When will we act to stop the pension raiders?
AFTER the company I worked for, Belling & Co. Ltd, and the Mirror group went bust with gaping holes in their pension funds in the Nineties, I was invited to give evidence to the House of Commons Social Security Committee, chaired by Frank Field.
What lessons did the committee and successive governments learn from my advice about pension reform? None.
We have had the Tata Steel pension fund crisis and here we are, yet again, with Carillion going bust with a huge pension deficit.
For the past 20 years, I have sent a summary of the problems and proposed solutions to every prime minister, but nothing has been done to address the issue. I have little doubt that fewer than half of occupational schemes would be able to pay full pensions if they were to close immediately.
Within ten years, occupational schemes will be all but extinct. Future generations will be poorer than previous ones as the cascading down of wealth shrinks year on year due to smaller pensions, fewer homeowners and the sale of family homes to pay for social care costs.
So why buy a home and save more than you are forced to if you are a low or middle earner?
You might as well enjoy life in a rented property, save a minimal pension and let the state help pay your rent and top up your pension when you retire.
At least there has been a happy ending for Belling pensioners like me, with a trust fund making up the shortfall. JAMES WIGNALL, Accrington, Lancs.
University challenge
GIVEN the tax hikes which are being imposed upon hard-working Scottish families by the Scottish Government, I object to it giving free tuition to EU students who enrol at Scottish universities after Brexit, while English and Welsh students will have to pay for their university education.
What does Nicola Sturgeon have against people from south of the Border when she blatantly favours all things European? BOB MACDOUGALL, Kippen, Stirlingshire.
I DON’T understand all the fuss regarding potential tax increases.
The SNP made no secret of its intentions and was elected with this policy made clear to voters.
After all, if you want to stay somewhere nice you have to pay for it. Those against tax increases expect to stay in the Ritz but only want to pay Travelodge prices.
JOHN LOVIE, Musselburgh, East Lothian.
Talk is cheap
ONCE again First Minister’s Questions has descended into a shouty rant against the Tories at Westminster. Can no one keep the First Minister on matters relevant to Holyrood?
STEPHEN HOOD, via email.
I WAS very tickled by the idea (Letters) that Nationalist MSPs are really robots – but what about their MP bots in Westminster? Seems as if their batteries are running low, as they are having zero impact.
DON WALKER, Aberdeen.
Show of hands
IT was interesting to read Paul Thomas’s view (Mail) on thumbprints as a security measure against fraud, an idea I am sure a vast majority of us would favour.
We should adopt the US system of a national database of fingerprinting for the UK, and all visitors entering the country. A DNA databank could also be introduced, from birth, for all other residents of this country.
It would make policing simpler and the chance of wrongful convictions less likely. The only objections would come from those with something to hide.
Perhaps, once we are free from the shackles of the European Court of Human Rights, this can become law.
B. STEVEN, Glenrothes, Fife.
Classroom failures
MORE teachers are leaving the profession, some after only a few years. Many cite the workload, but it can’t be possible that they all entered the profession unaware of what teaching entailed.
It’s more likely they quit because they lack the communication, management and interpersonal skills required for teaching and on which so little emphasis is placed during recruitment and training.
Most teachers are passionate about their subject, and it is their job to find a way to enthuse pupils. If more weight was put on this during training, teacher retention would improve. SALLY BUTLER, rustington, W. Sussex.
Testing time
To save local authorities wasting money with testing Blue Badge applicants (Letters), they simply need to install someone to watch the holders when they are using the badges.
I watched a large van in a supermarket car park. The occupants could not get a wheelchair out because it was stuck. They just closed the sliding door, walked to the store and carried on shopping the same as everybody else.
T. BRENNAN, Dumfries.
Bare-faced protest?
THE sisterhood’s screen stars have been urged to wear plain black dresses at the Baftas later this month in their ongoing protest against sexual harassment in the film industry.
Perhaps they’ll leave their thighhigh split skirts and plunging necklines in the wardrobe, too.
How many will dare to appear without the concealer, blusher, eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow and lipstick intended to create glamour and allure? And if they displayed the courage of their convictions by turning up bare-faced, would we be able to recognise them? TONY EDWARDS, Ockham, Surrey.
Counting sheep
I LIVE in a livestock farming area in Wales and my vegan neighbours criticise me for wearing wool, as that is being cruel to sheep, apparently.
What they would have said about Jeremy vine’s ham and cheese sandwich I don’t know (Mail).
I asked what they thought would happen to the cows, sheep, pigs and chickens if we all adopted their way of life.
Farmers don’t keep livestock to make the countryside look pretty, so they would all disappear, as they would no longer have a purpose.
My vegan neighbours thought for a bit then said the RSPCA would find good homes for them.
There are ten million sheep in Wales and three million humans, so we would have to take at least three sheep each. Fine if you have a big garden, but not much fun if you live in a flat in the city.
Name and address supplied.