State Pension

Given that there are non-UK readers here today, this is not a bad potted history of how it came about:

https://www.charles-stanley.co.uk/insights/commentary/history-of-the-state-pension

One particular section reads:

The income tax personal allowance is presently frozen at £12,570 and the full New State Pension for 2026/27 tax year is £12,548, a hair’s breadth away. Next tax year, it’s a mathematical certainty that a full New State Pension, according to the triple lock, will exceed the income tax personal allowance. The government will need to address this as it isn’t feasible to drag many millions of low-income pensioners into declaring and paying tax. So far Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that people whose only income comes from the state pension will not have to pay tax, but how this will work in practice is uncertain. Plus, many existing state pensioners under the pre-2016 system do already pay tax on amounts exceeding the personal allowance, so devising a fair and workable framework may be a challenge.  One option would be to increase the income tax personal allowance each year in line with the level of the New State Pension, but this will cost the Treasury in terms of the income tax take. 

Maybe read that in conjunction with this on the "triple lock"

https://moneyweek.com/personal-finance/state-pensions/future-of-state-pension-triple-lock#:~:text=Broadly%2C%20yes.,those%20on%20the%20previous%20system).

There are other complications, in some individual cases, which would follow being taxable in this sense.  It would disqualify you for some benefits, maybe substantial ones.

Which brings us to the whole question of whether this actually is a benefit or just an earned payout at the end of a long, multi-generation time period.  Consider:

There are many reading this who are standard income tax payers and have done that for a long time, maybe even having an occupational pension coming up - this whole triple lock biz might not mean a lot to you but the thing is ... it does mean a lot to many voters ... that's the key word ... voters.

It's not just that the council elections are in two days but Starmer has issues at the top now too and thus the Reform v Labour tussle might mean a lot after Friday.  Plus there are so many now so thoroughly Ped off with all of it ... invaders too.

In other words, there's a quite volatile situation just now.

Be As 'Outraged' As You Like, It Means Nothing To Them...

An Iranian migrant, 14, has avoided jail after being convicted of raping a schoolgirl just three months after arriving in Britain on a small boat. The teenager, who arrived as an unaccompanied minor last June and was placed in foster care, was found guilty in January of rape and two counts of sexual assault following an attack on a fellow pupil. Instead of being sent to a young offender institution, he was ordered in mid-March to attend specialist sessions “on the understanding of consent, boundaries, and victim awareness”.

Any other country would throw him onto the first deportation flight and sack the judge. Well, not Canada ot Australia, mind, they are even worse than the UK 

The victim's family were reportedly left stunned that he avoided a custodial sentence despite showing no remorse for his actions.

And here comes a man from the party that did nothing while in power to try to gain a little support on the back of them: 

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp hit out at the sentence, saying: "This vile attacker should be locked up for his crimes. Custody should be the only punishment for rapists."

Yes, yes, and before the voters kicked you out, what did you do to root out the bleeding hearts in the justice system. Was it 'nothing'? I think it was. 

Meanwhile, a Home Office spokeswoman said: “This was a sickening crime, and our thoughts are with the victim and her loved ones. “Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary, but foreign nationals who commit these vile crimes will be deported at the earliest opportunity.”

Will they? You speak with forked tongue and you know you do. 

Unaccompanied child asylum seekers are afforded greater legal protections than adult migrants, making deportation significantly more challenging. Britain also does not deport offenders to Iran, deeming the country unsafe for returns.

The youth justice system treats custody as a last resort, and there are no fixed sentencing guidelines for juveniles convicted of rape.

And all that is the policy of the Home Office, clearly stated. They want these people here, and they will continue to facilitate them staying here, no matter what lies they tell.  So use your vote wisely on Thursday! 

Hanging out the washing

…. especially on a wet, bank holiday weekend:

AI and its requirements

Saturday morning and I've gathered material on these main themes:

- Wind turbines and solar farms

- AI and data centre requirements

- Seed and other oils, e.g. olive

- State pensions

- Whitbread

- Inheritance tax

- Raped girls and princesses

- May 7th and the political spectrum

There were some side issues too, e.g. Tom Hanks's own lust island v Greece.  Going (below) today with just the AI issue and its underlying principles and flaws.

Consider:

There's a basic principle which my techie mate, plus some others, plus I, have been banging on about for a fair while ... there is no such thing as AI ... it is machine learning (ML).  If you, a human, turn over to a programmed machine the final say in life or death decisions, sustainability or ruin ... then you'd best pray that it never makes an error, that it has a human conscience, soul, that it has compassion for humankind.

Just as in those three screenshots above. 😒

Moving The Goalposts

On Saturday, V&A East will open its doors in Stratford, east London, showcasing stunning fabrics, photos and black British music.

While the V&A complies with all legal minimum-wage requirements, with some workers paid a living wage or above, campaigners say some of the lowest-paid contractors in London are not in receipt of the living wage.

But are they getting the legally enforceable minimum wage? Yes, Reader, of course they are... 

The UK minimum wage is £12.71 an hour and the living wage in London is £14.80 an hour.

 And the ratchet only turns one way.

According to the Living Wage Foundation, the living wage is the only UK wage rate that meets the real cost of living.

So campaign for ir to be made legally enforceable and see how far you get... 

The worker-led platform Organise, which aims to secure better rights in the workplace, and Citizens UK, a campaigning organisation, have coordinated an open letter to the V&A director, Sir Tristram Hunt, and other senior V&A officials, calling for the £14.80 rate for all workers at the museums.

Mush less effort to try to shame people into paying something they don't legally have to pay. 

Roxy Khan-Williams, the head of campaigns at Organise said: “The public expects institutions funded by taxpayers to treat all workers fairly. Paying the real living wage is not just a moral issue – it directly affects how people engage with these institutions.”

Really? I think if you were planning a trip, the wages paid to the staff would be the last thing on most peoples's minds.

It seems even this is wasted effort: 

A spokesperson said: “All V&A staff are paid the London Living Wage or higher, and have been for many years. The majority of our contractors also pay the Living Wage or higher.”

Still, as long as it get you publicity. 

Justice near in the Post Office scandal?

Firstly, a quick summary of what happened:

Faulty Fujitsu IT software caused 700+ subpostmasters to be wrongly convicted of theft, fraud, and false accounting between 1999 and 2015.

More detail:

The Cause: Introduced in 1999, the Horizon system was plagued by bugs, errors, and defects that created fake accounting discrepancies, often totaling thousands of pounds.

The Impact: Subpostmasters were forced to repay the "shortfalls" from their own pockets. Those who couldn't—or who challenged the system—were prosecuted, dismissed, and in some cases, imprisoned.

The Cover-up: The Post Office continued to prosecute staff despite knowing the system had bugs and that it was possible to remotely alter branch accounts.

The Turning Point: A 2019 High Court ruling in a case brought by 555 subpostmasters, led by Alan Bates, finally proved that the Horizon system was flawed.

A public inquiry, chaired by Sir Wyn Williams, continues to examine the scandal's full scope, including the actions of the Post Office, government officials, and Fujitsu.

And so to the latest:

You’re Worrying About The Wrong ‘Vulnerable’ Here…

The sinking feeling is familiar now, says Anna*. It’s Friday, the clock is ticking, and there is a vulnerable child in her care for whom – despite hitting the phones for days – she cannot find a place.

Before you get all dewy eyed at the thought of a poor waif in dire need let me just remind you who the system classes as ‘vulnerable’, Reader.

The children being put in these homes are some of the most at-risk children in England. They are more likely to be involved with gangs, county lines, serious violence, exploitation, or have experienced severe mental health crises, according to the report by policy analysts Public First, for the charity Commonweal Housing.

Hardened street thugs and dangerous nutters - this is why they can’t find placements easily! 

The number of looked-after children has risen by nearly 20% over the past decade, with about 83,600 children now looked after by the state. There are now 14,840 more children in care than there were in 2014, but 2,165 fewer fostering households, according to the Institute for Government.

But as this is the ‘Guardian’, the fault must lie with capitalism. 

Some experts blamed the shortage of available places for children with complex needs – in foster homes and residential homes – on the dominance of the private sector in child social care.

🙄 

Government minister Josh MacAlister, who led an independent review of child social care and is now in charge of overhauling the system, has vowed to crack down on profiteering. The government insists the children’s wellbeing and schools bill will give Ofsted stronger powers to stop unregulated providers, while a £88m recruitment drive aims to generate 10,000 new foster places.

Good luck with that, when they realise they will need to be one part zookeeper, one part prison guard, and two parts Nurse Ratched! 

It's difficult to free fools from the chains they revere

The heading is the last line of one of the three lists included below, from the Antipodes, from Britain and from the US ... there are many more but these will do for now ... penultimately quoting Solzhenytsin, then concluding with a Thomas Sowell quote which pretty much sums up our situation.  Four corners of the earth.

The aim is to turn the abnormal normal in normies' minds, fanatically inverted and that inverted pushed as "universal truths" by the Milibands and Obamas, whilst they're actually nothing of the kind ... but as Yuri Bezmenov noted in the mid-80s, none of the normies are xapable of reason based on logic and species survival.

Those Who Live By The Sword Of Identity Politics...

...should not be too surprised when it's used against them.

A senior Met Police officer who gave a televised, tear-filled address after a crash at a prep school that killed two eight-year-old girls is being investigated over the handling of the tragedy - including a claim of racial bias.

This is the case. And my question then, 'Were they too swayed by the status of the perpetrator, perhaps? ' looks like its suddenly a topic in the investigation.

Clair Kelland is among 11 officers now under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following a complaint by the parents of Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau.

Kelland, who was seen as a rising star at the Met, managed the initial investigation into the crash, which failed to interview key witnesses.

Oh, bit of a faux pas for a poster girlboss... 

The watchdog said its inquiry will examine allegations that officers 'provided false and misleading information to those affected'.It is also investigating whether 'officers' treatment of those affected was influenced by their race'.

Why would it be? 

It is understood the IOPC is probing claims that officers did not follow protocol because Ms Freemantle was a wealthy white woman, who lives in a £4million house, and causally failed to properly challenge her account of events.

Rubbish. The Met Poluce are perfectly capable of doing a poor job for any race or culture.

London Marathon

Xer called Higgy:

Charity got an online kicking for banning a choir when just one member had "gender critical" views.

Charity get a bit twitchy about donations falling as a result of their decision.

Charity changes its mind.

Charity says "OK, you can perform", offers no apology.

Charity can piss off.