An open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Dear Mr Osborne,

Although I make no claim to be an economist, I think that I have now grasped the main points of your latest Budget, as they pertain to me - a teetotal pensioner with a very modest occupational pension, who does not play Bingo.

 

I am delighted to know that I am now able to deposit £15,000 in my ISA.  Unfortunately, the £50+ that it currently holds is about as much as it is going to have for the foreseeable future.   With that £50, I am probably still better off than many of my fellow senior citizens!  Even if I did have the level of savings that you appear to consider to be quite normal, the interest rate on the ISA that I do have is so low as to make it little better than placing my £15k in a sock, and hiding it under the mattress!

 

You have also ensured that I have greater freedom with regard to my 'pension pot'.  Regretfully, along with many others, my bed is already well made, and I must sleep thereon.

It was interesting to see that you have raised the personal tax allowance.  However, as far as I can see, you have not raised it for those of us who are receiving a state pension.  I am still awaiting the documentation from my occupational pension provider, but I suspect that the very small increase in my state pension will be, effectively, swallowed up by the fact that I will have to pay more tax on my occupational one.

 

All in all, I regret to have to say that I was not, at a personal level, the least bit impressed by your Budget.  Perhaps I missed something - and, if so, I trust that someone will enlighten me - but my personal verdict is a great 'thumbs down'.  This is one 'grey vote' that you will not have!

 

Kind regards.

 

[Now all that I need is for someone to direct Mr Osborne to my blog!!!!]

I know how you feel! ("Oh no, you don't!")

During my time as a full-time parish minister, there were occasions on which I had the unwelcome, but necessary, task of conducting the funeral service for a stillborn child, or one that had survived a very short time after birth.  These were, as most folk would understand, difficult situations.  It was my custom to visit with the bereaved family on one or two occasions prior to the funeral but, while I could be sympathetic, I was unable to say the words: "I know what you're going through."  My two healthy children were in the manse, growing like Jack's beanstalk and, as the saying goes, eating my wife and me out of house and home!

I thought of all of that as I heard, and read, today's reports on the Prime Minister's New Year "address to the nation".  He stated that: “Of course I know that there will be many people watching this who are worried about what else the year might bring. There are fears about jobs and paying the bills. The search for work has become difficult, particularly for young people. And rising prices have hit household budgets. I get that.

We are taking action on both fronts. I know how difficult it will be to get through this. But I also know that we will.”

 "I know how difficult it will be ..."  To continue the pantomime analogy of 'Jack and the Beanstalk', "Oh no, you don't!"   And how could he?  With his personal wealth, added to that of the lovely Samantha (Mrs C), bolstering a Prime Ministerial salary, on top of still-generous expenses, held together with the other financial perks that accrue to someone in his position, there's no way that he knows how difficult it is.  Let the PM spend a year with no income other than a state pension, or the "average" wage of a working man, or the benefits provided for a genuine claimant.  Then, he can tell us that he knows how difficult it is!

I am happy to give the PM the benefit of the doubt, and accept that he is genuine in his concern for others - just as I was genuinely concerned for the parents of those dead infants.  But please, Mr Cameron, don't insult the British people by telling those of us who have to get by over a year, on a fraction of what some footballers earn in a week, that you know what it's like for us!

That's the difference with Almighty God.  At the Incarnation that we have just celebrated, He entered our time-space continuum; took upon Himself human flesh; and lived the life of the humanity that He had created - yet without sin (Heb.4:15).  He experienced all of our emotions; He knew what is was to be hated, betrayed, unjustly condemned.  And He even experienced death - the cruel death of crucifixion.  

When He says, "I understand", we may be certain that He really does. 

The listening PM!!!

I am so proud of my Prime Minister!  How brave of him to announce, with regard to changes in the NHS in England, that he and the Coalition Government are going to listen to the people who are most involved.  Well done, sir!  You deserve the congratulations.

However, now that you have set such a worthwhile precedent, may one expect the announcement of further listening exercises?  If the Prime Minister is short of ideas, I would suggest that he consult the people who are most involved concerning our continuing membership of the discredited, disastrous, debacle that is known as the European Union!  Since the people who are most involved are in that particular case, the British people as a whole and, especially, the hard-pressed tax-payer, this would require a referendum.  I await the announcement.

May I also suggest to the Prime Minister that he withdraw the £650 million grant that he has made - without, to the best of my knowledge, any consultation with Parliament, let alone the taxpayer who is funding it - to the nuclear weapon holding, and space exploring, nation of Pakistan?  This is the country in which Section 295c of the Penal Code allows minority groups to be targeted if they say, or are even falsely alleged to have said, something considered to be uncomplimentary about the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.  Yet the P.M. doesn't even lay down conditions to go along with his beneficence.  I am all for supporting those in genuine need - but it should be genuine!

The PM might also consider listening to those who are, currently, of pensionable age.  He might explain to them the rationale behind the proposed introduction of a straightforward single State Pension being awarded only to "new" pensioners - while the existing ones have to continue to go through the minefield of form-filling in order to obtain that for which they have given a lifetime's work.  Surely, if "we are all in this together", then all should be treated equally!

Finally, the PM might consider the unwelcome ramifications of the Human Rights Act, 1998.  Did he not actually promise a new British Bill of Rights?  When is he going to deliver on that promise.  If he is concerned about the withdrawal of support from his Coalition partners, I would suggest that he has nothing about which to worry.  They've had almost a year of ministerial cars, and the other perks of being in government.  Oh, they'll shout a bit, and insist that they are not in favour.  But does he honestly think that they will do anything to bring down the government?  As is often asked, "Do turkeys vote for Christmas?"

So come on, Mr Cameron.  make me - and, I suspect, a lot of other people - even more proud of you.   And please start with that referendum on our continuing membership of the EU!