Tax Credits & a Living Wage.

Tax credits help low-paid families. There are two types: Working Tax Credit (WTC) for those in work, and Child Tax Credit (CTC) for those with children. The Conservatives want to cut the income threshold for WTCs from £6,420 to £3,850 a year from April 2016. The income threshold for those only claiming CTCs will be cut from £16,105 to £12,125. The rate at which those payments are cut is also going to get faster. Currently, for every £1 claimants earn above the threshold, they lose 41p. This is known as the taper rate. But from April, the taper rate will accelerate to 48p.

There will be similar reductions for those who claim work allowances under the new Universal Credit.

Opponents of this say millions of existing recipients, many of whom work but are on low incomes, will be £1,300 a year worse off. Ministers say that taking into account other changes, such as the introduction of the new national living wage, further increases in the personal tax allowance and an extension of free childcare, the majority of existing claimants will be better off.



I agree that tax payers shouldn't be paying for employers who don't pay a living wage to their workers. What I don't get is how the Conservatives think that they can introduce the cuts well before any ameliorating benefits come into force. The new National Living wage doesn't come in till April 2016, but only for workers over 25. There will be a gap during which many people who are already struggling, will find it much harder to make ends meet, putting an extra 200,000 poorer families into working poverty. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the number of children living in poverty has increased in the last three years from 2.3 million to 2.5 million. It estimates that the measure outlined above would increase that to 2.8 million. The poorest tenth of society will lose around £800 a year as a result of tax and benefit changes in the years up to 2019 - equivalent to almost 7 per cent of their net income

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3155062/Summer-Budget-2015-income-tax-changes-glance-better-worse-month.html#ixzz3psZm5EdE

No wonder the Lords asked the Govenrment to think again. Someone had to.

Responsibility & Expectation

"There is only one way to salvation, and that is to make yourself responsible for all men's sins. As soon as you make yourself responsible, in all sincerity, for everything and for everyone, you will see at once that this is really so, and that you are in fact to blame for everyone and for all things.”

 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

What an oddly negative point of view. I can only be responsible for myself - for my own actions or non actions. I can be responsible for the effect my behaviour has on other people or things.  I can cause great pain & hurt to others by thoughtlessness or ignorance. I can change the course of events by what I do or don't do. Multiply that by the population of the world & you immediately see that we are in a constant state of flux and change, and really not masters of our own destiny.

I can attempt to behave responsibly and recognise that what I do or don't do is important. Probably not earth shattering, but each person's behaviour does make a difference. I can try to think of the impact I can have and think before I act. Most importantly I can recognise that I am human, not perfect. I will make mistakes. The trick is to know a mistake when I see it & do something about it before it's too late.

I can expect other people to behave as well as possible. I can expect them to treat me with respect & care. But I have learned in 70 years, that expectations can be both a good thing and a complete waste of time. Other people will behave as they see fit. Sometimes completely selfishly & unkindly. So I try not to expect now.

I don't think I believe in salvation, although there is always the possibility of redemption. I do believe I am a grain of sand blowing in the wind. But grains of sand can cause great discomfort in a shoe.

All I can hope to achieve is to do no real harm.    

Royal Mail - Track & Trace

This should mean exactly what it says to my mind. Not to Royal Mail seemingly.

They seem to have lost my Sat Nav. It was logged in to their system on the 9th October & I still haven't received it 9 working days later.

I have sent emails asking where it is. This is the response - "Royal Mail Signed For mail travels with ordinary mail and is only tracked once delivery has been attempted so I regret that I am unable to confirm the whereabouts of your item at this time".So what is the point of me having a "tracking number"? Apparently my parcel "has not yet been confirmed as being delivered". I had worked that out for myself.

My point is that anyone paying for this level of service would expect what the private companies do deliver, (excuse the pun. I am not really amused at all). You are given a tracking number & they can tell you exactly where the item is in their system. It's not rocket science - in any sense of the phrase.

I have to wait for 10 working days after the due delivery date, which is 3 days after posting. Then "if your item still hasn't been delivered ....you may wish to consider submitting a claim for the loss of the item". But what proof can I provide, I didn't post it. It's not a new Sat Nav, it had been repaired, so was as good as new. Will they pay for a replacement? Apparently not. I haven't got a clue what it's actually worth, except that it's worth a new one to me & that's what I'll have to pay for. Plus paying for the repair & postage.

The whole thing is very frustrating & a huge waste of my time & effort. How do they manage to lose items within their system? I've tried to find how many items are lost per year, but been unable to do so. No wonder the private companies are doing so well at Royal Mail's expense.

PS
My postie tried to deliver it yesterday, 14 days after posting, but I was out. According to the Track & Trace info it had been to Heathrow & then Swindon. I wonder why. The sender said Royal mail know there is a problem at Ipswich & he had had more parcels lost and delayed recently than in years.

PPS
It's just arrived. Royal mail have offered me a book of 6 first class stamps as compensation for taking 2 weeks to get a parcel from Suffolk to Oxfordshire.

Giving Gifts

The shops have been full of Christmas for weeks. Christmas in the sense of "stuff" - cards, decorations, presents. The money spent literally keeps some companies going for the rest of the year.

http://moneystepper.com/other-finance/christmas-retail-sales-2013/

My heart sinks at the end of August when it all starts. I've blogged before about how I feel about Christmas, so I won't re-wind.

I remember my Christmases as a child in a one income, working class family. I thought getting a book of my own was wonderful. It bore no resemblance whatsoever to Christmas today. But then the same is true of weddings, funerals, birthdays......celebrations in general.

By the time I had a family of my own - professional, two income, middle class, things had changed. But I often made my own gifts & decorations. I certainly made all of the food from scratch, although I was working full time. It was quite an effort. There were limits on spending & volume. Christmas didn't really start until November / December. There really wasn't any excess.

Now there is "pester power". The lists are written weeks before the event. Children want what their friends have & know how to get it. Companies know how to reach their mini market with targeted advertising. The gifts are tecnological and very expensive. Nothing is valued. Wrapping is torn off in a frenzy & children rush on to the next gift. Opening presents takes days because there are so many.

Giving & receiving should be a pleasure. Chosing an appropriate gift for someone close to you isn't about money, it's about love, thought & time. It's not about volume, it's about being special.

We are "time poor". Christmas has become a treadmill. We just throw money at it. Thought has gone out of the window, otherwise we would refuse such excessive waste in the face of a world of poverty.

Making your mind up

Bucks Fizz 1981
"Don't let your indecision take you from behind
Trust your inner vision, don't let others change your mind"

This was a typical Eurovision song & it won. The lyrics are appalling, but I don't think the refrain is bad.

It seems to me that making your mind up involves a process, unless you feel god like & omnipotent. Indecision isn't good, but neither is a decision based on too little information. You can't go through life without making decisions. Surely a decision based on consultation & research is better, even if it involves a delay & changing your mind.

Why is changing your mind regarded as bad, especially in politics? Mrs Thatcher, with that characteristic stridency, said "the lady's not for turning" about doing a U turn in 1980. Personally I wouldn't want to emulate that over confidence in my own singular judgement. I'd rather listen to other, informed points of view before reaching a momentous decision.

I do think that we all have an inner voice which guides our actions & decisions & often that initial reaction will be the right one for us. I would like to think that I can be persuaded by more cogent argument though.

Information & circumstances change all the time. It is often difficult to know what facts or whose opinion to believe. Making your mind up has never been more complex in this age of instantaneous opinion & data.

So, if a politician changed his / her mind is that so bad? Doesn't it show that they are prepared to admit they were wrong initially. Isn't that braver than holding on to a mistake rather than losing face? Don't we all want honest politicians, if that isn't an oxymoron? Is it realistic to hold politicians to standards which we ourselves can't achieve? We are all human after all.

Giving Time - Grandparents Rule!

Time is our most precious commodity. We all lead busy lives & don't have enough of it, especially if we are working. Although I'm retired, because I'm single, I am the only one to keep the "show on the road", so I too am sometimes "time poor".

Because I had a family & a professional, demanding, job I know what life is like trying to keep all the balls in the air at the same time. Now, as an observer of the lives of others, it seems to me that things have not got better.

My concern is that we are losing something in this onslaught of complexity. We are losing real conversations, with family, friends, neighbours & colleagues. Talking to strangers can be viewed as odd. Lonliness is everywhere, at every level of society and in every demographic. Depression & psychological disorders are rife - Addiction, self harm, suicide, obesity, anorexia.....

The coping mechanisms of my parents generation - a network of good, reliable, family, friends & neighbours seems a thing of the past. Instead we have a plethora of self help psycho-babble books because the NHS doesn't have enough resources to deal with the numbers of people needing "talking therapies". Often relationships seem superficial. There seems to be in-built obsolescence. Living together isn't working - Ok, move on & try someone else. A friend is replacable. We have lost the art of working at relationships & accepting differences.

In the "developed" world we are becoming divorced from our humanity. We communicate via technology. We interract more with smart phones, computers & TV than eachother. We solve problems by giving money or gifts instead of our time. It's nice to get a bunch of flowers through Interflora if something bad has happened, but it's much more useful to be able to talk to someone about it. A friendly voice is more theraputic than any number of flowers. It's basic. It's the need to share & know someone understands & sympathises. Or the need to laugh with someone else. There is something hollow about laughing out loud on your own.

On the upside, I have noticed that now I've lived in a city for 2 years, locally people I don't know do smile at me as we pass. I do chat to people in queues & on the bus. I do have the time to listen to my grandchildren & daughter & be a part of their lives.

The elderly have a lot to give, but it isn't a one way street, they need to receive too.

NHS in Crisis

"Today" Radio 4 - 12.10.15

Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallet says “the NHS is close to bankruptcy” and therefore there “isn’t a chance” that the government’s plan for 24/7 care will happen. The government says it fundamentally disagrees. Hughes-Hallett wrote a long article for the Mail on Sunday about the NHS, (see link below), saying “morale is low and a culture of fear stalks its wards”. He has put his concerns in letters to the Government and to others in the Health Service.
Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallet is Chairman of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3267950/RIP-free-NHS-care-Health-service-supremo-warns-Cameron-patient-charges-inevitable-won-t-inject-billions-sinking-hospitals.html

Sir Thomas thinks that we retirees could free up hospital beds by volunteering to help. I'm sure we could & many do. It's a sticking plaster though. What we really need is an honest discussion about what our taxes can & should realistically buy in the NHS.

Why are taxes paying for free meals in hospital for everyone? We all feed ourselves at home. Why do taxes pay for people who make lifestyle choices, playing sport, for example, & are then injured as a result? Why don't we insist that they take out insurance? If people are injured as a result of getting paralytically drunk, why can't we deduct a contribution to the cost of their healthcare at source from their wages like tax? Just because we can prolong life, should we? Isn't quality of life just as important as actually living? There is nothing wrong with "do not resuscitate" so long as the patient makes the decision. Why are health professionals the state has trained at great expense allowed to leave the NHS whenever they like with no penalty? If they want to leave to go to better paid private companies or abroad within say 5 years, why don't they have to repay the cost of that training before leaving?

We are just bobbing along a tired old road going every whichway, without any proper consultation, communication or thought. Huge amounts of money pours in without cost effective outcomes. Tired vested interests & hierarchies defend their territories. It really has to stop. It won't get better until rational thought & discussion takes place without politics getting a look in.

Gung Ho Guns - America's appalling record.

Would you want to fight alongside Americans? Would you want Americans defending your freedom or rescuing you? I wouldn't. Just check out their history of "friendly fire" and "collateral damage"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._friendly-fire_incidents_since_1945_with_British_victims

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/06/middleeast/us-collateral-damage-history/

The most recent, appalling incident of the bombing of the Medecin Sans Frontiere hospital in Afghanistan is just the latest in a long list.
https://theintercept.com/2015/10/05/the-radically-changing-story-of-the-u-s-airstrike-on-afghan-hospital-from-mistake-to-justification/

Add to all that their obsession with their so called "right to bear arms", which by the way is completely misplaced, and the escalating number of mass shootings & you have to wonder about the sanity of the most powerful nation in the Western world. http://www.gannett-cdn.com/GDContent/mass-killings/index.html#frequency

I can't even begin to understand the psychology. Is it ignorance? Is it denial? Is it fear? It certainly doesn't show manliness or bravery. All of the evidence shows that countries who do not allow their citizens to be armed to the teeth on the streets & in their homes are infinitely safer than America.

I really feel sorry for President Obama who has been trying to stop this since his election. He doesn't stand a chance in the face of the rich and powerful gun lobby, who have both Congress & the Senate in their pockets. The politicians are either craven cowards or just protecting their own self interest because they think they won't be re-elected if they support new gun law.

They might just be surprised. Ordinary people must surely be getting to the point that they can see the folly & want it to stop. How many have to die?