Deaths??

[maggiebee]

Not sure where to put it - thought about jokes but for thousands it certainly isn't a joke.

 

Harold Shipman  -  I killed at least 215 pensioners

Starmer  -  Hold my beer!

[10ClarionSt]

I've always thought that Shipman did what lots of medical people would do if they thought they could get away with it. Old people are a waste of money. But nobody will say that. They just think it.

[naomi24]

They didn't have central heating but they had open fires - and yes, it does get that cold in the UK.  This is no way to treat anyone least of all the elderly.

[theshedman]

Auntypoll, many people never even reached the age of retirement back when some of us were children.  Life expectancy was a lot lower back then and chest infections killed a lot of them.

[maggiebee]

Auntypoll - bet you have central heating though and probably enough money not to have to make the choice.  If it doesn't get cold in the UK try coming and living in the north of Scotland - you have no idea what cold is.

[Cloverjo]

My dad is a pensioner. He grew up with scraping the ice off the window panes etc. 
His WFP wasn't spent on heating or eating. He is extremely frugal. His payment was split between his grandchildren for a nice meal out. 

As I've said before, the WFP should never have been given to all pensioners. Of course they're up in arms about it being taken away. I never hear the end of it from my dad.

My dad is not rich, by any measurement. 

[newmodarmy]

The very least they could have done is given a year's warning while they looked to put mitigations in place (eg making sure anyone entitled to pension credit gets it without claiming), and also assessing at what point it should be phased out- maybe at £22000pa for a couple not £17000. Or tax it. Or make it voluntary- an easy opt out facility.

[youngmafbog]

Cloverjo, your dads choice.

Many sadly dont have that choice.

#labourscum.

[ToraToraTora]

"As I've said before, the WFP should never have been given to all pensioners. Of course they're up in arms about it being taken away. I never hear the end of it from my dad." - I agree but they should draw the line a bit higher. As it stands any pensioner that had the temerity to save for a small pension of thier own is cut off at the knees. Means test by all means but make the threshold say £25k.

[Peter Pedant]

Shipman - - the reports have not lasted  - and have resurrected over Letby

Shippie was houseman at Pontefract Hosp and looked at patients ( oddly) - but.... the notes didnt exist - Hospital Closed and notes not  retained ! hem hem

so Janet Smith ( for it was she) - asked counsel - "How many". He said 25 at least, and she said she wd put hiim down for 20.

so that was his official tally for Pontefract

[ unlawfully killed three men at Pontefract General Infirmary (PGI) in the 1970s. Dame Janet said the probable number the former Hyde GP killed at the hospital was "between 10 and 15 patients".]

I sort went off Public Enquiries after that

 

[bednobs]

this thread from 10 years ago makes me laugh.

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1312486-2.html 

according to right supporting abers, it was ok to means test when it was the conservatives mooting it.

according to left supporting abers, it was dreadful; now labour are doing it not so much

[newmodarmy]

I am not aware anyone here is objecting to means testing. Tora  on that 10 year old thread said it's wrong Alan Sugar should get it. The only issue is at what point you should be deemed rich enough not to warrant it- TTT suggests  £25k. I suggested starting to phase it out at a lower figure on  a sliding scale.... or just tax it, so much easier. Those objecting to the current What The Funicular removal scheme object to the cliff edge of £17000 for a couple or under £13k for a single pensioner. Anyone who has saved a few quid into a miserable private pension misses out on all the benefits Pension Credit brings- WFA, housing support, council tax reductions....

[newmodarmy]

I must have typed What The Funicular instead of WFA- Freudian slip maybe

[bednobs]

the problem is deciding where a taper might start i suppose.  Most people equate rich with "gets more money than me"

[davebro3]

If they just added (say) £200 onto the OAP they would get a chunk back from pensioner taxpayers & with zero admin costs. And there wouldn't be this outcry.

[douglas9401]

"the problem is deciding where a taper might start i suppose.  Most people equate rich with "gets more money than me""

 

That problem is easily solved though, by ignoring 'most people', a method that could be employed across so many fields where misinformed jealous proles offer their input.

[newmodarmy]

Not in my case bednobs. I don't envisage I'll ever get the WFA now. Any taper or cut off point would and should start well below my pension income.  I agree with dave about just taxing it ...it would have been simplest way but it's gone too far now for that to happen.