Kirsty Allsopp has berated Michael Rosen.

I don't particularly care for Michael Rosen or his poetry but he is 79 and perfectly entitled to his bus pass, and probably safer using it than driving London.

Louisa1523

Which region do you live in?

This is the international given out on google. -

“In England eligible older and disabled people can apply through a national scheme administered by local councils. To qualify, you must meet the criteria for either an older person's bus pass (once you reach state pension age) or a disabled person's bus pass (based on specific statutory disabilities). You must apply through your local council to get a pass.
Older person's bus pass
Eligibility: You are eligible once you reach the state pension age, which is currently 66 for both men and women.
Application: Apply through your local council's website or office.

In the southeast where we live is definitely only at state pension age, I got mine a couple of years ago but a friend who is 65 will have to wait until she is 67.

* information not international 😳

Sarnia

Witzend

Going back to the property search programmes she did with Whatshisname, I never could stand her. Fat, smug and bossy.

I read somewhere not too long ago that on a BA flight, IIRC long haul, she ventured from economy into the Club or first class cabin, and was asked by the stewardess to return to her own section.

Her response, so I was told, was ‘Don’t you know who I am?’

Fat, smug and bossy Don't hold back. What has her appearance got to do with this thread?

OK, just smug and bossy, then.

Who decides at what point people can 'afford to pay'? At what stage will it become pointless to pay into an occupational pension as someone else has decided that doing so means that you are denied so many things others get free that there is no point?

As easybee points out, at 79 MR is past the age where it is suggested people are becoming unsafe to drive. Doesn't it make sense to encourage older drivers to use public transport? I think that public transport should be free or subsidised for everyone, to cut down on the number of cars on the road, but that is a separate argument.

Also, Kirsty Allsop's father is a baron, and she is an Honorable - if titles aren't a perfect example of things people take that they don't need (and haven't even earned) I don't know what is. I wonder how much of her inheritance will come from her father taking his £300 a time for turning up at the HOL? Does he 'need' that money?

Babs03

Louisa1523

Which region do you live in?

This is the international given out on google. -

“In England eligible older and disabled people can apply through a national scheme administered by local councils. To qualify, you must meet the criteria for either an older person's bus pass (once you reach state pension age) or a disabled person's bus pass (based on specific statutory disabilities). You must apply through your local council to get a pass.
Older person's bus pass
Eligibility: You are eligible once you reach the state pension age, which is currently 66 for both men and women.
Application: Apply through your local council's website or office.

In the southeast where we live is definitely only at state pension age, I got mine a couple of years ago but a friend who is 65 will have to wait until she is 67.

Merseyside ... but other areas are the same...you just got to be 60...not disabled...not out of work...just 60 years of age ....its a good scheme

Doodledog i have not seen anything that suggests there is a specific age at which it is suggested a person is unsafe to drive. I'm worried now - please can you provide a link.

Bus passes are available from the age of 60 here - all we need now is a good bus service.

Also, Kirsty Allsop's father is a baron, and she is an Honorable - if titles aren't a perfect example of things people take that they don't need (and haven't even earned) I don't know what is. I wonder how much of her inheritance will come from her father taking his £300 a time for turning up at the HOL? Does he 'need' that money?

Most hereditary peers have not sat in the House of Lords for over 25 years as far as I know.

As for him not needing that money, probably not as he died some time ago.

kittylester

Doodledog i have not seen anything that suggests there is a specific age at which it is suggested a person is unsafe to drive. I'm worried now - please can you provide a link.

Bus passes are available from the age of 60 here - all we need now is a good bus service.

No, there has not been any suggestion that there is an age at which a person is unsafe to drive, it is dependent on physical and mental ability.

However, statistics indicate that young drivers, particularly males age 17-24, cause the most accidents.

Merseyside sounds a good place to be if you are 60. Where we live a bus pass is definitely only given at pension age.
Would be good to hear from other grans about where they live in England.
I got mine a few years ago at pension age but my friend who is a few years younger has to wait until she gets to pension age at 67.
Perhaps some councils in England are more generous. I thought it was throughout England. I know Scotland and Wales are the same as Merseyside.

Pantglas2

I’m conflicted on using services for free for which you can afford to pay.

Bus passes are issued to all over 60 applicants in Wales and it’s been my mission to use mine wherever possible after 43 years of driving everywhere. I don’t just use mine when out for a Ladies wot Wine but whenever I’m popping into town with a few hours to spare.

Here in the backwaters of Wales, services will be cut if they’re not fully utilised and I believe that my, and others, usage keeps that frequency going.

Whether someone chooses to use a bus pass or to pay for the journey usage is the same.

I never could stand her. Fat, smug and bossy (Witzend)

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this discussion, that’s a distinctly irrelevant and rude comment……

I know there is a saying that goes they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing…. But I don’t think she knows the cost either

Well. She is smug and bossy.

We are in Leicestershire

He was really ill with covid maybe he qualifies on other grounds. Who knows?

People like Kirsty Allsop have no idea how the majority of people live with their washing machines in their kitchens

OldFrill

Pantglas2

I’m conflicted on using services for free for which you can afford to pay.

Bus passes are issued to all over 60 applicants in Wales and it’s been my mission to use mine wherever possible after 43 years of driving everywhere. I don’t just use mine when out for a Ladies wot Wine but whenever I’m popping into town with a few hours to spare.

Here in the backwaters of Wales, services will be cut if they’re not fully utilised and I believe that my, and others, usage keeps that frequency going.

Whether someone chooses to use a bus pass or to pay for the journey usage is the same.

Of course Old Frill.

The point I’m making is that if I have to pay for the bus trip, I might choose to combine it with a weekly shop and a visit to a friend etc and decide to drive… thereby not using a service, along with others making similar decisions, and the knock on effect being the service is reduced for all those who don’t have travel options that are available to me.

kittylester

Doodledog i have not seen anything that suggests there is a specific age at which it is suggested a person is unsafe to drive. I'm worried now - please can you provide a link.

Bus passes are available from the age of 60 here - all we need now is a good bus service.

No, I can't be bothered to provide a link. But there has been a lot of talk of eye tests, and resitting driving tests for drivers over 70. I'm sure if you google you will find a link of your own if you want one.

Being dead would, indeed, preclude KA's dad from continuing to claim his allowance, Allira . All the same, she will have benefited from it in her inheritance, so if she feels strongly about not taking things she doesn't need she can always return it. The point remains.

I do think that KA has shot herself in the foot with this one. MR is a well-respected man who has written numerous books that generations of children have loved. KA is a TV presenter with no qualifications, who learned her trade by working in her mother's interior design business and having good contacts. Her comments have not endeared her to the public.

Shall we take the rich Kirstie and maybe-not-so-rich Rosen out of the equation?

If people, rich or otherwise, don’t use their free passes occasionally, the services don’t benefit - that means services get cut. Correspondingly, folks who don’t drive, suffer - whose nose are you cutting off to spite whose face?

There is just no comparison between Kirsty and Michael Rosen. He is a wonderful writer and poet, she is someone who talks about crafting but isn't very good at it.

Pantglas2

Shall we take the rich Kirstie and maybe-not-so-rich Rosen out of the equation?

If people, rich or otherwise, don’t use their free passes occasionally, the services don’t benefit - that means services get cut. Correspondingly, folks who don’t drive, suffer - whose nose are you cutting off to spite whose face?

Agreed. Public transport is essential to the environment, and it benefits the economy and potentially the mental health of many people. It should be heavily subsidised IMO, and not just for older people.

That is one side of the story, and the other is the fact that KA has made a prat of herself again by picking on someone like MR. It's not news when someone on here says that those who 'can afford it' should pay to use the bus, or someone drags Mick Jagger into the discussion.

Aveline

She likes to stir up a nice online argument when she has something to sell. Hmmm has she got a new TV series coming up?...

Seems so.

So the summary is…
Kirsty should just pick on ordinary people on future?

No, she should stop making daft comments about what other people do with their time, and using her position as a 'celebrity' to make hypocritical remarks about people getting something for nothing.

The fact that she picked on a national treasure is secondary, but also why we are talking about it. I think it has backfired if she was hoping to get support, but depending on what her upcoming programme is going to be, maybe her viewers will be of similar mind to her. I don't care, personally, not that this will upset her in any way . I can't bear her craft things, and whilst I watch an occasional LLL, it is despite, rather than because of her.

If ms Allsop had a tenth of Michael Rosen's talent and intellect then she might not be as shallow as she is........has she done I'm A Celebrity yet?