Dispatches - Heat Or Eat

[Gizmo]

Anyone else catch this tonight?, what a damn disgrace the way pensioners have to live in this country, this country really is going down the pan, this goverment should be ashamed :(

Giz

[karia]

Anyone else catch this tonight?, what a damn disgrace the way pensioners have to live in this country, this country really is going down the pan, this government should be ashamed :(

Giz

Have watched and commented on the series here Gizmo

My parents (79 & 81) live independently despite my mums life curtailing illness.

I take great delight in bringing them whatsoever they choose to eat and sorely pity those whose offspring are tied into the 'mince and custard' as will surely come to me one day..

When my time comes I hope there will be a complex of multi cultural OAP Indian resthomes who have forgiven us our stupidities and weighed our sales in 'Madras' orders.;)

Good food and 'respect'..........

I will not be found wanting on either!

Kariax

[Dusty]

I thought that the opening bit where they had a clip of Gordon Brown saying that a country is judged by how it treats its children and its elderly was ironic.

When you consider what those now elderly people have probably contributed to the government coffers over the years to pay, in part, for what we are now making available to almost anyone from the EU, it makes you wonder where our current priorities lie.

On the other hand, it might well be a part of a not very well advertised government policy to accelerate the attrition rate of non-contributers.

[NickInTheNorth]

A very interesting, and thought provoking programme.

A real indictment on modern selfish greedy British society. It is disgusting that any elderly (or not) person has to live in the disgusting conditions shown. As to the man with no heating because of an argument over a bit of cable, words fail me.

As to the amount that any particular person has contributed over the years, I find that a total irrelevance.

And when people play the "johnny foreigner" card, that shows a remarkable ignorance of how pension and welfare issues work within the EU.

The other fact which astounds me is why such as issue is made of the fact that a single pensioner finds it tough to manage on £109, what about working age benefits claimants who have to manage on £59!

Methinks there is something rotten in the state of britain!

[Dusty]

As to the amount that any particular person has contributed over the years, I find that a total irrelevance.

And when people play the "johnny foreigner" card, that shows a remarkable ignorance of how pension and welfare issues work within the EU.


I am sure that if you had spent a working lifetime contributing to a scheme which you had been given to understand would benefit you when you most needed assistance i.e. old age or infirmity and then discovered that the assistance was not forthcoming in the degree you had been previously advised that it would, you would most certainly not consider it a total irrelevance.

I do not profess to understand how the pension and welfare issues work within the EU and doubt if there are a lot of people who could legitimately claim that they do understand it.
Irrespective of how it all works, the fact remains that it appears that a significant amount of "Johnny Foreigners" come to the UK and avail themselves of the UK wefare system rather than the system in place in their country of origin, which would suggest to me that there must be some advantage to them in doing so.
The added strain on the system of money being sent outwith the UK, hiring interpreters etc.etc. inevitably means that there is less available to be spent on our indigenous oldsters.

I would like to make it clear that I have no problem at all with "Johnny Foreigner" coming to the UK to take up employment, as they will then be contibuting to the welfare system like anyone else in the UK enjoying employment.

I must say that I found the tone of your post a bit condescending with its accusations of "remarkable ignorance" and its introduction of the "Johnny Foreigner" label.

[Angela]

I felt so terribly sorry for the 86 year old woman who had contracted MRSA in an NHS hospital. Until then she had been a fit and active pensioner who had worked all her life.

Her income was deemed too high for her to receive free care (I'm assuming that this wouldn't apply in Scotland) and her attempt to have her council tax reduced had failed. She had also had to pay for the necessary adaptations to her house out of her seemingly modest savings.

It did make me ponder the very different situation of Lesley Ash, who has recently received £5 million, in compensation for the infection similar to MRSA that she contracted while in hospital. :confused

[NickInTheNorth]

I am sure that if you had spent a working lifetime contributing to a scheme which you had been given to understand would benefit you when you most needed assistance i.e. old age or infirmity and then discovered that the assistance was not forthcoming in the degree you had been previously advised that it would, you would most certainly not consider it a total irrelevance.

I do not profess to understand how the pension and welfare issues work within the EU and doubt if there are a lot of people who could legitimately claim that they do understand it.
Irrespective of how it all works, the fact remains that it appears that a significant amount of "Johnny Foreigners" come to the UK and avail themselves of the UK wefare system rather than the system in place in their country of origin, which would suggest to me that there must be some advantage to them in doing so.
The added strain on the system of money being sent outwith the UK, hiring interpreters etc.etc. inevitably means that there is less available to be spent on our indigenous oldsters.

I would like to make it clear that I have no problem at all with "Johnny Foreigner" coming to the UK to take up employment, as they will then be contibuting to the welfare system like anyone else in the UK enjoying employment.

I must say that I found the tone of your post a bit condescending with its accusations of "remarkable ignorance" and its introduction of the "Johnny Foreigner" label.

Any pensioner from an EU country taking advantage of the benefits system in the UK receives the pension from their country of origin. In the same way the UK pensioners can choose to live out their retirement in say Spain.

You have just admitted yourself that you don't know how the pension and welfare issues work - yet you choose to complain that "almost anyone from the EU" is having benefits made available.

So in light of that I think the ignorance is self aknowledged, and I feel that using the pejorative term "johnny foreigner" fits in perfectly with the tenor of your argument.

And with regard to the amount of contribution making a difference - I feel that our treatment of the elderly should be based on humanity, and therefore whether you have earned a lot or a little, and thus contributed a lot or a little to society in monetary terms should not have any impact on having a basic right to a decent place to live, adequately heated, and able to feed yourself!

[Dusty]

Any pensioner from an EU country taking advantage of the benefits system in the UK receives the pension from their country of origin. In the same way the UK pensioners can choose to live out their retirement in say Spain.

What about benefits, medical attention, would they be eligible to leapfrog the local authority housing waiting list?


You have just admitted yourself that you don't know how the pension and welfare issues work - yet you choose to complain that "almost anyone from the EU" is having benefits made available.

I also said that I doubted that there were many could claim that they did know how it all worked. I am entitled to complain about what I like.


And with regard to the amount of contribution making a difference - I feel that our treatment of the elderly should be based on humanity, and therefore whether you have earned a lot or a little, and thus contributed a lot or a little to society in monetary terms should not have any impact on having a basic right to a decent place to live, adequately heated, and able to feed yourself

I never said that the amount of contribution should make any difference, my initial statement was intended to encompass all contributers, not single them out on the basis of how much they had contributed over the years. It was your good self who raised the issue of quantity of contributions.
My point was that these people had contributed (according to their means) to the system over the years in the belief that they were "saving" to provide a comfortable old age for themselves (and their peers who were not so fortunate as to be able to contribute) and who now, on appearing to be being short changed, might possibly be a tad miffed.
I have no argument with the Welfare State, only the abuse of it whether it be by workshy Brits or wide-boy foreigners.