Has everybody invested their ISA money?.

There is still a huge gender pay gap, fewer than 50% of women on the boards of FTSE companies, fewer than 50% women MPs and fewer than 50% female members of cabinet. I am sure nobody needs reminding at this time that we have had only one female prime minister. While an exact balance of male and female movers and shakers in all fields is not necessarily the best thing, an approximate balance across the spectrum would represent a massive step forward in equality.

This state of affairs in the twenty-first century is, indeed, a cause for moral outrage.

Moved is that moral outrage because you have three sons and therefore totally ignorant of the suffering of those of us with daughters? I've offspring of the male & female variety - I guess that must make me a informed, balanced person

Of course not Ariadne, nor you j08. How can sanguine be called a long word? It's only two syllables.

You know quite well Absent meant me!

(I think in this instance "sanguine" was the word in question.)

Just saying.

Me? If so, sorry.

Goodness me. What a strange outburst.

What long words? Have checked and can't see any. Mind you, it is 4.15 in the morning...(yawn emoticon)

Surely people just write as they talk, and use the vocabulary they would use in speech?

I think Nonu was having a dig at some of the long words being used on here tonight.

The missing part of the word on the next line is ....shit.

Can a sensible post be made up of one emoticon?

I DO SANGUINE nothing better .

Also Move you don"t take any Bull---- .

not quite , weather can"t seem to make up it"s mind

You keep on posting Move.

OK absent I dared to post so I suppose I should have expected you to pull my post apart. If you really don't believe that social attitudes have changed we must be living in different worlds. I was talking about employment, pensions etc. like the other posters but of course you decided to interpret my post - again

Movedalot Perhaps you are so sanguine because you have three sons. Given the gender pay gap that still exists, young women are still disadvantaged if not actually suffering as such simply because they are female. Social attitudes aren't any better with two women a month murdered by their partners or ex-partners. And that is only in this country. The problem of rape in India has been widely publicised recently and on gransnet we have discussed such things as honour killing, forced marriages, genital mutilation and inequality under the law in some countries – to name just some of the reasons women suffer because they are women.

Movedalot

soop that reminds me of something I heard recently: "if you can't have what you love, love what you have"

So many women have had difficult lives and had no choice but to put up with it. Young women today will never have to suffer worse treatment just because they are female but we don't keep moaning about it, we just get on with our lives. I could list lots here but I don't expect my problems have been very different from many others.

I strongly dislike this patronising attitude Frank, please try to think what effect your words may have on others.

Love the quote, Grannyknot

soop you remind me of a friend who says "Happiness is wanting what you have".

There is a wonderful new book by a South African author "White Dog Falls from the Sky" - and in it she describes an informal settlement ("squatter camp") with the words "What can you not build a house from?"

Frank, we're here for you. Please don't spoil your well-deserved good fortune by your reluctance to forgive and forget. If I dwelt on the unfair hand that we were dealt in the past; the reason why we now need to move yet again from a home we love, I would be deeply unhappy. Live what life you have well. And

Better out than in.

Not to mention driving the rest of us mad too!

HUNTERF You are going to make yourself ill if you continue to dwell on the same thing in this way. Put the whole incident in its proper place – that is, in the past. The woman is dead, the house is yours and no one is trying to take it away. You will drive yourself mad if you keep going over and over the whole story virtually every day.

Granny23

I just find it annoying that people are so dishonest.
If a person is entitled to have NHS funding for care homes that is what they should get without argument and social workers should not be telling people to sell houses etc when it is unlawful.
I can understand errors with pensions but I do get astonished at the lack of interest in getting errors rectified.
A lot of mergers etc had happened and one of the pensions people said they were dealing with 31 different schemes as well as peculiarities like mine.
What did annoy us about the house was the lady was told I was a half owner and then watched me pay the bills to have it bought into a top class condition using money from the proceeds of my house and then wanted me thrown out.
Also she said in the end she did not like dogs do why did she befriend Dad knowing he was a dog owner?.
Really I think she must have known at the start there were going to be problems.

Frank

Frank - who is this 'they' who should have forced Jeanie's ex to pay? In the 60s there was no legislation to help in this situation nor legal aid to allow a destitute abandoned wife to employ a solicitor. Back then everything worked on the assumption that a decent man would always support his children and would make provision for his ex-wife on divorce. However, many men were not decent and even today it is difficult to enforce payment of child support from a reluctant man - some go to great lengths - going abroad, becoming unemployed or self employed - to thwart a court order.

Frank - I repeat again that you have had a charmed life (and I do not begrudge you the fruits of your labours and thriftiness). What is annoying is when you, who have lived your life in a comfortable middle class bubble, tell people what they 'should' have done 40/50 years ago, often citing options which were not possible for them because they were female, disabled, had no parental support or whatever. I could not go to university not just because my parents could not afford to support me until I was 21 but when my mother had to give up work following an accident, I had to leave school and start work at 15 to replace her missing wages in the very tight family budget.

Funnily enough, I have no chip on my shoulder and have led an interesting, varied and enjoyable life. In fact I rather pity you with all your worries about extracting the last penny from your investments, keeping your house in the family, care home fees, wills, battling with income tax and pension people. When you have just enough to get by on you are spared these worries and can concentrate on enjoying what you do have.

jeanie99

All I can say is they should have forced your ex husband to pay for the childs care using deductions from wages etc.
I made sure my late wife and 2 daughters were ok and I still do although to some extent as well as helping my granddaughters.

Frank