Member Info for Warthog4

"and triple lock and heat allowance are not sensible.

FFS try telling that to someone who has to choose between heating and eating. No doubt you do not have that problem but seem to have gone to the same school as Rachel from Accounts

Try a bit of compassion will you.

A propos my previous comments re Government profligacy:-

"The Chagos deal will cost almost £35 billion, according to the government’s own estimates. This is more than ten times the amount cited by Keir Starmer in May, when he stated that the deal would cost £3.4 billion over 99 years."

Seems our esteemed(?) Prime Minister, or more probably his grossly incompetent underlings, misplaced the decimal point.

I rest my case

".......It's more if we don't do something quick..."

Agree with all you say but what do you suggest as a "quick fix"?

The fact of the matter is each Administration for decades has kicked this particular can down the road with monotonous regularity. The average life of an MP is about 12/13 years depending on who you read, so they are secure in the knowledge that at some stage they will be out and no longer involved. In turn this engenders very short-term thinking, possibly as far as the next election unlike private sector concerns who have to look well into the future to try to anticipate situations which might damage their business AND in the case of full disclosure annual accounts they have to demonstrate in detail what steps they have taken in an attempt to mitigate.

Show me a government that looks past the end of next week/the next General Election! (In the first version of this I spelled that last word quite incorrectly!)

Therein lies the problem- the intransigent nature of our national decision makers.

Obviously a fervent disciple of the Rachel from Accounts "bash the pensioners" school of thought.

Get the same level of rises as received by those still working? Perish the thought!!! Can't have these old people enjoying themselves can we 'cos after all they are not hit by rapidly increasing prices, don't have to pay folk to do jobs they used to do themselves etc etc. (Ignore, of course, the fact that most pensioners spent their lives paying into the system as it is not helpful to your argument)

But Triple Lock is unaffordable I hear you say, showing once again your affinity for Rachel type thinking and in addition your inability to indulge in lateral thinking. Because of the frozen threshold for the basic rate most pensioners especially those in receipt of a company pension will PAY MORE INCOME TAX with the distinct possibility that a proportion of such folk will be paying it at 40 or even 50%. Then there is VAT on almost everything we buy, end result being that most of the "unaffordable" triple lock payments will drift back into the government coffers.

What IS unaffordable is the billions wasted by incompetent Civil Servants e.g. the grotesque cost overruns on HS2 and the Min. of Defence with its everlasting budget shortfalls, but, unlike state pensioners, they are not a soft target are they?

Yes, Meg. Maybe on OUR calendar but our BoD's calendar seems to be based upon something quite mythical.

"There will certainly be a celebratory meet up when Sareum finally comes to fruition!"

Zimmer frames will be provided.

Yep-try getting in excess of 8% on your average savings account. Aviva now just 5.5% but their SP has rocketed of late

Often wondered what our "Financial PR" people do for their, no doubt, fat retainer. That goes for the rest of the list of hangers on as well.

Luvjub

Agree, but you should know by now that despite fulsome promises from the BoD re better communication/PR it just never happens.

The BoD might just possibly know what they are doing, (apart from raking in over half a million bucks of our money every year that they spin this out)

but their PR stinks.

A neighbour works for a big pharma: he had no idea what Sareum are up to.

Says it all.

Poss. preaching to the converted but have just keyed in

"What is the value of the global market for treatment of psoriasis" on Microsoft Copilot. The results make for interesting reading.

Apols. if this is already common knowledge

PCS. Mrs W. out of the woods ftb. thank goodness-thank you for remembering.

As you say now back to Maverick!! Will Christmas see us all with at least a small present-we all live in hope.

GLA

Best wishes for a speedy resolution PCS. Suffered from the same many years ago albeit just in the joints of my hand but even so the pain could be excruciating at times. Strangely drinking orange juice, not the pure variety but the ersatz stuff from concentrate, exacerbated the problem greatly. I still have the telltale pink knuckles.

GL

Childish puerile comment.

IF you want to see what is happening to our "freedoms" especially the most precious, freedom of speech, enshrined in what used to be our basic democratic principles, then log on to The Free Speech Union website to see how folk are being harassed by a variety of institutions because they have had the temerity to say something which is deemed to be one of the "ists" now beloved of the woke fraternity. Some of it is absolutely frightening and beyond comprehension.

(John Milton published Areopagitica, his famous argument for free speech, in 1644. According to Milton, the only way to reach the truth is BY LETTING CONFLICTING IDEAS MEET

"Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties," he said It is worth a read just to wade through very flowery grammar of the time and "translate" it into its modern version

Usual quiet after the mini-storm. Downward slide has commenced-t'was always thus and will be

Mrs. W. discharged from hospital today

New Grandchild for Paul

SP up nearly 16%

Surrey declare at 820 for 9!!!!!

Laura-don't be disheartened by acid comment in response to your posts. If I had a tenner for every time my comments have been subject to mindless vitriol I wouldn't have to bother waiting around for Sareum to come good!!! GL

Hi Krusty and all you good folk who sent their best wishes for Mrs. W.

Pleased to report that 4 hours of surgery went exactly as planned yesterday and Mrs. W fine albeit abs. exhausted but

now looking forward to be able to eat properly again after months of having to be faddy.

As you say puts everything in perspective.

GLA

Can someone please tell me where I can see details of this "presentation" Bit on the back foot at the moment as my Wife has just gone into hospital for serious cancer surgery.

Thanks

Been heavily engaged last few days on domestic matters. Can someone please point me in the direction of this latest "bulletin"

Thanks

Quite right-Parker has his own agenda and we are not on it. He is a past master at soothing noises and urbane corporate speak.