http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20044862 Redstar - fill yer boots on this one - In fact most retired people I know do lots of voluntary "work" anyway - involved in various community things but to make it compulsary doesnt quite seem right to me
What a kn*b head Most older people have spent their whole lives contributing to the economy with their taxes and deserve to retire gracefully with no pressure to do anything. Some of us (myself included then I take early retirement next year) will be paying tax on our occupational pensions and thus continue to contribute for the rest of our lives. I bet he'll not be doing much when he hangs his boots up - w*nker.
Re: What a kn*b head Weeelllll - to be fair, most people over the age of 50 are from the age of takers - they've got more out of their pensions than they put in thanks to generous state terms, they bought houses for next to nothing then saw their values skyrocket whilst at the same time pricing the younger generation out of the market , walked into stable, jobs for life type positions without really needing to work hard to gsain formal qualifications and had the benefit of free university education if they wanted it, generously supplemented by student grants (no loans for them). Then they voted in successive governments, in particular the one led by Thatcher, that graudally eroded all these generous state sponsored initiatives that they had enjoyed, effectively pulling up the ladder behind them. So I have to admit, on behalf of my generation, part of me thinks f-ck them roughly up the gary and make them work for something for a change. That said, the whole idea is f'kin lunacy.
Re: What a kn*b head I don't want this to be taken as support for what he's suggesting at all. But I will say that I was going to write something very similar, and then I realised that he's 65. Admittedly he's probably not spent a working lifetime down the pit, or behind a counter in Morrisons, but still.
Re: What a kn*b head I've a good idea on Saturday the Reds will turn out and play a game of football. If we're winning at the end of the game the League can say sorry lads it wasn't a football game after all it was a game of basket ball and you'll have to start all over again. I have lots of sympathy with regard to the non-means tested benefits pensioners get being looked at but to say to people who've contributed to a scheme for decades that you're changing the rules and that the pension has to be worked for is nonsense and makes no allowance for the state of an economy that presently sees a lot of school leavers and graduates with all their working lives ahead of them without job opportunities.
Re: What a kn*b head Fits me perfectly Tyketical, however it's even better than you describe for us over 50s. In my case i was 54 when i finished, i contributed to a company pension all my working life who now pay me enough so i have no need to work. As i do not receive any state pension no amount of rough f-cking up the gary can make me do owt
Re: What a kn*b head I'm 53 and that doesn't describe me my pension forecast is £127 per week if I reach 66. But don't worry three years later my wife will pick up a similar amount. House prices ? Negative equity isn't a 'new idea' we've had it before. I bought my first house in 1980. It was £11,500 for a tiny shoe box. Our joint income at the time was £5,500 and interest rates were 15%. A £130 per month mortgage was a massive drain. Oh that was IF you could get a mortgage, the building societies has limited funds and once they were allocated there was no more available until the next month. Mortgages were also 90-95% max so we had a novel thought, we SAVED rather than slashing it against the wall in Dubai, Thailand etc. Oh and furnishing was an old black and white portable on a deck chair ! Jobs for life ? Well that went well for all the industrial workers in this area. Free uni education, give you that one except you actually had to be clever back in the day. Obviously I didn't go but I took qualifications in my own time whilst holding down a full time job and doing bar work as well to save the deposit for the house. Right before I go into 'four yorkshiremen' mode I'll sign off knowing I'm on the hit list of anyone under 35 !
I'm so grateful That others are finally pointing out what a huge drain on society I am. I accept full responsibility for our country's financial predicament. I just wish I was as decent a human being as those who make, and agree with, such assessments. I'm glad I've been put firmly in my place by my obvious betters.
Well said Dave I am 56, went to Poly in Newcastle and got a Chemistry Degree (ok I had a full grant but I was intelligent and did a REAL course not bloody English Lit or Sociology). I lost my first job after 4 years due to Thatcher's revolution which I never voted for by the way. I then retrained into Computers thanks to the previous Labour government on a TOPS course - killed off by Thatcher a year later. Only then in my next job at the age of 28 could I even think of a mortgage and yes the interest rate was 12% and I paid £12000 for a 2-bed terrace. Since then I have paid my way and though my own efforts have got to a position where I earn enough to pay 40% tax on the top of my wages and still have £43000 worth of mortgage round my neck. I think I've done my bit - and remember I'll still be paying tax when I've retired. Rant over.
Re: Well said Dave You're just backing up everything Tyketical said. You got a free university education, free further training and a house for next to nowt. That was his argument! I don't begrudge you it, I'm very pleased you got it, I just wish people nowadays would get the same.
We're evil, mate We've contributed nothing to anything and deserve bugger all. <img src ="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/3589242225_5be96552eb.jpg">
Re: What a kn*b head I'm wi thee Dave. My first job, in 1977, paid £25 a week and when we did eventually get a house most of our furniture was 2nd hand.
Re: Well said Dave When I bought my "cheap" £12000 house my salary was £7000 - a very good salary for the time so the majority wouldn't have been able to get on the housing ladder like I did. My "free" retraining was an alternative to sitting about doing nothing on the dole. I have paid for all of my bits of good fortune in tax many times over.
I'm a relatively young lad and I've got to agree in some part with TM. Fundamentally the generation of the 80's voted in Conservative governments because they lined their pockets. And now they're getting the monk on that they have to work past 65. Give over. I'll be lucky if I retire before 75. And all this 'I got my Uni for nowt because I was smart' - f.ck right off. Same goes for people thinking that all kids live on the never never. I bought a house at 19, 100k. Mortgage of over £600 a month for a couple who earned about £1600. Never missed a payment. Never had a credit card until recently. I lived without a f.cking washing machine for 4 months 'cos we couldn't afford one so forgive me if I take umbrage to fowk on here labelling all under 35's as lazy, thick and living off debt. Sithi.
Re: Well said Dave But a person who does exactly the same as you in this day and age will be £40,000 in debt from paying their own way through university, christ knows how much in debt for paying for their own way on a computer course and wouldn't be able to get a house for anything below three times their salary not one and a half times like you got. And they'll have to work much longer because they're constantly raising the pension age. Plus they'll pay every bit as much tax as you have and more.