The British Politics Thread - The Bear and Badger

RedDave2

Yossarian wrote:

Everything’s noticeable out of my take home, I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

The idea of saving for retirement is just lol.

It's certainly not easy. Im very lucky to have got our mortgage when we did. It's high but we will have it cleared before retirement, fingers crossed. Both me and the wife have small pensions and when you through on life insurance and health insurance and payment protection, it's a hefty chunk but I'm happier to be in the position where I can make that choice.

I'm hoping to work as long as I can as I still very much enjoy it but what's often forgotten is not that older people can't work but there are only so many jobs.

davyK

I admit to the fetish of home ownership.

I would like to pass it onto our two daughters so that they would at least have capital to get started.

What sticks in the throat of someone like me is that I went without to buy my home. Big time went without. Yet my circumstances at the end would be no better than someone in my bracket who pissed everything up against the wall. My home would be taken to pay for my care, and presumably for those who didn't bother making provision.

But thems the breaks. You pick your path.

I suppose a blended solution might be for me - the house pays for care, provided there is a cap, so my girls are left with the balance which is a meaningful amount so they can get on the property ladder and not just fill the pockets of a landlord with it.

The Care "profession" needs to become just that - a profession. There isn't enough value placed against it which is reflected in wages and ultimately the service. It's a terrifying thought.

Diluted Dante

Actually increasing taxation for the NHS is a popular idea. 61% of people supported increasing taxes to pay for the NHS.

Armitage_Shankburn

Your girlies might take care of you the way my mum took care of her grandmother. It was easier though with 4 daughters and a big villa. But if your children can't deal with an incontinent father or mother, hey, I know you love them, but maybe they deserve that 100K less on the house? Just saying, our generation and below are not doing the work our parents did re: their elders.

davyK

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

Your girlies might take care of you the way my mum took care of her grandmother. It was easier though with 4 daughters and a big villa. But if your children can't deal with an incontinent father or mother, hey, I know you love them, but maybe they deserve that 100K less on the house? Just saying, our generation and below are not doing the work our parents did re: their elders.

Yep. Total agreement.

We have a good sized house and that could be done either way.

There is a lot to be said for the extended family model of living. It's something our society has forgot about.

RedDave2

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

Your girlies might take care of you the way my mum took care of her grandmother. It was easier though with 4 daughters and a big villa. But if your children can't deal with an incontinent father or mother, hey, I know you love them, but maybe they deserve that 100K less on the house? Just saying, our generation and below are not doing the work our parents did re: their elders.

That's a fair point but my mum has a different outlook on it. Granted her own mother has lived until 96 and still going but she feels that the illness and longevity of the current elderly (of which she is a member) is a bigger burden than what would have been before when many old people would have passed on between 60 and 75.

She feels she would be a burden if it came to it and would rather we place her in a home using funds from the house but she and my father are determined to hold on as long as possible to not needing help. When I compare them to their elders, many of those in my mums age bracket are still going strong compared to how grandparents used to be. Same with my wife's mother.

davyK

One could be belligerent and gift the house away to the kids and throw yourself at the mercy of the state.

Bit of a gamble though. Several things could go wrong with that.

RedDave2

The phrase your health is your wealth has never been more true. The longer you can avoid hospitals and nursing homes the better. I feel my next career point isn't to move up as a manger but to try and createe my own, hopefully sustainable business that I can run into my later years.

davyK

Yep.

Looking after ones self is the greatest insurance policy. No guarantees of course but personal responsibilty is the cornerstone of any society.

The number of people I see around town in mobility scooters is appalling. People younger than me.

RedDave2

I'm over 20 years as a chef. The amount of kps and chefs who are under 30 with bad backs is scary and all because they won't bend and lift properly. And of course bad back leads to pain medication and alcohol/drug problems and it's such a simple habit to get into.

poprock

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

Just saying, our generation and below are not doing the work our parents did re: their elders.

Absolutely true, and I’m at a loss as to how I could do any better. I’m pretty typical of anybody in the creative industries: I left home and moved to a major city to get educated, then another major city to get work, and so on. There’s a lot of geography between me and my parents, and I’m acutely aware that I can’t move close enough to either of them to be of real help when they start to need it – if I do, I have to give up the job/income. So what would I have to look after them with?

They didn’t see this downside coming when they supported me to move away and better myself.

GooberTheHat

I keep suggesting to my wife that we buy a joint property with her parents (I get on well with them and they adore our daughter). I think she thinks I'm joking but I honestly think it would work great.

There are so many positives and only a few negatives. I think it's mostly the unusual nature of that sort of arrangement in this country that makes her think I'm not serious.

The Daddy

Friend of mine did that. We don’t talk anymore so I don’t know how well it’s working, but they’ve been in that situation for at least 5 years now so must be ok. They got some kind of big barn conversion type thing, lots of space, which I think would be a necessity.

GooberTheHat

Yeah, I'd be thinking of something like that, or a place with a couple of buildings.

LivDiv

We are suffering the upshot of families being at a distance at the moment.

My grandparents moved to the south coast 20 odd years ago, my young cousins were down there and it was great for 10 years before my cousins and their parents moved abroad. Slowly family and friends of my grandparents have past away and they are now isolated.

We had been trying to convince them to move back locally since but they were stubborn. Now they really need family care but we cant be there for them in the capacity they need. Bit of a nightmare really but caused primarily by my grandparents.

I do think other cultures and generations have had a better idea on this.
It isnt just looking after the grandparents in old age but also them caring for younger kids while parents are at work.
It also unlocks value in their property which can be reinvested into the family.

My best mate is from an Indian family and they just do all this stuff as standard. All the family help each other and money stays in the family.
White people are really bad at this shit.

The Daddy

Yeah. I’ve got one sister in France and the other in Texas. We’re 120 miles up the road from my folks but my wife’s parents live further away, one in Stoke one in Australia. Obviously we see that from a (lack of free) childcare perspective at the mo but before long it’ll be the other way around.

I suppose it’s just a consequence of the widening of the “middle” class, with more people going to uni and such, as well as the shrinking of the world through better communication tech and cheaper/more frequent transport options.

LivDiv

Yeah, I think the state of the workplace is a factor as well.
Gone are the days of a job for life let alone generations working in the same workplace.

Armitage_Shankburn

In one of my recent conversations with my white supremacist friend, I realised that part of his hatred for - in this case, and usually, Somalis - was rooted in envy. They swarm all over the place, 6 to a house - contrasts with his family unit of two now he's lost his father. His mother is a recluse, no friends. He is 41 and single, no children.

I have other friends who are having trouble getting their in laws doing childcare. They travel from Salisbury to London, do a weekend, and it's off they go for their walks and music Performances. WE have grown selfish, I think.

Overall it is very good we have fewer children. The planet doesn't need more. But it does create a void. I think goobs should do his plan.

I've just come back from holiday, and my mother was fixating on every young child she saw. I feel sad for depriving her of that joy grandparents have. If I did have children, she probably would never leave them alone.

Sad

Gremill

GooberTheHat wrote:

I keep suggesting to my wife that we buy a joint property with her parents (I get on well with them and they adore our daughter). I think she thinks I'm joking but I honestly think it would work great.

There are so many positives and only a few negatives. I think it's mostly the unusual nature of that sort of arrangement in this country that makes her think I'm not serious.

We did that a few years back with my mother in law. Bought a 4 bed house with a double garage, converted them into a granny flat with en suite and put an extension on the back of the house. It works really well. Mother in law looks after the kids on occasion, which is great, but the real benefit is my wife not having to worry about her mum. We'd never have been able to afford the house we have without pooling our resourcesv and it has worked out great for everyone.

equinox_code

Pretty much the only thing I get envious of is people affording houses, be it alone or with help from parents. Meanwhile im sending Mum £80 per month to stop her being homeless.

Armitage_Shankburn

We need major changes in this country. If everyone ITT doesn't vote for Corbo I'm gonna be insufferable until they humanely remove me from the country

equinox_code

I for one have really appreciated the contributions of the Corbyn Defence Force in recent weeks

Diluted Dante

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

We need major changes in this country. If everyone ITT doesn't vote for Corbo I'm gonna be insufferable until they humanely remove me from the country

Ahaha, it won't be humane, this is the Tories.

LarryDavid

....press have dubbed the troublesome lawyer ‘Jihadi Gonzo’....

GooberTheHat

Armitage_Shankburn wrote:

We need major changes in this country. If everyone ITT doesn't vote for Corbo I'm gonna be insufferable until they humanely remove me from the country

I've voted for Corbyn 3 times already, I'm not going to stop now.

RedDave2

Good idea for corbyn to demand an up to date version of yellowhammer. It puts a bit of pressure on Johnson and his band of fools to show what they are actually working on beyond soundbite promises.

Also noticed corbyn along with 100 other mps wanted parliament to resume early. Maybe I'm not the only one thinking bj is using the summer recess as a dodge.

GooberTheHat

He absolutely is. It's an extension of May's delay tactics. Wait until the last minute in the hope that every one will go for your plan because there is not time to do anything else.

MattyJ

I'm still hearing the rhetoric from BJ and others that 'Europe must offer a better deal' etc. Motherfucker its been three years why are you expecting them to make a change?

ChopperByrne

http://arethebritsatitagain.com/

poprock

Nice.

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