In the news today.

Are those figures based on the basic state pension or on Pension Credit though? Most retirees have some other income (eg an occupational pension) after all.

The thing about comparison charts is that you need to know that it's like for like. The State Pension is Spain is better but there is very little else available e.g. no pensioner's credit, very low levels of social care.

Their benefit system overall is worse than ours and their covid payments were much lower and in most case had to be paid back. My sister was laid off for 4 months and got the govt benefit 'loan', which she is now having deducted from her wages at £15 pm. A lot of European countries went this way and backed a govt loan scheme, but people are now paying it back. We just threw money at businesses and have only managed to get a tiny proportion back. The govt wound up 33 companies just recently and they had been given millions in loans.

Also in Spain unemployment benefit is lower and last for about 6-10 months (it can take about 3 months to get it too) and then you go on a kind of voucher scheme, where you get a bit of money and food/clothing vouchers or in some instances a food parcel based on the numbers in your household. Mind you there is a lot more black market in Spain than we have here.

Waiting for the floodgates to open?   

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/24/migrants-labour-government-crossing-channel-rwanda/

[Migrants in France 'waiting for Labour government' Migrants in northern France say they are waiting for a Labour government before crossing the Channel after Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to scrap the Rwanda scheme.12 hours ago]

New Hacking Scandal?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9ww90j9dj8o

I quite agree, they have not encouraged people to vote. Perhaps that was the intention from the start, but as Rees-Mogg pointed out at the last election, they hadn't calculated how many older people had no photo ID.

If we have to have it then we need to extend the scope and include:

Student Union Cards
Disabled Adult Rail Cards
Armed Forces ID Cards
Union Membership Cards

If an out of date passport can be used, albeit as long as the photo still looks like you, then I don't see why a properly obtained ID from any of the above places shouldn't be included. In order to get any of the above you have to prove who you are. In fact, to take out a phone contract you need photo ID and they accept the ones above.

Besides there is very little evidence that there was any kind of mass voter fraud. There have been one or two cases but nothing significant in all the years we have been running elections. No kind of ID would stop a person being coerced into voting, they would just have a postal vote forced on them by whoever was controlling them. So it wouldn't work in those instances anyway.

We need more people to vote not less. Govts get in on ridiculously low turnouts. This could be worse because of the time. Scottish and Northern Irish schools will already have broken up and people are already heading off to their caravans and lodges for the summer. In England and Wales this is a popular time for overseas holidays because it is cheaper. Festivals are happening across the UK. Yes, I know, Sunak chose it for that reason because he thought young people would still be at uni and lots of people would be on holiday and not around but it's not really fair to people to deny them a vote because they don't have a passport when they have never been abroad in their lives.

Perhaps we should have a fixed date for elections like October or March.

Dick-ins and Dick-outs?

I+salute+the+nurses+who+took+a+stand+against+this+women-have-penises+nonsense