless of any other health condition, vaccination reduces the risks.

The OP provides links to two newspapers each at opposite sides of the political spectrum.

You completely ignore the fact that even with lockdowns and society wide public health measures COVID has still hospitalized people at such a rate as to push health services to near breaking point. But yes I get the point you and TBL are making: Fight this disease by any means at all so long as those means don’t affect you.

“Some years ago I asked my pension provider how much monthly my wife will get once I die. If I recall right they said 45% of what I was getting before I died. To spoil it all I was told today that it has since changed and they will only pay her proportionately due the 25 year age difference. I hope I've explained that correctly? Is it true?” It is not unusual for company pension schemes to ratio the dependent’s pension based on age difference. However, membership of a company pension scheme is a contract and while the pension fund is governed by Trust Law, the terms of membership, rates of contribution and due benefits are covered by Contract Law. I recommend you review what you were told and when you were told against the pension fund rules. If initially your wife was, after your death, entitled to 45% of your monthly pension, this is a benefit you paid for with your contributions, If at sometime later the pension changed that % then the contract changed but it cannot be changed retro-actively, your wife’s rights to 45% up-to the point of a rule change would remain. Your pension would then have two sets of ‘wife’s rights’. Example: If you were an active member for 25 years and the rules changed in the 20th year. Your wife would have 20years of pension rights at 45% under old rules and 5 years at some reduced ratio under new rules. Note: Once your pension is in payment the rules cannot be changed. There is however one other explanation, it might be the ratio always existed but was never explained. Write to your pension trustees for an explanation. Ask for the specific rule and confirmation of when that rule was written into the pension rules. Better still, if you have any written confirmation of 45% without any ratio reductions. In which case, keep that to yourself for the time being, still write, get the trustees to confirm the history of the rule and then if there is a mismatch go back with your evidence. I trust you have named your wife in your ‘expression of wishes’ if not do so, and consider adding a statement that you wish the trustees to consider that beyond your pension your wife has no access to government welfare support.

You are making predictions based on little or no data.

Correct, there are income requirements, and as ever they are never straight forward. But even class 3 are a bargain with a payback time of just over 3 years.

If your wife meets these two criteria she can make Class 2 contributions and thereby build her NI record to get a pension: 1. Worked in the UK and paid NI for at least 3 years. AND 2. Was working immediately before leaving the UK. ….. Once again, this thread is not about your problems, real or imagined, with immigrants to the UK.

I guess immigrants living rent free inside your head is a form of scrounging. Regardless, your problems with migrants to the UK are not the subject of this thread.

A consideration when claiming your UK state pension is the date you wish to commence payment. Once in payment your pension will not receive annual cost of living increases but it might have a cost of living increase pending as you approach your entitlement date. Example1: Next year’s pension increase is already set in the Autumn budget and will come into payment starting in April. Each Autumn budget announces the pension increase for the following April. If you commence your pension payments before April you will not get the increase. Added to which, for every 9 weeks you defer you’ll receive a 1% increase in your pension for life. April’s increase is set at 2.5% so if you are due to start your pension in February or March, you can get a total of 3.5%. by deferring for 9 weeks. You’d then get an extra £6.30/week for life and recover your loss in 5 years. Example 2: If your entitlement date is only a matter of days or say a month from the pension increase date, deferring your start date gets you 2.5% with very little pension forfeited. One other point. The UK government this year suspended the triple lock for a single year. This has had little impact this year but with inflation rising the triple lock will have an increased impact next year. The Autumn budget 2022 will set the pension increase for April 2023 and it will be Known then if the triple lock has been reinstated, Certainly if your birthday is mid February to early April give this some thought.

There are also thousands and thousands of immigrants to the UK who paid NI but then left and will not receive pensions.

This is dangerously misleading and completely incorrect. An expat living in Thailand is entitled to pay Class 2 NI contributions at a rate of £3.05/week = £158.60/year. For each full year of Class 2 NI contributions the contributor’s pension rises by £5:13/week = £266.76/year. Your contributions will be completely repaid to you after £158.60/£5.13= 32 weeks. Thereafter you’ll be in profit for the rest of your life. The right to make Class 2 Contributions from Thailand is arguably one of the best investment opportunities you’ll ever get to provide secure cash in your old age. Did you really turn that one down BritMan ?!

Not so. The question asked is is constructed to be defamatory, it doesn’t arise from any part of the subject under discussion, rather it simply inserts a derogatory suggestion.

Regardless, the vaccines already in use have saved countless people from infection, serious illness, hospitalization and death, and too the associated costs and human grief. From your linked article: “People who have been naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2 can also be naturally reinfected, as has been shown with endemic coronaviruses, influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and many other respiratory viruses.” To remind you, this is the natural immunity you frequently refer to, and the same natural immunity obtained by the extremely risky means of infection. If you have a better option than vaccination, let’s hear what it is.

The suggestion that a single variant of an infectious virus accounts for 100% is already good cause to question the data. Your claim that the vaccines are almost useless against the Omicron variant is misleading. “The preliminary data about omicron and vaccines is coming in quickly and is revealing lower vaccine effectiveness. Best estimates suggest vaccines are around 30%-40% effective at preventing infections and 70% effective at preventing severe disease.” https://theconversation.com/how-effective-are-vaccines-against-omicron-an-epidemiologist-answers-6-questions-173554 And of course there is a need for the ‘next generation’ vaccine, the virus evolves and the vaccines are modified to suit. If you have a better option than vaccination, let’s hear what it is.

Calling out broadcasted misinformation and misrepresentation of facts is never a waste of time.

Vaccines have done great everywhere, saving countless people from serious illness, hospitalization and death, plus all the associated medical costs and human grief.

Vaccines reduce infections, serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths. The reason for the Delta v Omicron disparity between SA and the UK/Denmark/Austria is the highly infectious Omicron originated in Africa and has established itself in SA, it has only just arrived in the UK, Denmark and Austria but it is rapidly gaining ground. There is no such thing as a ‘leaky vaccine’. As has repeatedly been pointed out to you, the conditions surrounding the spread of this virus and its variants are significantly different between SA and the UK, or anywhere else in Northern Europe or Scandinavia. Now, what was it you were saying about ‘intellectually incoherent’?