The State Pension
The first state pension was introduced by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1883. The 'Bismarck Model' spread throughout Europe and reached Britain in 1908.
The Old Age Pension was paid for with deductions from wages known as National Insurance Contributions. They still exists as a tax but the direct link between NI contributions and the pension was abandoned some years ago. Today NI contributions go into the pot along with Income Tax, Customs and Excise, Road Tax and many other taxes, none of which are dedicated. The Retirement Pension is paid for out of general taxation.
If these contribution had been paid into a well managed commercial pension fund they would have returned a worthwhile dividend over a lifetime's work. Instead, greedy governments treated the national pension fund as a cash cow to be spent on important projects such as the various colonial wars that we fought in the fifties and sixties.
It's ironic that the young men who fought ultimately pointless colonial wars in Aden, Cyprus, Malaya, and Kenya are now subsisting as old men on inadequate pensions.
Our politicians are aware that old people vote and they are all promise to maintain the link between pensions and wages, but 'exoerts' are predicting the end of state pension
Unfortunately, the compassion shown in the 19th century did not make it to the 21st. The middle class had private pensions or property that could be converted to cash, but the working class depended on means-tested benefits. A humiliating end to a hard life.
A World Without Money
Recently, I took my regular trip to my local supermarket and adjacent restaurant. The Co-op was no problem, I touched my chip and pin card onto their card reader and the transaction was made. But the café was not so simple. I ordered a full English breakfast, comprised of egg, bacon, sausage, fried tomatoes, two crusty toast, and a coffee. This comes to a tenner. I touched my card to the card reader and nothing happened. I tried twice more with the dame negative result. Then I tried inserting the card and entering my pi number, but to no avail.
The trusting Turk behind the counter said "no problem, pay mb tomorrow." But I was embarrassed because I like to laugh at my technophobic friends. I quickly phoned the bank where an efficient banker cancelled my card, ordered a new one, and directed me to the nearest branch to get some cash.
The girl at the bank issued me with some money and explained my error. When the card was first refused I should have inserted it and entered my pin, instead I continued to try to use my contactless card. This proves the old adage that doing the same thing over and over again is a sure sign of insanity. For the first time in about five years I was walking about with real banknotes whilst waiting for my new card and pin.
Touching a card on to a card reader is painless but spending real banknotes is traumatic. I was very pleased to receive my new pin number and re-enter the world opf modernity.
I love technology and try to embrace it, but my conspiratorial friends tell me that it's all a plot by 'hidden forces' to do away with money and force us all to use electronic methods of payment. I don't understand this theory. The banks already know how much you have got in your account, and if you use a loyalty card, the supermarket knows what you buy each week.
The Luddites smashed a few looms in an attempt to stop technology, but they did not succeed. The next step is artificial intelligence, computers that can write creatively and make logical decisions. Onwards and upwards.
A Month Without Politicians.
Rishi Sunak has called a general election for 4th July. That means that for a blessed month we will be governed by civil servants without the help of politicians. We will still hear them telling lies and making false promises as part of their election campaign, but Parliament will be free of the clowns and charlatans that usually disgrace its benches.,
Our respite is only for a month, but information technology and artificial intelligence are making such strides that it might become a reality, and instead of 650 under performing deputies we will have a modern state run by a super-computer that does not tell lies or take bribes
Such an idea might seem fantastic at the moment but our world is changing faster than our imagination. Science has transformed industry and agriculture for the better and it will do the same for politics.
The Westminster model is a remnant of the past. It dates back to the days when simple-minded peasant sent the local landowner to Parliament as a matter of course. If they didn't vote for him they would find themselves out of a job and a cottage This is the basis of British democracy, It must change..
D Day Remembered
June 6 marked the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. Allied forces from Britain, America, Canada, France, Poland and many other countries mounted the biggest amphibious invasion in history.
Under the inspired leadership of Suprene Commander Dwight D Eisenhower, thousands of men, planes, gliders tanks, artillery systems, ships, landing craft, jeeps and motorcycles, were transported across the English Channel with truly remarkable efficiency.
British servicemen fought bravely on land, sea and air, but we should not kid ourselves that we could have done it on our own. Wars are won with logistics, arms and ammunition. It helps if your soldiers are well led and well trained, but in the end it's manpower and organisation that wins the day. German troops in France and Russia fought magnificently but they were outnumbered and outgunned.
Adolf Hitler's mad gamble was based on the false premise that the German nation was inherently superior. He spent the night before D Day listening to Wagner, but the great master's musical genius did not help him.The Red Army marched from the east and the Allies from the West, but the Germans fought on when all hope had gone. The ordinary German soldier was driven by obedience and training, and the Fuhrer by racial delusion.
4th July
Americans celebrate ndependence Day pn 3th July, the day that they won their ondependence from the British Empire. The arrogance and stupifity of the British goverbnenbt in taxing the American colonists without allowing them representation was repeated all over the world. America boke away byt the ties of language and culture persist to this day.
This year the United Kingdom will hold a general election on July 4th. The long-suffering British electorate can choose between three centrist parries with much in common. The Labour Party, stripped of its founding socialist faction, is expected to win. They will inherita stagnant economy and a staggering nation debt. This desperate situation is the result of the banking crisis, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and above all Brexit, when Britain became the first country in hisory to take economic sanctions against itself. The Lib Dems are talking about re-joining Europe but the Labour and Tory parties are still in denial.
But I have my own reason to mark July 4. It was on July 4 1999 that I had my last drink in the Red Lion in central London. I was never the type of alcoholic that sleeps in doorways. I had a well paid and responsible job as a Construction Manager but I was heading for disaster. My doctor examined me and said, "Mr Baillie you know what to do." That's all he said but it was enough. Outside of the doctor's office I put my faith in God and promised Him that I would quit drinking immediately. And I did.
That was 25 years ago and I never looked back.I don't claim to have great willpower, but I am one of those people who find it easy to give up addictions, I gave up smoking the year before I gave up drinking and that was just as easy.
Nation Revisited
https://nationrevisited.blogspot.com
European Outlook
All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. The editor reserves the right to shorten or otherwise amend articles submitted for publication. We seek reform by lawful means according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19:
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