Forum Topic

Why pick on a soft touch?

Once again the story rolls on - some Conservative MP's are considering targeting pensioners by stopping the Freedom Pass, Fuel Allowance and free Prescriptions!I would love to see these MP's trying to live for a week or two on a pension, they would surely get a rude awakening. They live in luxury, have their subsidised meals, drinks, all sorts of perks. Chauffeur driven cars, home in the country for some, and at the end of their working life have a huge pension to look forward to.Compare that with a pensioner who has worked all their lives, sometimes for a miserable salary. Gordon Brown raided their pension funds. Inflation has reduced their little bit of savings. Council Tax, Lighting, Heating, Water Bills, plus the high cost of food and many are left with very little to live on.The Freedom Pass really is a Godsend for pensioners, it means that they are not forced to sit at home all day long with nothing to do. Instead they are able to get out and about, meet their friends, go to the library, or for hospital appointments. Without the Freedom Pass I can assure you that pensioners would suffer tremendously. Many would suffer from depression moping around the house all day, sometimes lonely old folk can go days without getting the change to speak to another person. Is this what our 'caring government' would wish for them? Pensioners have paid their dues to society and it is high time they received this little perk towards the end of their working life.As for Fuel Allowance, there have been many stories inthe press that some pensioners have in the past had to choose between eating and heating. With costs soaring due to greedy untility companies it is no wonder pensioners are finding it more problematic to keep their homes heated. Is this what our 'caring governbment' would wish for the older generation? No doubt MP's elderly relatives are well cared for and well heeled!Then we come on to prescriptions, as one gets older there is a greater chance that health conditions mean more visits to the GP and more medication. Why should pensioners be expected to fork out the high price for prescriptions? If this were to happen many pensioners would just go without their medication and end up in hospital which would cost the NHS much more in the long run.Why for instance are prescriptions free in Wales and as far as I am aware in Scotland and Northern Ireland? Can this be fair? I have also heard that pensioners living in Southern Ireland are well catered for. The pensions in this country are lower than in most other European countries. Not something to be proud of.There are so many ways the government can save money but targetting a soft touch like Pensioners is really disgraceful! They say it would cost more money if these benefits were means tested, so why bother?Instead concentrate on the Quangoes, The Pen Pushers in the NHS and other areas. The advisers - why on earth do these people who are supposed to be capable of running the country need so many advisers? Haven't they got the brains to work things out themselves?The NHS could save BILLIONS if only they would stop trying to deliver free treatment to the entire world. Check who is entitled to receive treatment, or ensure that the patient is intending to pay for his/her care. A number of NHS hospitals are close to going into administration because of mismanagement. Sack the Managers!We are also spending a fortune on overseas aid, even when countries say they don't want our money, still we insist on handing it over! Most of the money probably ends up in the hands of those in power. I doubt the people living in those countries feel the benefit! We also give huge amounts to the IMF - aiding countries like Argentina, Greece, Spain - you name it!Bring our troops home from Afganistan, what on earth they are doing there God only knows. It must be like trying to train a Rotweiller, and for what? Stop reducing our Army to save money and then relying on the TA. Labour even closed our local TA in Horn Lane some years ago and sold the land to build flats!Can we not have someone running this once great country of ours who actually cares about our own people?We are so generous to anyone and everyone who comes to these shores, whether or not they are a deserving case, whether or not they wish us well or wish us harm. Surely if money is tight we cannot continue like this? Why pick on the pensioners weho have worked all their lives and end up trying to live from day to day on a miserly pension?If the Conservatives once again wish to be known as the 'Nasty Party' then they are certainly going the right way about it. If they decide to target pensioners in this fashion then I for one will never ever vote for them again.Sorry for the rant but someone has to say it

Jean F Fernandez ● 5045d28 Comments

Re  then the council (i.e. the tax payer) will be paying        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    but do we know how much. As K I says, may be just an admin fee, presumably of minimum amount?

Tony Price ● 5044d

Didn't read your earlier post Susan.Of course that's how it works.

Keith Iddon ● 5044d

Again, I say that boroughs are charged for each card issued on the assumption that it will be used, and not just a fiver for admin. If your pensioner with the roller applies for a card, on the grounds that it's his right to have one, then the council (i.e. the tax payer) will be paying, whether he uses it or not.

Susan Kelly ● 5044d

If a well off pensioner presumably gets driven around in a chauffer driver roller and never uses a bus or public transport,where is saving? Is it only in the administration involved in issuing  that free pass? That'd be about a fiver a year I'd bet.

Keith Iddon ● 5044d

I share the same real concern that most of this money will go to lining the pockets of the scumbags and charlatans who run the whole shooting match in these countries.Nelson Mandela himself has said as much that aid to Africa is counter productive,for a variety of reasons, in most cases.I do have sympathy for anyone who dies from fistulas during childbirth.but throwing money without checks and balances is stupid and supposes we have some sort of responsibility for the causes.

Keith Iddon ● 5044d

KeithMy arthritis keeps me awake most night and I have become a devotee of the World Service overnight.I was listening to the horrific accounts of young girls dying from fistula during childbirth. I can understand why we are spending money on promoting contraception although not £1.4bn. My other concern is that much of this money will not reach the people for whom it is intended being siphoned off by corrupt officials at national and local level. I base this on being part of a church that was financially helping to build an education centre in Nkoranza, Ghana. The chap who was arranging things at this end was damning of the local corruption when our first donations went 'unspent'. He resolved to take half the donated amount, in cash, and buy materials locally. The result was a new education centre for far, far less than had we simply wired money to Ghana.

Nigel Brooks ● 5044d

Jean F Fernandez writes ----"Once again the story rolls on - some Conservative MP's are considering targeting pensioners by stopping the Freedom Pass, Fuel Allowance and free Prescriptions!"---Well yes. The actual proposal is to withdraw these benefits from "better off" pensioners, however defined.However as has been pointed out on more than one occasionbetter off pensioners already pay income tax. And so asimilar result could be achieved by adjusting those tax scales and allowances which actually affecttruly well-off pensioners. This is by far the cheapestand most efficient way of achieving any such savings as are thought necessary.Means testing requires far more staff to administer plus publicity campaigns to ensure all such benefitsare taken up.The examples given of the "injustice" of millionaire pensioners being entitled to winter fuel allowances and free bus passes* overlooks the fact that these individuals will already be paying thousands of pounds in income tax each year. michael adams * The Tory boy who produced this Consultation Paper has clearly never traveled on a London bus recently - more especially during the rush hour or at school chucking out time

Michael Adams ● 5044d

Agreed Nigel. I also wonder why we are contributing 1.4bn of our hard earned to contraception advice and birth control to a collection of 3rd world countries,announced today I think.Why don't the rich of these countries pay for their own society and let the rest of us pay for ours? I also wonder what % of the money given for foreigh aid is creamed off the top by whoever is in the chain of command.Who are we to give advice on birth control anyway,us having the one of  largest % of one parent families in the developed world?

Keith Iddon ● 5044d

I don't have time for this.

Tony Wood ● 5044d

Re Just what qualifications do you have           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      plain commonsense for starters. It is well known the B B C waste money for example on unnecessary entertainment, both here and abroad and send far more persons than needed.  It is a gravy train for some, many of whom at the top I would suggest are over paid and end up with huge pansions which we taxpayers are lumbered with. They are not a commercial organisation and this Government in particular  try to do something about it. The B B C are only stopped from getting high annual increases by government  denial. And to pay certain persons £6 million a year, our money I might add, beggars belief. I appreciate it is a matter of opinion, but wouldn't pay  " him " a penny. And there seems to be an " in clique " of persons who are involved in so many programmes. It seems as though " once you are in " it is jobs for the boys, and girls of course.

Tony Price ● 5044d

Re  do you simply enjoy hijacking threads?        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    the person concerned has been stalking me for years under various names and guises and has tried every trick in the book to get me, and others, removed from the Forums. You should ask yourself how he manages to do and get away with it, apart of course for why.

Tony Price ● 5044d

"there are 3 organisations I would love to go through with a fine toothcomb, the B B C, Town Hall and the N H S. I guarantee running costs would tumble."Now there's confidence....confident but wrong! Just what qualifications do you have to carry out those tasks,remind me again what was/is your profession?I can't speak for any of the organisations you mention,but I did spend most of my working life at the BBC so I know a little about how that is run. Exactly what is it that you expect for 39p per day,that's one and a quarter cigarettes, about a sixth of a pint of beer or lighter full of petrol a day,not much is it?Do you imagine that Independent/BSkyB TV is free, can anyone be that daft,how do you think it's financed? Almost every time you buy something a large percentage of the cost goes to advertising,so for instance if you don't have BSkyB you are still paying for the adverts in programmes that you can't watch,how clever is that? (Rupert says thanks by the way).No... I'm sorry but you need a serious rethink before claiming extraordinary powers.

Tony Wood ● 5044d

Re  Are you sure?        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  I must admit I thought the Local Authorities around the country, and all seem involved now, are  charged according to the amount each pass is used. As you know in London they have to be swiped at the terminals or the bus onboard registering machines, the purpose of which I assume is to charge each pass according to it's use. Someone will know the  true situation, I am sure?.

Tony Price ● 5044d

Can't you deal with your dislikes on private or do you simply enjoy hijacking threads?I think you have made your displeasure abundantly clear and your posts detract from the issues bein discussed.

Nigel Brooks ● 5044d

I find myself wholeheatedly agreeing with you.Health tourists have accumulated debts of £40,000,000 among thos health trusts that measure it, this does not include the unpaid debts for GP visits, prescriptions and dentistry.The source of this information is the papers presented to a Commons select committee on 23 May 2012.I have no problems with the reciprocal arrangements within the EU for emergency care but I fail to see why, save for accident or real ememrgency, we should pay the medical bills of those who have not contributed to 'the pot'.

Nigel Brooks ● 5044d

... is a testimony to the sad life of TP.

Guy Colling ● 5044d

"The issue of the Pass itself does not cost, but only the use of the pass,so if for any reason it is not used,no cost is incurred."Are you sure? I was under the impression that the borough had to pay a certain sum for each pass issued, regardless of how much or little it is used.

Susan Kelly ● 5044d

Jean Fernandes . Thank you for your Posting.Every paragraph,Every sentence,Every word rings True.In my mind and I believe it does too in the minds of a large majority of Pensioners .I have thought seriously of ever voting for a party that considers treating the elderly in the manner being proposed. No Jean,it was not a rant.It was Plain Common Sense.

Os A Whittle ● 5045d

Re  I for one will never ever vote for them again.              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      I can understand your fury Jean, held by most of the population on the matters you raise, but are the alternative parties not even worse. The only other viable alternative would be UKIP,in my opinion.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  whether or not they are a deserving case,             xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  they're not.Only 2.5% of asylum seekers are genuine.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  actually cares about our own people?            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    now now missus, that sort of thought ain't allowed no more. It ain't what's known as Politically Correct, we've bin got at. We must come last, in our own country, especially in public housing. Immigrants must and do come first. There's usually one law for them and one for us.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  what on earth they are doing there God only knows              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    agreed. The life of one British soldier is not worth losing in that God-forsaken place.

Tony Price ● 5045d

RE  still we insist on handing it over!            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx        yep,hand over these persons instead, soon dampen their ardour.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  free treatment to the entire world.          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  exactly, no contribution in, nothing coming out, only exception being for emergency treatment following accidental bodily injury incurred in this country. And a check when landing in UK, as do other countries.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  The Pen Pushers in the NHS and other areas        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  there are 3 organisations I would love to go through with a fine toothcomb, the B B C, Town Hall and the N H S. I guarantee running costs would tumble.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  Then we come on to prescriptions,      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    I think any Govt. that messes with these for anyone is heading for danger,especially when persons coming to this country and who have contributed nothing in taxes towards any form of Govt.benefits ,get N H S treatment free, and probably  prescriptions as well.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  The Freedom Pass  Fuel Allowance          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      what you say re the usefulness of Freedom Passes to senior citizens is true and a sensible comment was made recently when the subject was being discussed on TV that such should continue for all senior citizens in that the richer ones would not use public transport anyway and thus not cost the taxpayers anything. The issue of the Pass itself does not cost, but only the use of the pass,so if for any reason it is not used,no cost is incurred. As to the Fuel payment, if it were stopped it would only be for the wealthy ones, some who apparently pass it on the Charities. But where it could and should be stopped is where the recipients  spend the winter abroad, which a good few do. So they don't need it at all. But I don't think there is the intention of stopping either payments for all recipients.

Tony Price ● 5045d

Re  Not something to be proud of.        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  this is a gripe and a half  to be sure Jean, much very true  sadly but on the question of UK pension, although it is less than elsewhere, ours does have some semblance of safe financial basis whereas those on the Continent are hopelessly underfunded and heading for future disaster. We have seen what trouble Greece in particular has got into, Italy fast heading in the same direction, with pension arrangements that cannot be sustained either in amount or payment starting age. Brown did great damage to the Pensions Industry in this country, as he did with so many other things. More comments to follow, Tony.

Tony Price ● 5045d