The Queen's Speech 2014

[AB Editor]

Morning!

If you've not noticed 'er maj is doing a bit of a speaking gig today. This is what was announced for today, from the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27683240

//Among the measures expected to feature are:

A bill implementing reforms to annuities announced in March's Budget. In future, people will not be required to buy an annuity with their pension savings and will be able to draw their retirement income in one go if they choose

A separate bill to allow employees to pay into collective pension funds shared with other workers, a move it is hoped will cut costs and encourage saving

A new state-funded childcare subsidy worth up to £2,000 a year, replacing the existing employer-funded scheme

Extra legal protection for people carrying out good deeds, volunteering or planning local events who end up being involved in liability claims

Curbs on public sector employees claiming redundancy and then taking a job within the same sector

Plans for a 5p charge for plastic bags in England as announced at last year's Lib Dem conference

Reforms to speed up infrastructure projects, including new freedoms for the Highways Agency and allowing fracking firms to run shale gas pipelines on private land without getting prior permission

New criminal sentences for those assisting organised crime syndicates and tougher powers to seize the assets of crime bosses

Help for pub landlords including a statutory code and a body to adjudicate disputes

Giving voters the power to trigger by-elections where MPs have committed serious wrong-doing//

Anything you actually want your parliment to do in there?

Obviously it's all a bit sparse on details...

... and for some reason plastic bags seems to be the headline in most news outlets! Is that the thing that bothers you the most about the above? It isn't for me!

[anneasquith]

i see she has a new set of wheels ( carriage )

[ChillDoubt]

Nothing to write home about in all honesty, been paying for plastic bags in Wales for 3 years.
Would rather see the government tackling the likes of Vodafone and their u paid tax but hey-ho.

[Graham-W]

"A bill implementing reforms to annuities announced in March's Budget. In future, people will not be required to buy an annuity with their pension savings and will be able to draw their retirement income in one go if they choose "

Unless changes are made to the Welfare state, what's to stop people blowing the whole of their pension pot in the first few years of retirement and then throwing themselves onto the state to look after them when the money runs out.
Pension pots are supposed to be just that. A pot for a pension for the rest of your life.
A totally bonkers idea.

[sp1814]

I like some of her new material, but I prefer the old classics.

Do you know who the support act is this year?

[Jomlett]

Skinner “Coalition’s last stand”. Not a joke this year, just a statement of fact. Good old Skinner

[youngmafbog]

//Unless changes are made to the Welfare state, what's to stop people blowing the whole of their pension pot in the first few years of retirement and then throwing themselves onto the state to look after them when the money runs out. //

Except that any significant amount will be taxed at 40%. Therefore the punter will have put a down payment up front for their care.

[viv38]

Doesn't anybody care that fracking firms can run shale gas pipelines on private lad without permission, that means that they can frack under your house whether you like it or not !

[redman41]

''Help for pub landlords including a statutory code and a body to adjudicate disputes''
This is long overdue Ed, as too many good Pubs are closing especially if they are regarded as the Hub of a community.

[Old_Geezer]

I trust all the supermarkets now have plans for free bags made from some other material then. Else it's just anther tax to add to the millions they place on us cash cows. Grabbing your hard earned money ought to be a big issue for you.

Little point in saving, the government nicks it all back in tax or if you keep it long enough, to pay your old age care bills.

No commercial concerns should never be able to run roughshod over the rights of the private citizen.

No info on being albe to force your employer to give you redundancy then ?

[Svejk]

///and allowing fracking firms to run shale gas pipelines on private land without getting prior permission///

lol. cant see that happening. Maybe stopping an individual or group from holding a scheme to ransom.

[viv38]

But it will happen if it's legal, won't it ?

[Svejk]

the way its worded suggests they'll sneak in while you're on holiday and put a pipe-line through your garden. That isn't going to happen.

[Gromit]

A Zombie Government.

[mushroom25]

//the way its worded suggests they'll sneak in while you're on holiday and put a pipe-line through your garden. That isn't going to happen. //

"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months."

"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything."

"But the plans were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a flashlight."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'."