Angela Rayner dancing whilst on holiday in Ibiza

Casdon but… Ireland is below not above.

ronib

Casdon I totally forgot that Sweden was part of Europe …. Out of 30 countries we are ranked in the middle but we are really not performing well in terms of the majority of EU countries.
I have been out with my grandchildren again today - in mitigation!

These are the countries of the EU ronib

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Of the countries in the EU, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Croatia, Greece, Lithuania and the Czech Republic are all below the UK. One country you would be excused a mistake for, but not seven.

Iam64 that is quite scary. Lots of very angry people about to get even angrier as the months fly past. Best not engage?

Casdon I totally forgot that Sweden was part of Europe …. Out of 30 countries we are ranked in the middle but we are really not performing well in terms of the majority of EU countries.
I have been out with my grandchildren again today - in mitigation!

ronib - if you’d witnessed his fury about our excellent new Labour MP, seen the way he shouted and raved at me about WFA and the next sins the government will commit leading to him paying more tax you’d never even imagine him donating to charity. He was out of order in the bullying, intimidating way he shouted at me.

ronib

Casdon I would prefer to be in the top five with Spain and Belgium … you can’t say that we have a satisfactory State pension? It’s ranked slightly above Sweden and Ireland I believe but there are some variables to consider too. It’s very unsatisfactory by modern standards and the removal of WFA won’t help.

ronib it does you no credit not to check your facts - a point is only well made when there is evidence to support your argument. Preferring to be ‘in the top five’ is completely different to saying ‘ Just for the record we have the lowest state pension among EU countries’ (your words), when that is untrue.

Iam64 how do you know that your neighbour is not donating to charity? Sounds perhaps that he won’t share this information with you.
I know some people who look wealthy when in fact they are in debt.

ronib

Are you serious Cossy and eggplant? One Mercedes, one detached 4 bedroom house and holidays when retired? That’s greed? Not really is it? I guess the man quoted has never been a politician? That’s where real greed kicks in?
And could I point out that Boris Johnson was not the last prime minister - Rishi Sunak seems to have got by without handouts from supporters for clothes and spectacles. Boris Johnson didn’t have the best dress sense and didn’t seem to bother too much, dishevelled was the look.

I live in a deprived former mill town, I’m fortunate to live in one if the less deprived, even more affluent areas. It’s impossible to go into our town centre, 3 miles away, or any other similar places without poverty of every kind being very obvious. So yes ronib the house, the car, the expensive holidays make my neighbour very fortunate in comparison with many others nearby.
It’s selfish, short sighted and greedy to expect WFA when we/he doesn’t need it. Ours was donated to charity, same with many family and friends. Your whataboutery with Johnson and Sunak is irrelevant and superficial

Casdon I would prefer to be in the top five with Spain and Belgium … you can’t say that we have a satisfactory State pension? It’s ranked slightly above Sweden and Ireland I believe but there are some variables to consider too. It’s very unsatisfactory by modern standards and the removal of WFA won’t help.

ronib

Casdon The state pension is not very generous by anyone’s standards. It’s about to get worse. Food and fuel bills are set to rise over the winter.

But why do you keep posting ‘facts’ that aren’t true ronib, when it takes only seconds to verify?

Cossy glad to hear it. I thought you were asking about wealth coming from holding public office?

ronib

*Cossy*. Tony Blair ?

Indeed, he is not someone I ever supported!

Casdon The state pension is not very generous by anyone’s standards. It’s about to get worse. Food and fuel bills are set to rise over the winter.

Cossy. Tony Blair ?

ronib

Cossy I don’t believe that Sunak or Johnson would have taken away the WFA. I would rather have a multi millionaire in charge than someone who wants to become wealthy through public office.

No I agree.

But I don’t see the connection to the comment about becoming wealthy through public office??

Cossy

ronib

Come to think of it, there’s nothing that Starmer can do to pretend to be statesman like. Every time he opens his mouth, it gets worse. Such a pity that Lord Alli wasted his money. Should have offered basic communication skills course instead.

Well strangely enough he managed to have a very successful career prior to entering politics, much of which required more than “basic communication skills!”

Also, Johnson used his massive donations to buy extremely exclusive and expensive wallpaper. At least clothes and glasses are useful!

Yes he is. Very strange.

Just for reference, the UK does not have the worst state pension in Europe either ronib
restless.co.uk/pensions-retirement-planning/state-pension/how-generous-is-the-uk-state-pension-compared-to-other-countries/#ID4

AgaA4 what about MP expenses paid to some MPs who may be millionaires?

No-one is saying that they are greedy.

I think you’ll find that 48% of the electorate isn’t most ronib, unless I completely misunderstand maths?
I am surprised that you didn’t realise that WFP has always been a discretionary payment though, I guess we all should try to learn something every day.

Tell that to the group of pensioners not poor enough for pension credit and unable to cope financially this winter petra.

eggplant

*This kind of thinking is a mystery to me*

It's called greed.

No mystery to me.
The more you have the more you want 🤷‍♀️

Casdon most of the electorate have dropped out of exercising their rights - hence one of the lowest turnouts in recent times.

Just for the record we have the lowest state pension among EU countries. To take £300 away from that isn’t a good look and then give generously in foreign aid is a strange way for government to care for its citizens.

We know where you stand now anyway ronib. Rich people are clearly entitled to tax free discretionary winter fuel payments in your world. Unsurprisingly most of the electorate don’t agree.