Grammar schools - social mobility or social pariah?

This week the opening of a new grammar school was approved by the incumbent Tory government in my home country of Kent. Based 10 miles away from Tonbridge's Weald of Kent Grammar school, the building in Sevenoaks has been decreed as an annex to that existing complex - thereby neatly skipping around the "no more grammar schools" rule installed by that very public schoolboy Tony Blair in 1998.

As a result of yet another Tory deception social media went ballistic at the news and there were many commentators putting their two pennies worth into the mix... so here's mine:

Brought up on a council estate by a single mother in the 1960s I, like many other children, were consigned to a life path of low paid, unskilled work with no ambition of owning our own homes.

But along with several others in my primary school, I passed my 11 plus. I didn't even know what that was and didn't even realise I'd taken any test that would take me from the comfort of my peer group and place me smack bang into a world I'd never experienced. I was just told I was going to the grammar school. I wanted to go to the (awful) local secondary.

My protests fell on deaf ears. My family was proud. I was the first one to pass the 11 plus. It was something to be celebrated. It would lift me out of the inevitable drudgery of factory or shop work. I could be a secretary, or even go to university.

I didn't fit in. I was the one who queued on a Monday morning, with a select few, outside the secretary's office to collect our free school dinner tickets. I didn't have parents who encouraged me to do my homework. I didn't have a clue about how to study to pass exams.

My old primary school friends now saw me as "posh" and that social circle withered away. My new school associates saw me as "the poor kid" dressed in a second-hand uniform so I remained outside their cliques.

I hated every day I walked through the gates of my grammar school. I left with two O levels... grade C.

So much for social mobility.

Of course, as those have argued so vociferously on social media have said, how can you decide a child's fate at 11 years old?

And, more importantly, those old days of supposed grammar school social mobility have now been overtaken by the feeding frenzy of pushy middle class parents who can afford to tutor 10 year old Henry and Felicity to pass the exam to attain that elusive school place... and continue to fund their progress on that extending social ladder.

Me? Well I did just fine in the end. My education came through my work experience as an adult. I bought my first property at 22 years old. I got that nice little job in the City on an above average salary. And just to add the icing to the cake, I received my BSc First Class Honours degree in Psychology, after five years of studying with the OU, in 2008.

Grammar schools? Who needs them.

IDS getting ready to rob your granny?

Today has seen a flurry of Twitter activity in response to the suggestion by the right-wing quango, The Tax Payers Alliance (TPA), that the government should remove pensioner benefits.

Justifiably many people are angry.

Personally, I'm just bemused and surprised at the reactions because what the TPA has suggested is already happening and despite mine and others efforts to publicise it, nobody has taken the blind bit of notice.

Why?

Well it's simple really. The already affected OAPs are those of us living in other EU countries, whose entitlement to the pension cash benefit known as "winter fuel payment" was finally removed by the implementation of Statutory Instrument 3270 just two weeks ago on 21 September.

Derided as renegades, or rich... or both, we "British migrants" are the non-entities that the UK Government can effectively "rip the piss" out of and nobody bats an eyelid.

Well, maybe if the TPA's suggestion is taken up by the (dis)honorable Iain Duncan Smith - and in all likelihood he's already been planning this for a long time anyway - then it'll be more than an eyelid that's batted.

This could be the straw that breaks the camels back and bring Cameron and his cronies to their knees when their loyal band of merry pensioners give them the finger in 2020!

In the meantime, I'm not normally the sort to say "I told you so" - but on this occasion I will.

Since George Osborne announced the removal of winter fuel payment for OAPs living in the EU in the coalition's Autumn Statement of 2013, and the signing of SI 3270 in December by then-Pensions Minister, LibDem Steve Webb, I have trumpeted the call to arms from every rooftop.

But nobody listened. Nobody cared. A classic case of "it'll never happen to me".

Well pensioners of the UK, looks like you might be in the cross-hairs of IDS now.

We know how it feels, We know how to deal with it (and, trust me, we are). We hope you can too.

IDS a liar? Tell me something I don't know.

Today the world of social media erupted when a FOI request submitted to the DWP revealed that the department had faked claimants stories, relating to benefit sanctions, to portray a positive spin to their evil wrongdoings.

Outraged, the Twittersphere was suddenly bursting at the seams with tweets abusing, mocking and deriding Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith under the collective #fakeDWPstories

Some people appeared genuinely shocked - and in that respect I was amazed.

After all us British migrants, living within the (supposedly) legally protected EU, have been dealing with the crap meted out by this government department for many years now.

We even had the misfortune to come up against the now Labour leadership candidate Yvette Cooper when she was at the helm of this ship... and while she talks of social justice today during her campaign, I can tell you that she was anything but "just" back in 2009.

This link to a debate in Westminster Hall tells the story, with her Minister for the Disabled acting as her henchman and mouthpiece... and like her successor IDS, Ms Cooper can also be seen to have the deaths of claimants firmly on her record:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2010-01-12b.167.0

Anyway, back to the deception by IDS and his DWP cronies, which has #fakeDWPstories merrily trending while I am writing this.

His actions are nothing new and nobody in their right mind should be shocked by them. Instead maybe folk could start taking more notice of what the Tories are doing to other minority groups with no voice or UK public support.

Yes, British migrants living in other EU countries... otherwise known as expats and all the stereotypical claptrap that goes with that old Empire title if you are stupid enough to read and believe the Daily Mail or Express!

Because less than a year ago IDS pulled another big fat lie out of his bag that has condemned many OAPs to the worry of how to afford to heat their homes this winter.

I'm not even going to bother writing the nitty gritty details of IDS' disgusting and disgraceful treatment of elderly folk - including those who fought in WW2 to protect their land and bring about the freedoms we enjoy today...

Instead I'll just leave this link here for you to read through at your leisure:

http://www.winterfuelpayment.info/index.html

Iain Duncan Smith a liar?
Tell me something I don't know.

Labour doing Tories dirty deeds... again!

In 1992 the Conservative government, as part of designating social welfare benefits under EU regulatory provisions, placed Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance into the category of "non-exportable benefits"... effectively ensuring that anyone taking advantage of the EU's fundamental principle of Freedom of Movement could not claim these - in some cases essential - disability financial assistance payments. In other words, if you were disabled then the moment you left Blighty's shores, your disability would miraculously disappear and you would, by some biblical miracle "rise up and walk again".

With the advent of New Labour in 1997, pro-EU and with a presumed "fairer society" attitude, those affected by the Nasty Party's previous action were confident that the discriminatory decision to assign DLA/AA/CA as non-exportable would be overturned. After all, Child Benefit was payable to immigrants working in the UK to send home to their children living in other EU countries... so surely fairness in society would permit those (many of whom were retired) to receive monies from the country they had paid their dues to for decades.

But no. Blair's New Labour was not prepared to undo the injustice of their opposition. Instead campaigners were forced to take their case to the European Commission, who instigated an investigation that resulted in a lengthy court battle, the UK government's defence being funded by the British taxpayer, through the European Court of Justice*. Finally heard in 2005, the ECJ made a ruling in 2007 that fell (mostly) in favour of the disabled claimants. DLA (care component), AA and CA were legally payable to British subjects living within the EU. DLA mobility component was denied at this point and another court case was heard and ruled on in 2011, falling in favour of the new coalition government and it remains non-exportable.

From the decision in 2007 until just before they lost power in 2010, Labour steadfastly refused to adhere to the ECJ ruling. Instead they made more and more outrageous (and quite frankly ridiculous) assertions as to why they should not pay British disabled citizens their rightful benefits. Instead individual claimants were forced through DWP appeal court cases... again funded at great cost by the UK taxpayer (ironically, quite a few Brits abroad are mandatory payers of UK tax).

Finally, once the coalition was formed in 2010, the DWP complied with the ECJ ruling on the proviso (i.e. by changing domestic social security rules) that any recipients must have made a minimum contribution into the UK's National Insurance contribution scheme. Fair enough.

So now we whizz forward to 2014, following an announcement in Osborne's 2013 Autumn Statement that the coalition (in reality, Conservatives) would remove the state pensioner winter fuel payment from Brits living in DWP-defined "hot" countries. And in order to remove the maximum number of people from the scheme, DWP Secretary of State, Iain Duncan Smith, had his minions skew their "temperature test", by the addition of French tropical islands (in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean) to artifically increase mainland France's average annual temperature by two degrees above the SW UK average on which the test is based. In reality France is below that criteria by two degrees!

Petty politics? Of course, we're taking about the Nasty Party.

On 10 December 2014, a statutory instrument (3270) was signed to amend the social security law relating to payments of winter fuel. At this point, for the uninitiated, I must just add that winter fuel payment was introduced by New Labour as a "top-up" to what was then an even more derisory basic state pension than now. Accordingly, the European Commission, which defines winter fuel payment as a "pension benefit" linked to the basic state pension, has instigated an investigation into the actions of the just dissolved government.

Meanwhile, the Labour party, hoping to take their place on the ruling benches at Westminster on 8 May, have been asked for their comments - and possible action - to correct the discriminatory wrong by English-speaking newspaper Connexion France.

Labour's response:

"Concerning the WFP it would not change the current arrangements, and would also remove it from the richest 5% of pensioners...

...because there is less money around we cannot continue to pay WFPs to the richest 5% of pensioners, but we have no plans to undo other changes to the WFP made by this government.” 

Deja vu anyone?

*Note: The European Court of Justice is a separate entity from the European Court of Human Rights, which is regularly lamblasted in the right-wing press on issues such as prisoner votes.

Expats & Brexit

With continued debate on the possibility of the UK withdrawing from the EU (known as brexit) here are a few thoughts on the ramifications on the effect of expat state pensioners and their dependents living in the EU... and how the UK could be "biting it's nose off to spite it's face".

The big UKIP-driven debate about immigrants "coming over here, stealing our jobs and taking our benefits" (a juxtaposition if ever I heard one!) is certainly causing the Tory element of the coalition to panic like a herd of gazelle into an abyss... and at no point has anyone at the top of government paid consideration to the 2+ million British expats residing in other EU countries.

So instead of worrying about "Johnny Foreigner" let's take a reasoned look at the effects of a brexit on your granddads and grannies... who may well be looking to take up resident in your spare bedroom after 2017!

Currently, expat British state pensioners and their dependents are entitled to receive their state pension (NOT a welfare benefit¹) and "exportable" benefits if they have a sufficient link to the UK. The DWP do not actually provide their calculations for the sufficient link eligibility, but those that have the right to receive a state pension due to reaching the qualifying years of national insurance payments (nowadays only a mere 30 qualifying years) are generally deemed eligible... a seemingly one-sided criteria given that the children of migrants living outside the UK are currently entitled to receive Child Benefit, but I will not go down the route of that argument here.

The main exportable benefits received by OAP British expats in the EU are DLA (care component only, not mobility²) or Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance.

Before any critics jump on this bandwagon and correct me on this, I know that there are limited additional benefits that can be claimed by work-age expats, i.e. JSA for the first 6 months you are abroad and seeking work, but this article is dealing specifically with OAPs who have been living in the EU for several years and their dependents who will no longer be eligible for any short-term UK benefits.

As has been widely reported, Winter Fuel Payments for OAP expats are being removed in 2015 (legislation due to conveniently occur just BEFORE the General Election) from a selection of EU countries³, based on annual average temperatures. However, it should be noted, particularly by those UKIP supporters gleefully clapping their hands at this news in the UK, that due to the manipulation of temperature statistics by the DWP, while OAP expats in "hot" France will lose their WFP, the Tories have ensured – for reasons known only to IDS – that those in "cold" Italy will retain the payment!

And, as an aside, for anyone interested in the workings of the EU and “benefits”, the European Commission has decreed that WFP is part of an OAP's state pension and, as such, it is illegal to remove this element from being paid. Needless to say, if the Tories regain power and this legislation remains in place, and the UK population vote to stay IN the EU, then this will be subject to a legal challenge that will be dragged for years through the European Court of Justice, at a substantial cost to the taxpayer that will probably outweigh the cost of actually paying it.

To give an idea of how the UK government likes to decry the ECJ and then use it for its own twisted means against its disabled citizens, for example, just Google ECJ cases C-299/05 and C-537/09. The latter is a wonderful wake-up call for those who think Cameron's crocodile tears for his son are real. He really does not give a flying f*ck about the disabled.

Anyway, let's move on to healthcare and the NHS – a big talking point at the time of writing this blog, as Gideon has announced a £2bn boost to the ailing UK service. Unlike the UK, most other EU countries do not provide services "free at the point of delivery", so along with the indigenous populations, even UK state pensioners are obliged to have some form of private insurance as the reciprocal agreements within the EU do not cover 100% of the costs.

For example, in France, payments for GP and specialist visits are made upfront: €23 for a GP visit, €44 (average) for a specialist. Hospital stays will be invoiced for payment by cheque/card or be covered by insurance. Prescription charges must also be covered otherwise payment is required.

Thinking about this, it might make those living in Britain a bit more mindful about making appointments that they then fail to attend if the UK adopted this policy. But given that the UK does not even charge other EU migrants to access NHS services, could this be seen as another failed opportunity that has been perpetuated by consecutive UK governments?

OK, Cameron & Co are now talking the talk about ensuring NHS charges are made by “foreigners” and that benefit entitlements are tightened up, but this smacks of closing the gate after the horse has bolted... particularly as the benefit changes being proposed are already de rigour in some EU countries in that you do not get anything out of the system without first paying a hefty amount in!

Anyway, in the event of Britain leaving the EU and repatriating "foreigners", there is no reason why the British expat's host country cannot do the same. Even if there is no tit-for-tat reprisals, there is no doubt in the current climate, that the UK government will seek to punish expats who remain abroad by freezing state pensions, as they do already for those in Canada, Australia etc, and removing their rights to exportable benefits, which are currently protected under EU law.

If this is the case, then many of those living on a basic state pension will find themselves forced to return to the UK, so let's have a look at what could entail:

Firstly, it should be noted that back in the days of the Colonial Empire – those days currently being sought to be relived by our UKIP pals – the British expatriate was, no doubt, a moneyed individual with no reliance on state assistance. The stereotypical expat, foisted upon a naïve UK population by the likes of the Daily Mail and Daily Express, is one who sits around a pool all day, in brilliant sunshine, quaffing champagne. Sadly, my friends, those expats are a rare breed and for those dinosaurs that still exist, they most certainly will not be worrying about what is going on back in the homeland.

Instead many of the expat communities, those living particularly in Spain, France and Portugal, are of the post-war (baby boomer) generation of hard grafters who had the opportunity to buy their council properties in the UK while working. Then, when it was time to put their feet up, having paid into the NI system for a minimum of 44 years to get their pittance of a State Pension (and for those fortunate enough, a small public or private pension), took the chance to cash in the fruits of their labour and buy a retirement flat, finca or derelict farmhouse in foreign climes.

Following the global crash and like many ordinary folk in Blighty, many of these expats have seen their retirement abodes become worthless and their state pension reduce by a weakened pound (and in my opinion an artificially inflated euro!). Belt-tightening has been the order of the day, just like everyone else.

At this point, I also need to point out – having been confronted on the issue of expats being able to sell up and bring their “fortune” back home to Blighty and invest in the housing market there – that some expats left rented property in the UK to rent in their host country, and therefore have no “assets” to sell up in the event of a return... so one can only hope that the UK government has the necessary resources in place to house these OAPs, particularly if adapted properties are needed!

Either way, as I write this, it would appear that a return to the UK is seeming more attractive. After all, OAP expats would find themselves entitled to receive the following, thank you very much:

State Pension

Pension Credit

Winter Fuel Payment

Cold Weather Payments

Housing Benefit

Council Tax reduction

DLA Care & Mobility components

Attendance Allowance

Carers Allowance

Free NHS healthcare

Free prescriptions

While any work-age dependents may be able to additionally claim:

JSA

Income support

Incapacity benefit/ESA

Mmm... now this is increasingly becoming very interesting isn't it?

Maybe this brexit thing won't be too bad, eh, for us old muppets if we troop back to Blighty?

All those extra benefits that we currently waiver in favour of our expat “lifestyle”, which in many cases is nothing different from the “lifestyle” we'd be living back home.

Makes you think, doesn't it? Grass, greener, other side of the fence... and such.

Oh, but wait? If the UK throws out the working EU migrants who are currently paying into the system that allows continued payments of State Pension to us and, hopefully, the generations coming along behind, where exactly does that leave us all?

Time to step back from the brexit precipice and reflect, maybe?

1. State Pension: it is a grotesque effrontery to common-sense that IDS and Gideon have bundled the State Pension into the benefit/welfare pot, as those in receipt of SP have earned the right to receive this money after years of national insurance contributions.

2. DLA Mobility component: it should be noted that if anyone living in the UK with restricted mobility, or even wheelchair-bound, is thinking of moving to another EU country, that following a long drawn out legal case through the European Court of Justice using taxpayers money, the UK Government (Labour and then the current coalition) decreed that DLA Mobility is NOT an exportable benefit (ECJ case C-537/09). So presumably you can arise like Lazarus and throw away your mobility aids the minute you leave Blighty's shores!

3. Winter fuel payments will no longer be available to OAP expats living in: Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain. Note that Italy is not excluded and expats there will continue to receive WFP. To ensure that expats in France have their WFP removed from 2015, IDS and the DWP included France's 5 overseas tropical departments in the provided dataset – Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion, and French Guiana – where only 30 retired Brits live, but this allows denial of WFP to those living in the colder climes of mainland France where temperatures in the winter fall to MINUS 15 degrees celcius! If IDS can do it there he can do it in the UK, so Cornwall, Devon and Dorset beware!

Scottish referendum: Message from Sir Roger Gale MP

Folks in far-flung places and those closer to home,

If you have family or friends or contacts who are eligible to vote in Scotland next week would you be kind enough to impress upon them the importance of the “No” vote to maintain the Union.

At the Battle Of Britain dinner in the House last night the point was made that it was at this time of year that so many of our young airmen gave their lives in the defence of the United Kingdom. The break-up of the Union would have disastrous consequences not just for Scotland but for the whole future of what most of us have worked all our lives for and hold dear. That, of course, will embrace not only domestic but overseas interests as well.

We are making considerable progress over the right of Britons resident overseas to vote (and if you are eligible but have not yet registered please do so) and there are even some glimmerings – although I would not wish to overstate the case – of light on the pensions uprating front. We shall be stronger together.

This is a crucial moment in our Island`s history and we really do need to muster all of the support available.

With very best wishes

Roger

Not that stupid, Dave

Conservative party chairman Grant Shapp's announcement yesterday raised a wry eyebrow, but definitely not a smile, in our household. Well used to seeing the party politicking on every media outlet before any relevant vote - in this case the 2015 General Election - like many expats I am too long in the tooth to take much notice of any of the promises being made in order to gain my vote. Naturally, this story has already prompted the inevitable raft of comments on social media spewing out the same old rhetoric... "they've abandoned the UK, why should they have a say?" being the most repeated. And were it not for the fact that I have been an expat for the past eight years, I confess that I would probably be asking the same question. 

Instead, I can answer that question quite plainly: many expats continue to pay taxes and NI contributions to the UK, or have a "sufficient link" (UK Gov speak!) by way of receipt of State Pension. But after 15 years, despite the Treasury still collecting these funds, the British expat is totally cut off from having any say in the governmental issues of their homeland.

This is in complete opposition to most (but admittedly not all) other European countries, i.e. France who provides voting facilities in the UK for their nationals living and working there. Even those countries further afield, i.e. the USA, have a voting provision for their expats living in the UK. And no, British expats living in other EU countries do not have the right to vote in the general elections of their residential country!

Also, for the 3.3 million vote-eligible British expats worldwide, the UK system is deliberately complicated and antiquated - something that ensures that only a few thousand die-hards are ever registered to vote. It would seem, however, that there is change in the air, with some recent improvements made for registering online and the Electoral Commission, led by HoC Speaker John Bercow, seeking for an electronic, online system that could not only appeal to British expats around the world, but possibly engage younger voters in the UK.


However, even after explaining this to some, the argument still rings out that expats have cut their ties with their homeland. On the contrary, most expats maintain a very close-knit relationship with their homeland through strong family bonds, regular visits and financial ties.

Something that it is difficult for many UK residents to recognise, is that being an expat is no longer the exclusive domain of the rich. Any one of you reading this could become an expat. We are expats. We live less than an hour from the UK. We do not live in a chateau. We have not been blessed with a Lottery win (yet!). It was simply something we chose to do after 40 years of hard graft and dues paid. Time for a quiet life. Oh how we wish. Instead we are the minority group that, if targeted in such a fashion in the UK, would see the headlines screaming out accusations of us being the victims of discrimination, racism, sexism... you name it. But no, we are expats... turncoats of the worse kind (*irony*).

Anyway, that is our life example, but many British citizens of a younger, working age may head off for a few years, then return to retire back in the UK - but will be disenfranchised as a voter if their career keeps them away for over 15 years. Pensioners, who have retired for a quiet life in another European country, receive their State Pensions - and there are some green-eyed monsters living in the UK that say even this is wrong. That if you do not live in the UK, you should have no right to a State Pension. So should we do that to all the OAPs who have left their county's of birth or work and headed to Cornwall for their retirement?

Even those expats not quite old enough to draw pensions continue to pay their dibs to the UK Treasury coffers, in the form of National Insurance Contributions. After all, British expats have no right to draw a pension in their country of residence if they have never worked there. Would you agree to immigrants arriving straight off the boat and claiming a British State Pension? No, of course not. So we do not expect the French/Spanish/Italian/etc governments to supplement ours.

Then there are those British citizens who have spent their working lives serving the British public, in our schools, hospitals, emergency services and Armed Forces, who receive their pensions, as rightly so for the contributions made. These pensions, unlike the State Pension, are only taxable in the UK. For that THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE.

So, many expats have paid into the UK coffers all their working lives, some continue to pay NI contributions, others are still liable for Income Tax on their public pensions... and after 15 years... NO VOTE, NO VOICE, NO REPRESENTATION

So, if you have got to this point and are asking why I am denigrating the Conservative party's offer to lift this restriction, I will tell you why (hold onto your hats):

Firstly, I believe that David Cameron is only making this proviso to garner the votes of existing eligible expats (like us - still eligible to vote in General Elections until 2021) to get his party into power next year. As we all know, politicians will say ANYTHING to get a vote... note, Clegg and the tuition fee debacle. And why wait until after the May 2015 election? Why not now? The Lib Dems have already made this promise and, in all likelihood, even some Labour MPs would support the cause.

Secondly, the same political party offering this to expats have already announced their intention to remove the right of British expat pensioners living in the EU to receive the Winter Fuel Payment from 2015... after they sweep to power on our proposed votes! This is despite Cameron's 2010 pledge that his party would never take away this benefit from State Pensioners (and he did not specify only UK SPs!). Okay, another contentious issue that many will decry with "but they all live in the sunshine, they don't need money for heating" - an argument backed up every year with a particularly spiteful and malicious Mac cartoon depicting rich expats using their payment for stocking up their booze supply. Oh how I wish that were true.

Yes, the Mediterranean countries do have temperate winters, I am not going to argue with anyone on that matter. But what I have taken extreme exception to is Iain Duncan Smith's skewed and deliberately manipulated average annual temperature dataset, whereby he claims that France is HOTTER than Italy... is intending to retain the winter fuel payment for expats in Italy... and used a particularly sleekit (Scottish word meaning sly, crafty) method of comparing said annual average temperatures with the south-west of England (the thermometer, excuse the pun, for deciding who is eligible to receive WFP) - by including the French overseas departments (DOMS)... all based in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean where only a handful of OAP British expats live!

Thirdly, and I am going back in time a bit here, so bear with me. In 1992 the then-Conservative government, in conjunction with complying with EU social security rules, had to decide which UK-based benefits could be exportable if eligible British citizens moved to live in another EU country under Freedom of Movement. They chose to place Disability Living Allowance - care and mobility elements - along with Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance in the "basket" as non-exportable. Now I am not going to bore anyone with the legal ramifications, but after a protracted, expensive (to the UK tax payer) legal case, the European Court of Justice decided, in 2007, that DLA (care element only), AA and CA WERE EXPORTABLE and should be paid to any eligible British citizen who had had those benefits removed when moving to another EU country.

However, even today the UK Government is still spending tax payers money (and remember, expats are tax payers too) in its attempts not to reimburse owed monies to some eligible claimants. The UK Government (under Labour in it's dying days of 2010) did finally accept the European Court of Justice ruling, but the current coalition government continues to procrastinate - and defend at great cost - certain legal challenges, including, in 2011, that of maintaining the DLA mobility element as non-exportable by taking the case successfully to the European Court of Justice again, using tax payers money.

So presumably (and, yes I am being sarcastic here) any disabled, wheelchair-bound British citizen, will be able to throw away their wheels and walk the minute they land on the shores of another EU country. I don't think so, Mr Cameron. And I don't think, despite your own family sufferings, that you have ANY idea of the difficulties of living with disability if you can allow IDS to be so ferocious in his attack on that particular group of people, both at home and abroad. Oh but wait, it's okay to send all that Child Benefit out of the country to children who have never lived in the UK and whose parents have barely made a fingernail dent in the contributions they have paid into your coffers!

Finally - yes, you can breath a sigh of relief now - in the HoC debate on the EU in/out referendum, support was given to the British expat by several MPs, including Mike Gapes, Labour, Ilford South, who proposed an amendment for British expats to be allowed to vote in the proposed 2017 referendum. After all, a withdrawal from the EU will affect us all. Mr. Gapes' amendments were not called to a division. So, unlike our counterparts living in the "UK State" of Gibraltar, no vote for the EU-resident British expat in a referendum that could see the withdrawal of our rights to healthcare, frozen State Pensions, requirements for residential permits, no right to exportable benefits, non-acceptance of educational and professional qualifications... the list goes on.

There is no doubt the Conservatives are terrified of the UKIP momentum and are seeking any way they can to ensure that the removal van is not needed at Number 10 in May 2015.  

USING EXPATS AS A POLITICAL PAWN IS NOT ONLY CYNICAL, IT IS DOWNRIGHT OFFENSIVE.

UKIP want to raise the UK drawbridge. If the Conservatives continue to play their nasty game, they'd better be prepared to roll out a red carpet across that drawbridge and welcome their expats home. I just hope that their plans include the necessary funding for housing, benefits, NHS facilities, etc, for our return.


Links:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/11068438/Tories-pledge-to-give-vote-back-to-all-expats.html
http://uklibdems.eu/en/article/2013/684052/we-want-our-votes-back
http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=5217
http://www.connexionfrance.com/expat-wins-care-benefit-appeal-10343-news-article.html
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/2013/11/european-inout-referendum-gibraltar-in-the-rest-of-us-out.html

Referendums & the disenfranchised expat

With less than three weeks to go before Scotland makes its referendum decision on whether to split from the rest of the UK, there continues to be a lot of rhetoric, spin and, quite frankly, downright lies relating to how things will be in a post referendum "Yes" society.

Of course, the exact same pedalling of dodgy arguments and scaremongering (but hopefully not the thuggish threats) is to be expected if Cameron gets his wish for an in/out referendum on the divisive issue of membership of the EU in 2017.

But in amongst all this argy bargy, to-ing and fro-ing of debate and argument, the one group of British citizens that are going be most affected by "Yes" and "out" wins from these referendums is the expat currently living another EU country, thanks to the rights of freedom of movement.

So what if Scotland leaves the UK and/or the UK leaves the EU? What difference would it make?

Well I'm not going to argue the ins and outs of the Scottish/EU membership issue here. Anyone who wants to know how that particular piece of legislation works needs only to read the article:

Independent Scotland will have a long way to go for EU status, European Parliament policy adviser @Ben_Acheson blogs http://t.co/zifhH0cV4I

Instead it is worth considering the effects on those currently living in the EU and how easy it will be to deny the opportunities of those who might wish to broaden their horizons by coming to work and/or retire in another Member State. For example:

As non-EU citizens do not have the automatic right to live and work in EU countries, as "foreigners" Scottish/UK citizens would need to apply for fixed term residential permits.

Scottish/UK state pensioners would no longer have the automatic right to use  healthcare systems in EU countries using the S1 form.

They could also have their State Pension frozen, as is currently applicable to SPs living outside the EU.

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) would longer be valid for Scottish/UK citizens traveling within the EU.

UK "exportable" benefits, such as Disability Living Allowance (care element, not mobility proportion as that already prohibited under EU law) would not permissible.

UK educational and professional qualifications may not be accepted by countries within the EU, as EU mutual recognition rules would longer apply.

Naturally, I will presume that some readers will immediately jump on the stereotypical expat bandwagon and point out how we have "abandoned" our homeland to partake in supping sangria in the sun.

So this point I would like you to take a step back.

Reflect on how you would feel today if you were told by your government that they will continue to take your taxes and NI contributions... but you will have ABSOLUTELY NO SAY WHATSOEVER in a referendum that will affect the rest of your life. Or, indeed, after 15 years, no voting rights at all.

Or that you are in your twilight years, having worked and paid your contributions for over 40 years, retired on a basic State Pension to a small apartment/cottage in a quiet corner of another EU country, subsidising your medical costs (as unlike UK medical care is not FREE at the point of delivery) and living frugally during these times of austerity... and you then find all your rights have been taken away, with no available facility make your voice heard.

No vote, no voice, no representation... just pay your dues, thank you.

Welcome to the world of the British expat.

The solution?

Better think about getting that welcome mat out at the White Cliffs of Dover...

Referendums and all that (p2)

I must admit to having got a bit sweary on Twitter as I watched the Salmond vs Darling debate last night. Not because I have a vote in the Scottish Independence referendum and have yet to decide on my position, or am about to put a cross on the voting paper. Like many expats, we are disenfranchised from taking part in such referendums... even if they might have a direct effect on our lives.

Instead my blasphemous outbursts were all down to my assertion and belief that Mr Salmond is a blatant liar and, like many dictators that have come and gone, is fooling many people into believing those lies.

Psychology is a powerful weapon and there is no doubt in my mind that Mr Salmond and his SNP cronies have been well trained in the dark arts of psychological persuasion, revealed in his creation of a social need for independence and his persistent use loaded words and phrases that plays to those needs.

And like this those participants in social influence experiments, such as the Milgram Obediance Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment, many "Yes" voters have been swept away on the tide of SNP rhetoric and truly believe everything that is told them... even if those "truths" are merely told to ensure containing obedience and support for their leaders.

You only have to look at the #indyref threads on Twitter to see the vitriol emanating from both sides the debate - many with no sensible argument other than a "he said, she said" mentality and a vague literary command of what can seen as a "debate". At this lower end of the scale, such threads seem to be based on nothing more than who can insult their opposing number the most amount times before the inevitable "block" is put in place.

Conversely, when educated, intelligent tweeters use the platform, in an attempt to discuss the pros and cons of either side, they are all too often "shouted" down by ways of abuse, threats and harassment by those aforementioned types, are unable to argue their way out of a paper bag...

And presumably all eligible parties involved in these social media conversations will be heading to their polling booths on 18 September, as a true democracy allows, to cast a vote that could radically change not only their day-to-day lives, but those of future generations... with many making their choice on the basis of a lie.

And if that isn't enough to make a saint swear...

Referendums and all that...

As the likes of Sky News goes into overdrive now that Scotland enters its 100 day countdown to its referendum on independence it is worth pointing out that Salmond & Co's authoritarian attitude in their all consuming efforts to "win the day" is comparable to that of Cameron and Farage's attempts to promote a UK exit from the EU in the near future, without consideration to the adverse effects it will have on some citizens.

I'm not saying that the people shouldn't have a choice. On the contrary, true democracies should give ALL citizens their opportunity to voice - and vote on - anything that affects their lives.

And this is where all political parties concerning themselves with referendums and choices are getting it so wrong... and failing citizens whose lives will be intrinsically altered (and not necessarily for the better) if results of these votes successfully play into the hands of the instigators.

The citizens I am, of course, referring to are those people who no longer live in their countries of birth, but are still fully tied to them, especially by way of taxes and state pensions.

Neither the Scottish independence referendum, or proposed in/out EU referendum, allow their expats to vote and no politician at the top of the tree (and believe me, I've contacted them all) are prepared to discuss the ramifications of "yes" and "out" wins on the pensioner expat community.

Naturally when raising this issue in any forum it will provoke the usual anti-expat rhetoric, mostly from the green eyed monsters who think all expats live in chateaus, quaff champagne all day and have an bottomless pit of money.

But in reality most pensioner expats, particularly those living in the EU, are living on basic state pensions (with some receiving modest public servant pensions on which they will always continue to pay UK tax) and do not meet the stereotype as previously described in any way, shape or form. In fact, since the financial "bust" British pensioners in the EU have seen a 20% reduction in state pension income.

What these politicians are doing in their refusal to even acknowledge the British expat in regard to these referendums is hiding from the British public the issues that would come to light if these expat pensioners were to all come home... an even more overstretched NHS, increased requirement for social sheltered housing, more demand for local government care services, increase of the winter fuel payment budget (the Conservatives are planning removal from EU-based pensioners from 2015 to save alleged £30m per year), increase of benefits budget for those allowances not currently received outside of UK (in particular, pension credit).

So why not ask your local MP what their party's contingency plan is for returning expats before you put that cross on the voting ballot form... I'll be interested to hear their views.

DWP Winter Fuel Payment duplicity... a tangled web indeed...

Originally published in January 2014.

First post of 2014 and I am taking the liberty of "borrowing" an editorial comment by Connexion France (www.connexionfrance.com) in respect to the duplicity of the Department of Work and Pensions in its decision to remove Winter Fuel Payment from British pensioner expats living in France. The article to which the editorial comment refers is also attached as a scanned document. I do not think I need to add anything else!

A tangled web

If it weren't is so important to so many people, the saga of the UK government's search to justify withdrawing winter fuel allowance from British citizens residents in France would be hilarious. The ever more complex knots in which ministers and civil servants tie themselves in the hope of persuading someone - anyone? - that their figures make any kind of sense demonstrate Sir Walter Scott's dictum on tangled webs created when " we practice to deceive".

The government is not interested in justifications, except for trying to bat away the demands of tiresome people like The Connexion team. All they care about is imposing their mean-spirited little scheme and to hell with the victims. It illustrates a growing and alarming dictatorial tendency of ministers. Small wonder so many Tory MP's would like to cast off EU rules; better yet to return to the golden days of the divine right of Kings, and send objectors to the Tower.

Dissent can annoy governments but most democratic regimes accept it as a legitimate expression of differing views. High-handed government must watch out: acceptance of dissent can be cut as easily as Winter Fuel Allowance.

Christmas cheer for MPs, China and the Lord!

Before placing fingers to keyboard, I was considering putting together a nice little Christmas ditty, based on the 12 Days of Christmas, starting with something like:

"On the 1st day of Christmas, the Government said to me

No more winter fuel payment from 2015..."

But then I realised that 12 days were not enough to cover all the aspects of discrimination that the UK Government - past and present - have dished out to pensioner expatriates living legitimately and legally within the EU.

So instead I have decided to focus mine (and hopefully your) attention on three current issues, dominating the headlines over recent days, that make a complete and total mockery of the current government's arguments, relating to the savings they need to make by the removal of £200 per year from expatriate pensioners, who have paid into the UK system all their working lives and, indeed, many continue to pay taxes to the UK even in their retirement.

The first of these issues is, of course, the proposal of raising MP's pay by £7,600 PER YEAR from 2015. That equates to 38 YEARS of £200 winter fuel payment. And, dare I say it, a reasonable percentage of pensioners are unlikely to get to the grand old age of 92 in order to fully enjoy receipt of a total of £7,600 over their entire retirement. But IPSA deems it perfectly acceptable for MPs, already in receipt of nearly 12 TIMES the basic State Pension (£66,400 vs £5,727), will have that amount landing in their bank accounts annually! And if this story headline in The New Statesman is to be believed (and I have no reason not to), then maybe our MPs should bear that in mind when considering their electioneering strategy in the lead-up to May 2015: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/12/just-10-mps-sign-parliamentary-motion-opposing-pay-rise

Secondly, why-oh-why is the UK sending over £27 MILLION in aid to China each year? If the government are prepared to sacrifice pensioners to cold winters in northern Europe, by withdrawing the £200 additional funding for paying our fuel bills, to save a proposed £30 million per year, then why not stop China's aid instead and allocate that money for pensioner expatriate's winter fuel payment? What is wrong with looking after your own? Since the financial crisis of 2008, many EU-based British pensioners have found their purse-strings ever tightened... just take a look at the sterling-euro forex rates for that period. Yet the UK government feels it perfectly acceptable to cast them to one side while funding a country that has just put a rover on the moon! You just couldn't make it up: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10519964/UK-paid-more-than-27m-in-aid-to-China-last-year.html

And last but not least... a round of cynical applause please for the audacity of Lord Hanningfield as he clocks in at Westminster for a matter of minutes to claim his daily £300 attendance allowance*. £300 PER DAY! Seems that his Lordship claimed £5,700 in attendance allowance over a month, with an additional £471 in travel costs (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/17/lord-hanningfield-clocking-in-expenses). Given that the government will not even fund the travel costs for legitimate disabled claimants to attend required benefit tribunals in the UK, then even the payment to his Lordship of £471 travel costs is an insult to all concerned in that particular campaign.

So as we make the final approach to the season of goodwill, it might just be worth reflecting a little on the above and making a New Year's resolution for change by making your voice heard by the Parliamentarians.

Unlike Christmas, all it will cost you is a little time...

If eligible, register to vote:
https://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register_to_vote/british_citizens_living_abroad/register_to_vote.aspx

Then sign the petitions:
Create an MP for expatriates:  http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/55085
Winter Fuel Payment:  http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/52121%20%3Cbr%3E

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

*Attendance allowance in this case refers to a member of the Lords claiming for "attending" Parliament and should not be confused with the Attendance Allowance paid to disabled pensioners, which only equates to £2,756 (low rate) or £4,115 (high rate) PER YEAR.

MPs nice and toasty... OAPs nipping and frosty!

The phrase "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" is a generic name used in the UK for a person, usually with strongly conservative political views, who writes letters to newspapers in a tone of moral outrage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgusted_of_Tunbridge_Wells).

In respect to this blog, I can quite legitimately take on that mantle - having been born in Tunbridge Wells - to express my political view (though not necessarily conservative!) in regard to the latest news headlines revealing that over 300 MPs have claimed heating costs for their second homes.


Naturally the British press are reporting this story in relation to the fact that, only last week, the Energy Select Committee hauled up the Big Six energy company bosses for a grilling regarding the increasing rises being foisted on their customers. And those customers - the British taxpayer - have every right to be angry at this latest revelation that shows how there is always one rule for MPs and one rule for the proletariat.

But there are another group of British taxpayers who are not just angry but incensed at yet another example of MPs feathering their own nests (or, indeed, having their noses in the taxpayer trough) to the detriment of those that they should be representing.

We are, of course, the British expat. A group of people who worked and paid into the British tax and National Insurance system all our lives (well over 40 years in most cases) and then took the decision to spend our retirement years in the relative peace and tranquility of a neighbouring EU country, using the legitimate and available to all those citizens living within the EU... the "Free Movement" principal (see below).

And it is under this EU principal that eligible British pensioner expats are able to receive an annual winter fuel payment, like their British-based counterparts, of £200 (or £300 if aged over 80). A mere drop in the ocean when compared with the nearly £6,000 claimed by Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi for heating his second home for one year... and it does not take a genius for anyone to calculate that £6,000 would pay a pensioner couple's annual WFP of £200 for the next 30 YEARS!

In fact, the total annual amount claimed by these MPs in one year, quoted as over £200,000, would pay 1000 pensioners their £200 WFP... or, if wanting to be facetious, one 80-year-old pensioner their annual £300 WFP for the next 666 years! Now I wonder how that number appeared in the equation - a sign, maybe?

However, as readers of this blog are aware, the coalition government (for that read the Devil incarnate himself, IDS) has decided to remove WFP from British expats living in supposed "hot" countries, from 2015. Those countries being: France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Gibraltar... but not, you may note, Italy, which has been decreed to have a colder annual average climate than the south-west of England, on which the Government's "temperature test" is based!

For anyone interested in how this calculation works - particularly in respect to France - you can read about it here: http://tilou62.blogspot.fr/2013_08_01_archive.html

So yet another MP scandal hits the headlines... and, in this case, comes too as a complete slap in the face to those who have paid (and in many cases continue to pay) into the coffers from which these heating payments have been purloined, I can - and indeed will - be signing off this blog and letters to our parliamentary representatives as...

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

SOURCES:

Free movement in EU: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=457&langId=en

Newspaper coverage of MP second home heating payments:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2486858/Theyre-STILL--Hundreds-MPs--including-Ed-Miliband-Nick-Clegg--energy-bills-paid-expenses.html

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/10423705/More-than-half-of-MPs-have-claimed-for-power-for-second-homes.html

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/03/mp-expenses-claims-200000-pounds-heat-second-homes

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-claim-up-to-6000-to-heat-second-homes-8919527.html?origin=internalSearch

 

Winter Fuel Payment: More Tory support like this please!

While my previous posts on the subject of the Winter Fuel Payment - due to be removed from expat pensioners in 2015 deemed to be living in "hot" countries* - may have given the impression that all Conservative MPs are in support of their Government policies, as the extract below by Sir Roger Gale MP for Thanet North shows, that analogy is not strictly true.

Gale's View, June 2013, written after Chancellor George Osborne's Spending Review:

"Chancellor George finds himself at the Despatch Box announcing some eleven billion pounds` worth of public spending cuts. Pick your own headlines. “War on Welfare” fits the bill. There will, excluding the State Pension, be a cap on benefits and claimants will have to learn to speak English. A three billion pound 'joint budget', designed to improve healthcare and residential provision for the elderly, will be shared between the Health Department and Local Councils – which sounds remarkably like robbing Health Service Peter to prop up impoverished Local Government Paul. Council tax frozen for another three years, of course. Another eighteen billion of money saved from elsewhere to be ploughed into road and rail infrastructure which sounds good but, with the bill for High Speed Two rising like an Olympic stadium (currently £42 billion but next week who knows?), may not go very far.

And although the incoming Governor of the Bank of England, Mark “Mountie” Carney, is predicting interest rate rises, the really good news is that the 'double-dip recession' did not happen and growth is back on the agenda.

All of this looks likely, though, to leave a hundred thousand or so ex-pat UK citizens without a winter fuel allowance that is worth up to £300 a couple. Quite how this is going to be made to work is beyond my grasp of climate control. The theory is that 'regions' with a higher average winter temperature than the warmest UK regions will forfeit winter fuel payments. This is based, of course, upon the thesis that ex-pat UK citizens are all rich, idle,  spend their days lying in the winter sun and drinking G&T and do not need the modest sum hitherto available to help to pay winter fuel bills. The facts, of course, are rather different. As I know from my own overseas mailbag many retired UK citizens, having worked and paid UK taxes throughout their lives and in some cases still paying tax in Britain, are now elderly, infirm, living in genteel poverty and are feeling the cold. (My wife and I spent Whitsun, up to June 1^st, in mid-France and had a wood burning stove burning day and night throughout the entire break!)  I can see this policy being laid wide open to challenge in the Courts. Is Bournemouth, for example, colder than Finisterre? And, if so, during what period of time? I used to be a staunch supporter of our overseas aid policy, believing, I hope with compassion, that as still one of the strongest economies in the world we ought to be able to help the poorest people upon earth. I now feel that if money is tight then our own ex-pat retirees, having paid their dues, are more deserving of financial support than countries that can build rockets, engage in space programmes and develop nuclear capabilities.  And, while we`re on the subject of assistance to ex-pats it`s surely time that our overseas pensioners were given a fair deal on pension uprating in those countries where we do not have a reciprocal agreement."

*It should be noted that Sir Roger Gale's article was written prior to the Government's announcement of how their "temperature test link" would work - by taking an entire European country's average annual temperature (plus any overseas territories associated with that country - in particular those that lie close to the equator!) and comparing it to the average annual temperature of the South-West of England. As such, the Government's definition of "hot" in relation to France has been calculated using that country's overseas territories in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean, where only 30 UK expat pensioners reside. As mainland France's average annual temperature falls below that of the SW England by more than several degrees this ensures that the Treasury does not have to pay those pensioners residing in France. This duplicity and deliberate manipulation can be seen when compared to the much warmer climes of Italy, where expats will continue to receive WFP!

Osborne: Backs bankers, sacks pensioners

There is nothing that winds up an expat more than seeing the UK Government spending taxpayer's money (which, incidentally, for many expats is their money too) on the most controversial of issues, while at the same hitting the aforementioned expat in the unmentionables under the premise of austerity measures that must be shared by all of Blighty's citizens.

I refer, of course, to George Osborne's latest announcement that he is launching a legal challenge to the EU's cap on banker's bonuses (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/25/osborne-bankers-bonuses-eu-cap) while also implementing, from 2015, the removal of Winter Fuel Payments from senior citizen expats who live in so-called "hot" countries* (http://tilou62.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/expat-winter-fuel-payment-ban-fiasco.html).

So this begs the question, that if austerity is to be shared by ALL UK citizens, then why are the Conservatives, yet again, kow-towing to their rich pals in the City and punishing those at the other end of the financial spectrum?

And before anyone starts bleating and throwing the "sun and sangria" stereotyping expat insults into the mix, I'm not just talking about them here. Anyone affected by the welfare changes will be feeling the pinch just now. For example, a group of social housing tenants are currently fighting their way through the court system in their attempts to overturn the "bedroom tax" being foisted upon them because they have disabled children and require the extra space that the Government decrees they do not need.

So let's face it... when you read about these things you really do wonder if those in charge at Westminster have ever stepped outside of their cocoon and faced the real world?!

So what to do about it? Well. there are the petitions to sign, MPs to contact, and generally spreading the word among the affected community to get on board the protest train. This is quite difficult in expat terms, as we are spread far and wide - something that the Government knows and uses to it's advantage.

So I say, don't just sit there and play into their hands... MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD... and the more voices the better. Just look at the comments here to see exactly what I mean: http://www.connexionfrance.com/winter-fuel-allowance-France-15072-news-article.html

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY... remember, all political parties are seeking as many voters to put the tick in their box in 2015. Furthermore, they all like to target the "grey vote" - something Mr Osborne seems to have forgotten in his quest to put the Treasury boot into senior citizen expats. I know that the 15-year voting limit currently prevents many from their right to representation at the ballot box - hopefully that will change sooner rather than later. But even so, there are some 3 million eligible expat voters worldwide who can have their say. Five hundred thousand of those eligible voters live in France, one of the "hot" countries in the flawed temperature link test. SO LET'S HAVE OUR SAY!

Naturally, younger expats think that this does not affect them. YES IT DOES! Because one day you will find yourself in the situation... where the UK Government sticks two fingers up and tells you where to go, while at the same time that same Government will be helping itself to tax payments from your pension pot.

So do not be complacent about this. Do not take the "it will never happen to me" attitude. Because it will... and the only way to stop the rot is to get onto the Electoral Role and put that cross in the appropriate box to make your voice heard!

Links:

Petition re Winter Fuel Payments: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/52121

Petition to create Expat MP: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/55085

Electoral Registration: http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register_to_vote/british_citizens_living_abroad.aspx
Website for Voting Rights: http://www.votes-for-expat-brits.com/Home.php

*Note to Chancellor Osborne: there are many expats who will offer you hospitality to take a trip into the depths of France in January or February in order to prove to you that it is FREEZING COLD! That's if you can actually make the trip to your destination, as it is likely to be cut off by snow! Only 30 British expats live in France's DOM-TOMs, so why did you include their tropical temperatures in your calculations? Basic schoolboy error, or intentional bigoted nastiness? I think I know the answer.

Trolls, mules and parenting skills

There is nothing more therapeutic than writing about things that bug you. And that is exactly what this blog entry is about - a therapeutic whinge!

There have been two news stories that have been given a lot of airtime this week that have prompted a lot of animated conversation in my household - and more than a few Tweets.

The first story involved the tragic death of a teenager prompted by internet bullying, which led to hours of analysis by every UK media corporation. Day after day, they hauled in experts from here, there and everywhere, in a vain attempt to get an agreement that the internet was the online equivalent of some evil Bondesque villain that has to be stopped from World Domination!

A week of discussion was summed up in an "interview", on BBC Breakfast this morning, of the grief-stricken father of the victim, whose said that the internet had to "change".

FFS! The internet is not a person, it is an evolving technology.

If anything needs "changing", it is the attitude and behaviour of today's parents. The same parents who, according to another report yesterday, are happy to give their 5-year-olds mobile phones!

And that leads me on to the second story that was given, in my opinion, far too much airtime by BBC News and Sky News this week - the Peru drug mules.

The first impression that I had of the two "victims" were of a couple of spoiled brats who thought that they could just flutter their well-mascara'd  eyelashes at the Peruvian customs officers and they would be allowed to swan off to Madrid with their £1.5m cocaine haul.

Instead they, like hundreds of other UK "victims" enticed by the thought of making a quick buck, were swept off to a local jail cell, protesting their innocence with that well-known playground cry of "But he made me do it, Miss".

The only difference for this pair (who I refuse to name) - compared to the many others who get themselves embroiled in this illegal activity - was the publicity machine that swung into action to highlight their misfortune, which included footage of Daddy jumping on a plane within hours of his daughter's incarceration, flying half-way around the world and posing for a tearful reunion photograph that hit the front pages of many UK newspapers.

Their parents were quoted as saying "we thought they were in Ibiza". So again, a good example of exemplary parenting skills and communication within the family unit.

Which begs the question: As a parent today if you do not know what your child is doing, then are you fit to be a parent?

Winter Fuel Allowance - The Madness Continues

Must be that I'm getting a tad on the elderly side, as not a day goes by when I don't see or read about something that makes my blood boil - and today is no exception.

I certainly did not expect to be blogging yet again on the issue of Winter Fuel Allowance. However, on reading the latest report from the BBC relating to illegal workers in the UK, I just had to fingers to keyboard for the second day in a row.

An investigation by the Beeb - aided by a Freedom of Information request - relates to the fines handed out to UK company's found to be using illegal workers:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23535938

According to the statistics provided, the Home Office has issued something in the region of £80m of fines - but only collected around £25m. Leaving a gaping whole in the finances of some £55m.

Now, given 'Boy' George Osborne's determination to save money at any cost I think that it is a bloody cheek that the same Government cannot put its house in order and collect nearly double of what would be the proposed WFA savings, by collecting the fines issued to those businesses using illegal workers.

Pensioners who have paid their dues (NI and taxes - and many expat pensioners still pay taxes to the UK!) should not be penalised by way of removal of funds that provide necessary heat during the winter, while those breaking the law are getting away with it and laughing all the way to the bank.

And to add insult to injury, the Guardian published this little number today citing how tax breaks by mobile phone networks are only now coming under scrutiny, due to them paying little or no corporation tax:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/31/tax-breaks-mobile-phone-networks?CMP=twt_fd

So once again, we see this coalition Government targeting the easy prey, while veering and hiding away from the more difficult decisions and tasks in life.

Oh, if only we could all do that.

The Great Winter Fuel Debate - Part Deux

Today's news highlights the latest discriminatory practices put in place by a Conservative-led coalition - that of winning the first round of legal challenge to the "spare room subsidy" in relation to disabled people, despite the High Court's criticisms that the government has not done enough to provide for disabled children. Morally-compassed individuals can only hope that follow-on legal challenges will result in a bloody nose for IDS and his DWP cohorts, whose bully-boy tactics can only be compared to that of Flashman in Tom Brown's School Days - and is probably well representative of the Victorian values of many Tory MPs.

You do not need much imagination to envisage the Cabinet sitting around the table in Number 10 in animated conversation on what popular policies are needed to guarantee all out victory in 2015: immigration; in-out EU referendum; benefit scroungers; defenseless disabled; oh, and yes, those bloody expats - what to do with them?

Well, we know from 'Boy' George Osborne's recent Spending Review (and my earlier blog on the matter) that a soft target is the Winter Fuel Allowance (WFA) currently received by qualifying pensioner expats and, since Osborne's decision to end payments using a "Temperature Link" format, a document has been released revealing the system to be used and what areas of Europe will be affected.

And this is where it gets very interesting for any geography nerds.

The author of the report - a DWP cohort, of course - has decreed that the "Temperature Link" be based on the average COUNTRY temperature versus the average temperature of SW England (i.e. Cornwall & Devon). This decision being made using the argument that "it would not be feasible to administer winter fuel payments on a regional basis" (Treasury spokeswoman). As such, and using their spurious data methods, the DWP have decreed that expats living in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Gibraltar will all have their WFA withdrawn from 2015-16.

So for any expat living in Northern France, above the Latitude of anywhere in Cornwall or Devon, who experiences EXACTLY the same weather phenomenon as their pensioner counterparts in Kent and Sussex, will lose their entitlement to WFA. Not a bad bit of discrimination, eh?

The more eagle-eyed of you may have noticed that Italy (a country much further south than some others named above) is not on the list. This is, according to the DWP analysis, because Italy's average annual temperature is LOWER than that of the SW of England. Believe it if you will. More cynical commentators are of the opinion that so many MPs have holiday homes in the Tuscany region that they really don't want to take the risk of pissing off their expat neighbours by removing their WFA!

Personally, I think that the issue has been summed up very nicely in the August 2013 editorial of the English-language newspaper, The Connexion, which I have taken the liberty of reproducing here:

“A British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and strong arm of England will be protect him from injustice and wrong,” declared Lord Palmerstone in 1850. This boast was backed up with the promise of gunboats, if required. If Palmerstone was prepared to send a gunboat in support of a British subject, what might he have sent to protect a British citizen (an important distinction in the days of Empire)?

Today, times have changed and British citizens, residing abroad, can feel more confident that any vessel sent by the UK government would have its guns trained on them for their temerity in asking that their contractual rights be respected. Not merely has the current UK government declared its resentment at its obligation to obey its anti-discrimination commitments as an EU member, it has announced its intention of creating a new form of discrimination - even though that too is likely to be declared equally illegal.

It is, of course, the now-you-have-it-now-you-don't issue of Winter Fuel Payments for expatriate pensioners in supposedly 'hot' EU countries that is at issue here. The legalistic quibbling over the definition of 'hot' (France hot; Italy, though extending further south, not) shows the traditional notion of British adherence to the rule of law in a particularly poor light. One of the myths of anti-EU propaganda is that Britain enforces all EU regulations, however reluctantly, while other members, notably France, ignore them. These weaselling contortions undertaken by the government puts the lie to that notion.

The issue has further heated the concerns of those already trying to overturn the unjustifiable 15-year [voting] rule and to secure some form of parliamentary representation for expatriates, since it reveals the lack of protection afforded to those affected by an uncaring government.

Among the voting rights in question is whether expatriates will be allowed to vote in the planned in-or-out EU referendum. Since the EU is now shown to be the last source of protection for the expatriate community, it is to be hoped that they will, and will vote to stay in, in their own interests - just as they should support all campaigns to and petitions aimed at retaining or restoring their rights as British citizens.

Finally, it emerged in a report by the Commons Energy and Climate committee yesterday that more MPs are calling for WFA to be means-tested. I agree - as any savings made by not automatically giving £200-£300 to high tax payers and millionaires should far outweigh the purported savings from removal of the WFA from the expat OAP who is only in receipt of a basic State Pension.

Ah, but that's not a Tory vote winner, is it?

The Great Winter Fuel Debate

Well done George 'Bungle' Osborne for the delivery of bully-boy IDS's idea of a temperature gauge for expats in respect to whether they continue to receive Winter Fuel Allowance after 2015. There is no doubt from the Twittersphere that this news has followers of the Daily Mail positively salivating over their cream teas...

"Damn you expats! Supping your sangria in sunny climes on the verandah of your chateau. This will teach you for leaving Blighty to become over-run by immigrants taking our jobs, our homes, claiming our benefits... blah-de-blah-de-blah..."

Yeah, whatever.

Just to put the record straight. Yes, I know that WFA is not aligned to NI contributions in the benefit grand scheme of things. So saying things like "we paid into the system" (and I have said that, so guilty M'Lud) is never a good enough defence for the DM Mrs Buckets (oops, sorry, Mrs Bouquet). But those who are entitled to WFA have to be in receipt of a State Pension (or other benefits) that are gained through years of NI contributions.

Furthermore, those in receipt of WFA are not all rich pensioners living the high life on the shores of the Med, as the DM myth would have many believe. Some of us live very modestly, on basic State Pensions, paying increasingly high fuel bills to keep our houses warm during winter, just like our Blighty counterparts. And on that issue, I bet no bugger would suggest that retirees to the warmer UK areas like Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset should lose their WFA? Oh no... because they are probably the darlings of the DM who would vote the UK out of EU tomorrow should the opportunity arise!

So what of the life of a retired expat? We don't overload the NHS. Instead we pay for our medical care - would you get out the cheque book to see your GP, like we have to? We don't get Pension Credit to top-up State Pensions that are below the living amount decreed by Government - so many live below the poverty line. We don't get the additional Cold Weather Payments when our temperatures drop and stay in minus figures for days and weeks on end. Instead we live in fuel poverty - our energy bills being much more than 10% of income that the Government uses as a measure of fuel poverty.We don't claim Housing Benefit. We pay council tax - no rebates here. We don't block up the social housing list or rattle around in large houses more suitable for families. Since the bank crash of 2008 our incomes have fell by 20%, thanks to a weak Sterling vs Euro rate, while cost of living continues to rise.

So think before you start lambasting the pensioner expat who worked all their lives to spend retirement away from the rat race... one day we might all head home!

Free school dinners - social stigma or entrepreneurial opportunity?

Watching a debate on Sky News this morning, regarding how the Government's Universal Benefit plan will deny many children from poor families from receiving free school dinners, and the commentator's observation about the stigma of free school dinners, raised not just a wry smile on my face but a veritable chortle.

Not that I was belittling the issue - not at all. I was a free school dinner recipient back in the early 70s and the social stigma being discussed this morning reminded me of the way that my secondary school handled the situation in the days of pre-political correctness.

Dinner tickets were required for any pupil who chose to eat in the school canteen. Those children whose parents paid for the "pleasure", were required to purchase the appropriate tickets at the window of the school secretary on a Monday morning. Us "free school dinner kids" were obliged to attend said window at the first morning break... in full view of classmates and other school attendees who would inevitably take the "proverbial".

Worse, and obviously not content with the separate queuing system that segregated us "poor kids" from our better-off classmates, although the tickets for free school dinners seemed identical there was one further demarcation of our lowly status... that of a thick blue line running across the printed "Dinner Ticket" that was not visible on a paid-for ticket!

Needless to say, many free dinner school kids chose to take packed lunches as opposed to expose themselves to such discrimination and the inevitable bullying that teenagers can inflict on the "outgroup".

But - in a "what goes around, comes around" sort of way - by my third year of secondary school (perhaps by some sort of act of political correctness even, who knows?), the school changed the system. Yes, we still had to go to dispensing window at a different time to the others to collect our "freebies", but now the tickets were identical in every respect to their paid-for cousins. No more thick blue line delineating their (and our) lower financial status.

And what a chance for any budding entrepreneur (there were a few of us). Doesn't take a lot to imagine the scene:

"How much do you pay for your dinner tickets?"

"50p each."

"I have some here that I don't want... only 25p each."

"Deal!"