Article 50 trigger 29th March

I think you are right that some will always fall through the cracks of whatever system we have Margaret. I do wonder if we have got to far from the contributory system we started with but what do you do for those who can't contribute?

I have a German friend, whose husband died a couple of years ago. Before he died, he was seriously ill and couldn't work for about five years. You're right - he didn't get mobility allowance or add on benefits. However, he had contributed to the various insurance schemes for unemployment and sickness for years. He received a total amount which was greater than he would have received in the UK and he was free to do what he wanted with the money. He wasn't means-tested and didn't have to go to any of the assessments which people in the UK do. The insurance schemes accepted what his doctors wrote and he had contributed to the system, so received support according to a formula.

Love the comments as well, Penstemmon.

I don't know how it works, but I understand that there is a social security system in Germany for those who have never been able to contribute, for whatever reason. For those who have contributed, the system is more generous than in the UK, but people have paid more for it.

A quote for today.
Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.
Charles Lamb

Thanks for the insight into the German system DD. I know in Australia you have to be below a certain income to get a state pension but they have to pay a certain amount into private pension.

GG I wonder what situation drove Lamb to write that.

Asked on his radio show on LBC last week what he would do if Brexit turns out to be a disaster, Farage said that he would 'go and live abroad. I'll move somewhere else'. An immigrant then Nigel?

www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-if-brexit-is-a-disaster-ill-go-and-live-abroad/

Another bus.

Ginny, my brother was in the army. My mother used his proxy vote when he was abroad, to vote Tory as requested. When he retired there was a Tory government. He and his wife moved abroad, as they didn't like the England they had voted for.

On the day article 50 was triggered, Yougov did a survey of what people would want brought back after Britain had left the EU.
Top of the list was hanging, with 52% of those who voted leave being in favour.

Other things that leavers wanted to be brought back were
dark blue passports
pre-decimal currency
imperial measures
smoking in pubs
corporal punishment in schools.

Very 21st century.

Can I just say that the one good thing that I am looking forward to is getting a blue passport back again - the rest of dj's list is rubbish. I really felt upset when we lost the blue passport. I can remember younger DS going for a school trip when we lived in Switzerland and him saying that the whole of the class admired his blue passport. I doubt that any new one will be as substantial as that was though - it'll just be a flimsy cover like the EU ones.

I despair....

I hadn't given a thought to passports, but now that you say that BK the flimsy red EU passport was a let down at the time, wasnt it? The dark blue British passport was rather nice and substantial.....you felt you could whack a cheeky immigration officer on the head with it should the need arise ( yes, I am joking btw) but it would be a bonus if it was restored, but doubtful isn't it? More likely to be dark blue again but just as flimsy as the EU one.

David Davis wanted to bring back hanging a few years ago.

They are talking of simply a slip on cover IF they decide to go back to blue ones. The list Jen put up is the list given by people who voted leave when they would ask what they would like restored.

I think that list is a striking illustration of the age of Leave voters. I think very few people under the age of 40 would want any of the things on that list, apart, perhaps, for bringing back hanging and maybe corporal punishment in schools.

I don't know when they started teaching decimal measures in schools but my two were taught it in the 1980s and would find it very hard to swop back to Imperial (not that I'm seriously suggesting we would)

No-body under 45 was even born when the currency went decimal

Most young people detest smoking

That blue passport was very nice and I felt a bit of a pang when mine had to go but it's only a travel document, for heavens sake,and it won't get me freely into so many coountries as the maroon one does... I suppose it won't matter when people won't be able to afford to travel abroad any more

Seriously? I seem to see younger people smoking all the time, and all the older ones I know either never smoked or have given up as health fears kick in.
Perhaps it all depends on where you live.

They'll just look at the blue one and keep you waiting longer, Maizie.

Thanks, WelshWife.
You realised that it wasn't my list. YouGov is a well respected polling institution, set up by a Tory MP.

Yes, David Davis must be very pleased at 52% wanting to bring back hanging. They can't all be old people, although I believe YouGov is self selecting. You decide whether you want to respond to any poll.

I read somewhere that the nostalgia industry fuels the desire for change back to how things were for many people, and that's certainly borne out by the dj's list. I certainly can't imagine many under 50s who would want pre-decimal currency, or imperial units back again - they would have no idea what any of them were.

Which reminds me: does anyone remember those red exercise books with all the imperial units and times tables on the back?

What you 'see' is not necessarily a reflection of the facts, roses. Never trust anecdote over data.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/adultsmokinghabitsingreatbritain/2015

From 2010 to 2015, smoking has become less common across all ages in the UK, with the largest decrease observed among those aged 18 to 24 years.

You can still get them from Beamish, Badenkate.

Which reminds me: does anyone remember those red exercise books with all the imperial units and times tables on the back?

Indeed I do and I never did sort out roods, poles, perches etc!

But currency, length and weight, easy peasy...

Talk about twisting the statistics DJ and everyone believing what they read!!

I notice she didn't include the percentages in all this, so I'll tell you the biggest vote was only 36% ( that was the death penalty) and the least pre decimal currency at 7% so all these were pretty pathetic percentages AND (did she mention this?) the poll included remainders and leavers..

I expect people were racking their brains to think of something to go on that list, a fair few would even have been joking.
There have ( in any era since the 60's) when hanging was stopped, been a number of people who would be eager to bring it back, and it cuts through all social and political divides.I can't believe it would ever happen though.
No doubt if bear baiting and cock fighting were to be made legal again it would have many supporters, but that won't happen either.