OT - of interest to senior members

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Do they wear striped jumpers, masks and carry bags marked swag - or are you guessing?

[Another Dave]

Another Dave

[polygonum]

So we need to incorporate image recognition technology into our security cameras - a striped jumper automatically puts it into "wake up" mode, and when the OCR sees "SWAG", "??MS", "GAWS" or "SM??" it sounds the alarm.

[harry]

    London SW

So is anyone using one of the numerous subsidised services in the UK.

[PeterC]

Same sort of effect but with a laser - I don't have to go for the freefall (Skyfall?) record :-)

Ta (or is that for re-entry?).

[Tim Streater]

What you are doing is not using a service you need to survive.

[harry]

Anyone with savings these days is subsidising people with a mortgage. So if you have a mortgage, you are being subsidised. Wait 'til interest rates rise. Then we'll see who's being subsidised.

[bert]

It made it the same for men as women, which was one of the drivers behind raising the pension age for women.

[bert]

Pensioners on the whole after all pensions and benefits have been paid make a net contribution of some £40bn per annum to the economy.

[Fredxx]

Can you cite any source for that?

[bert]

There's always some would be smart arse who asks that stupid question. No I just made it up our of thin air.

[Tim Streater]

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[Fredxx]

I saw others fell for it as well :-)

[Mark]

Indeed. Not being a pensioner I would think that it is working people who would need a larger allowance as pensioners generally have lower outgoings.

+1. Since the government is taking away other universal benefits it would be consistent to do this.

Personally I think free dentistry and eye tests should be more widely available to encourage people to look after themselves.

[Mark]

I'm sure you've done the sums but I would expect you so save on bills, council tax etc in a smaller house.

House prices have been static in many areas so you may not be getting a better return than selling/investing.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Council tax here is low. The costs of moving house high. And I don't want to move anyway. ;-)

Have a look at my postcode. ;-)

[Tim Streater]

And you shouldn't have to, IMO. But they want you to move house because of the huge stamp duty payments they get.

[Bill Taylor]

As a pensioner you'll have significantly less income as well. Even if you are one of the lucky few who have contributed to a final salary scheme for 40 years, the most you will get is 2/3 of your salary. Most people will end up with much less than half the pay the were earning. Not that I think there's much of a case for different tax allowances just because your old.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yehbut, if you've organised things properly, you should have paid off your mortgage, kids off your hands etc by the time you retire. And no more of the often considerable expense of getting to work and subsistance there.

[harry]

Plus the dreaded stamp duty.