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Reply | Could this be the beginning
at 23:14 13 Dec 2024
They may well be getting organised, but as yet they’re pretty light on substance. |
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Reply | Public sector pay
at 22:35 12 Dec 2024
I’m not disagreeing that the U.K. pension is well below what some countries offer and more than what others offer. The problem we have is that many people don’t want to pay the level f tax needed to pay pension and the NHS and there’s a whole cohort who’ve never put in and want to take out! Balancing things out requires compromises.
In my view, people have to take some personal responsibility and those who work should be making provision for their future and that the state pension should be the cherry on the cake and not, as it is in many cases the only source of income people have. Those who have been unable to work or who have worked and fallen foul of scammers or rules which were inherently unfair to should be supported, but those who couldn't be bothered to graft and contribute should get a lot less.
I believe the State pension should be universal and just because someone has an occupational pension of £70k pa shouldn’t stop them getting the State Pension because they’ve contributed enough, but they shouldn’t get the WHA. |
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Reply | Public sector pay
at 22:02 12 Dec 2024
Drakeford has explained that the increases are in part determined by demographics, particularly increasing and decreasing populations and also by the change in numbers of children going to school. There are other factors too, but the above are claimed to be the main drivers.
What we’re seeing is no different to what’s happened in the U.K. over the last 14 years, the Conservative areas were prioritised and other areas slipped down the pecking order. The failure to provide Wales with the compensatory funding Scotland and Northern Ireland received as part of the HS2 project is one such example as is the way Noris and the government spent the “levelling up “ funding in staunch blue seats instead.
Parties have always targeted the lions share of resources at their supporter base. [Post edited 12 Dec 22:03]
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Reply | Public sector pay
at 21:54 12 Dec 2024
I based it on a single person because many people who are looking for their first step on the property ladder are single like I was many years ago. When I bought my first house many years ago I maxed out on the affordability (it was 3.5 times my salary) and bought a house which needed a lot of work, so much so that I ended up gutting it.
If it’s a based on a couple it’s obviously a more affordable proposition, but for a single person that house in Swansea is a big commitment. |
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Reply | Morriston A&E
at 18:09 12 Dec 2024
I don’t think Blair could have opted out of the freedom of movement policy as it’s one of the fundamental cornerstones policies the EU have, but he could have opted to introduce “temporary” restrictions on movement when the policy went live. |
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Reply | No builders
at 22:38 11 Dec 2024
The Compulsory Purchase power isn’t straight forward, but if councils start increasing the tax levied on empty properties (something they are doing down my way) then this may lead to the house being brought back in to use, because in the space of a few years the council tax bill can treble. |
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Reply | Public sector pay
at 22:20 11 Dec 2024
I’ve just had a butchers on Zoopla and there are houses on there for around and under £100k, but a lot of them are for sale on auction platforms and even though the guide price is £100k the reserve is likely to be at least 10% higher. A lot of auction properties are offered on a cash sale basis which limits who can buy them and the 28 day sale/completion requirement will also make it difficult for people starting out in life.
A single person on minimum wage will take home around £18k per annum which will equate to around £1500 cm. Assuming they can buy a £100k property on a 95% mortgage, then if we use Rayners repayment figure of £525 that will leave them around £975.
Factor in council tax ((Band C) £120 per month, gas and electric £150, water £50, house insurance £40, life insurance/sickness cover £30, telephone/broadband £30 that leaves around £450 per month or £5k as “disposable” income. Out of that they’ll need to buy food and potentially run a car etc to get back and forth to work.
You are right - it won’t leave a great deal in the pocket and it won’t encourage a lot of people in to work. [Post edited 11 Dec 22:30]
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Reply | Public sector pay
at 21:41 11 Dec 2024
Someone on minimum wage (just shy of £23k) will take home around £18k, which I think is pretty poor especially if they’re doing personal care etc on patients.
The bottom line as far as I see it is that pensioners who’ve put in to the system deserve a decent pension as do public sector workers who’ve seen their wages eroded in real terms over the last 14 years, BUT at this time there’s not enough money in the pot to do both. What we really need to be focussing on are the malingerers and people who are capable of working but who are playing the system. There should be limits on how long people can claim benefits for and after possibly 18 or 24 months which is ample time to allow people to learn new skills if the backing is in place they lose their benefits. Sickness benefits would need similar consideration, but with a robust fair process in place there’s no reason people can be helped back in to work with reasonable adjustments and if needs be employers get tax breaks to help people back in work.
If we can trim the benefits bill and tackle tax evasion and criminality there’s no reason why we can’t increase pensions and pay people decently.
The bottom line though is that work has to pay and we have to increase the differential between working and not working. [Post edited 11 Dec 21:41]
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Reply | Public sector pay
at 19:10 11 Dec 2024
If the £680 is all the pensioner has, then they can claim pension credit which will top them up to around £392 for a couple and £212 for a single person. They’ll also be able to claim other benefits on top of that such as WFA. |
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Reply | Farmers
at 16:32 10 Dec 2024
Totally agree with you, it’s a nonsense and no doubt sees cash frittered away on not so urgent stuff. Departments/Services should be allowed to save money from the end of year and use it towards the next year’s projects. |
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Reply | Farmers
at 13:06 10 Dec 2024
There’s no one size fits all when it comes to farming, there are the small farmers who may struggle, the very affluent who aren’t struggling snd then there’s the very wealthy individuals who are buying up land as a tax dodge so they can avoid paying IHT .
In terms of running at a loss, many are deliberately run at a loss so they can minimise their tax liability, towards the end of the tax year is accountant will give him the heads up and tell him to go and buy a new tractor or a car or a plough etc etc to minimise his tax exposure. I’ve got a relative who’s a smaller builder, it’s the same there. New cement mixer, van, tools etc etc. A loss doesn’t always mean people are struggling. |
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Reply | Syria War - 300,000 civilian deaths
at 14:13 9 Dec 2024
Apparently so, they’ve been targeting ammo dumps etc to prevent stockpiles of weapons falling in to the “wrong hands”. |
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Reply | Morriston A&E
at 21:02 7 Dec 2024
If you live in the Hywel Dea Health Board area you can get the micro suction done for free, not sure about the ear irrigation though. |
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Reply | Syria War - 300,000 civilian deaths
at 16:08 7 Dec 2024
It looks like al-Assad’s family have fled to Moscow but he is still there - for now. I suspect the regime will collapse in the near future and we’ll see more blood shed and lives lost in a civil war amongst the various factions. The Russians though, look like losing a very strategically important base. |
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Reply | Is Clive Myrie too " careless" to be a big earner?
at 22:14 4 Dec 2024
That’s a pretty tight regime to be fair, but if you omitted an entry from your monthly return would your employer be any the wiser?
Where I previously worked, any gifts etc had to be reported immediately and permission sought to retain them, but there was a presumption we wouldn’t accept any gifts, hospitality etc. it was just too much hassle. |
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Reply | Is Clive Myrie too " careless" to be a big earner?
at 20:59 4 Dec 2024
In terms of Myrie, if the BBC weren’t aware of his outside income/events at the time because he hadn’t declared them there wouldn’t have been a lot they could have done. In terms of the others, they’ve come up well short of the standards we should be expecting: . |
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Reply | The SNP Budget Fiasco
at 19:15 4 Dec 2024
The decision to lift it is a decision for Scotland, but if I were Starmer I’d ensure no extra resources were provided to them and I’d tell the SNP it’s your call, but you have to fund it from your existing budget. |
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Reply | The SNP Budget Fiasco
at 15:57 4 Dec 2024
Westminster has devolved big parts of the social security budget from London to Scotland, it’s not a case of the budget going up by £5bn in 5 years. They said, the amount spent on social security has gone up across the UK. [Post edited 4 Dec 15:58]
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Reply | Biden crime family
at 19:53 3 Dec 2024
Trump pardoned 237 people during his term in office for a variety of offences including contempt of court, perjury, obstruction of justice, retaining secret information to name but a few.
Trump pardoned his son in law Jarod Kushner’s father following his conviction for an array of offences, Trump has now picked Kushner Snr as his Ambassador to France! |
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Reply | Motormouth gone
at 19:42 3 Dec 2024
100%.
Whatever one’s political preferences, it’s really important to have a strong and effective position. I don’t like to see one political party have a large majority, I’d much prefer a smallish working majority as that’s more likely to ensure we have checks and balances in place. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 2620 | | Comment Votes: | 0 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 2620 |
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