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FAMILIES minister Ed Balls was accused of patronising 450,000 grandparents after launching a £2.2million website which provides “absurd” childcare tips.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said:
Jimmy Deuchars, manager of Grandparents Apart UK said;
This statement above is an election gimmick to con the grandparents grey vote into thinking they are getting something. This can be extremely detrimental to grandparents who are totally devastated and very emotional at losing contact with their loved ones. Grandparents really need open and honest advice not election gimmicks. Removing the need to get permission from a judge is removing a safety net and has saved lots of grandparents spending a fortune on cases that had no chance. We have already received adverts from lawyers offering discounts for grandparents wishing to go to court.
So be warned! Seek a second opinion from non profit groups like ours.
Supermarkets..........................................................................................Willie Hogg
Hi,
Just a few lines regarding supermarkets exploiting more pensioners.
Recently I was shopping at Morrison's,and I bought some butcher meat from the meat counter. Well anyway I asked them to weigh the meat again. It does not really matter how it came about, but to my shock it cost 3p for the paper wrapper. Now if you take say for example you go twice a week to the supermarket, and six wrappers, it is not long adding
up. Although I am not a pensioner yet,but in these days of every penny counting, it is not long adding up.
Well anyway,it is something and nothing. I just thought I would bring it to your attention.
Kind regards
Willie Hogg
THE ROWANTREE FOUNDATION.......................................Robbie Fergusson
Dear Mr Swinburne,
Further to our conversation, here are some additional details about the Power campaign.
We are currently in the process of garnering the public's votes on a number of policies to be put on a pledge card for as many candidates as possible going into the next election.
The voting stage of the campaign finishes on Feb 22 and then the pledge card with the top 5 reforms as voted by the public is launched on Monday Mar 1. My job is to get as many eligible voters as possible to sign up to the pledge, saying that they will only consider voting for a candidate if they have also signed up.
Hopefully many of them will and I can also use these voter blocks to put pressure on those who are resistant.
Firstly, can I encourage you to vote for your chosen reforms - http://www.power2010.org.uk/votes
Secondly, which channels can we use to promote this to your membership? If there is a fee involved then please let me know. Power2010 will obviously be furthering your democratic reform ideals (dependent on the finalised pledges of course) as well as giving your candidates an edge over those who have not signed it.
If you can also send me through a list of your PPCs for the election then I will add it to my own database. For political reasons we obviously don't want to ask all of them to sign up immediately but I will certainly get round them all before the General Election. I am asking prominent candidates to both vote and then sign the pledge, so the ideal situation is if you were to vote soon and then hopefully sign up to the pledge within the first few days after the March 1 launch.
I am always open to any and all further suggestions you have as to how we can work together to promote the Power campaign.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
Robbie Fergusson
Power2010
Dear Mr Swinburne,
Further to our conversation, here are some additional details about the Power campaign.
We are currently in the process of garnering the public's votes on a number of policies to be put on a pledge card for as many candidates as possible going into the next election.
The voting stage of the campaign finishes on Feb 22 and then the pledge card with the top 5 reforms as voted by the public is launched on Monday Mar 1. My job is to get as many eligible voters as possible to sign up to the pledge, saying that they will only consider voting for a candidate if they have also signed up.
Hopefully many of them will and I can also use these voter blocks to put pressure on those who are resistant.
Firstly, can I encourage you to vote for your chosen reforms - http://www.power2010.org.uk/votes
Secondly, which channels can we use to promote this to your membership? If there is a fee involved then please let me know. Power2010 will obviously be furthering your democratic reform ideals (dependent on the finalised pledges of course) as well as giving your candidates an edge over those who have not signed it.
If you can also send me through a list of your PPCs for the election then I will add it to my own database. For political reasons we obviously don't want to ask all of them to sign up immediately but I will certainly get round them all before the General Election. I am asking prominent candidates to both vote and then sign the pledge, so the ideal situation is if you were to vote soon and then hopefully sign up to the pledge within the first few days after the March 1 launch.
I am always open to any and all further suggestions you have as to how we can work together to promote the Power campaign.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Many thanks,
Robbie Fergusson
Power2010
Ed Balls.............................................................................................Jimmy Deuchars
FAMILIES minister Ed Balls was accused of patronising 450,000 grandparents after launching a £2.2million website which provides “absurd” childcare tips.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“It’s important to consider the role of grandparents in looking after children, but this website has dumbed the subject down to absurdity."
Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said:
“Grandparents don’t need to be told how to interact with children – they need to feel respected. Mr Balls stressed (The only sensible thing he has said) the “invaluable role” played by millions of grandparents, but said that when families broke down they often found it difficult to maintain links with grandchildren. Under Government plans, they will no longer have to seek leave from the courts before applying for contact with grandchildren."
Jimmy Deuchars, manager of Grandparents Apart UK said;
"Scotland’s system already works on what Ed Balls is proposing and it has cost a lot of our members their lives savings spent on cases that had no chance of winning in the first place."
This statement above is an election gimmick to con the grandparents grey vote into thinking they are getting something. This can be extremely detrimental to grandparents who are totally devastated and very emotional at losing contact with their loved ones. Grandparents really need open and honest advice not election gimmicks. Removing the need to get permission from a judge is removing a safety net and has saved lots of grandparents spending a fortune on cases that had no chance. We have already received adverts from lawyers offering discounts for grandparents wishing to go to court.
So be warned! Seek a second opinion from non profit groups like ours.
Supermarkets..........................................................................................Willie Hogg
Hi,
Just a few lines regarding supermarkets exploiting more pensioners.
Recently I was shopping at Morrison's,and I bought some butcher meat from the meat counter. Well anyway I asked them to weigh the meat again. It does not really matter how it came about, but to my shock it cost 3p for the paper wrapper. Now if you take say for example you go twice a week to the supermarket, and six wrappers, it is not long adding
up. Although I am not a pensioner yet,but in these days of every penny counting, it is not long adding up.
Well anyway,it is something and nothing. I just thought I would bring it to your attention.
Kind regards
Willie Hogg
A Big Daft Boy................................................................................Jimmy Deuchars
David Cameron; A big daft boy.
David Cameron; A big daft boy.
Don’t be fooled by David Cameron’s having his picture made up to woo his bewildered followers. The way I see it is. No one is very happy with their MPs at the moment because of the expenses carry on and will think twice about voting for them at the next election but if David Cameron is putting out the strong leader celebrity act then he is trying to fool the people into voting for him. Everybody with common sense knows he is just a big daft boy showing off.
The Tories are promising grandparent’s additional rights but the additional rights are not what they seem. They are a scam for unscrupulous Tory fat cat lawyers to make more money. The additional rights scam is, the removal of the legal requirement to ask a courts permission to raise a contact action. We think this a form of safety net, If the case has no merit a judge will refuse to allow it and save the confused grandparents a fortune in pursuing a dead end.
Our Grandparents Apart UK have received emails from English lawyers advertising discounts for grandparents wishing to go to court.
Scotland does not require grandparents to get a courts permission before raising a contact action and lots of our members have with hindsight said they have been given wrong legal advice and used up all their savings, then told “I’m sorry you can’t continue”, when the cash runs out.
Grandparents should contact voluntary groups like ours 0141 882 5658 for a second opinion before going to court. Going to court should be the last road to take as it increases animosity that is the main factor in grandparents not getting contact.
The Tories are promising grandparent’s additional rights but the additional rights are not what they seem. They are a scam for unscrupulous Tory fat cat lawyers to make more money. The additional rights scam is, the removal of the legal requirement to ask a courts permission to raise a contact action. We think this a form of safety net, If the case has no merit a judge will refuse to allow it and save the confused grandparents a fortune in pursuing a dead end.
Our Grandparents Apart UK have received emails from English lawyers advertising discounts for grandparents wishing to go to court.
Scotland does not require grandparents to get a courts permission before raising a contact action and lots of our members have with hindsight said they have been given wrong legal advice and used up all their savings, then told “I’m sorry you can’t continue”, when the cash runs out.
Grandparents should contact voluntary groups like ours 0141 882 5658 for a second opinion before going to court. Going to court should be the last road to take as it increases animosity that is the main factor in grandparents not getting contact.
Some Reflections on recent travel in the EEC Union, which may be of interest...................................................................................................Alex Lawson
Just back from Rome, where I was surprised to get into the Coliseum for free as an EEC Senior Citizen, saving 12 Euros, Wow! And I was in Menorca a few months back and was told that OAP's get preferred discounts to use the Holiday Hotels in the Winter, gee whiz! And in Barcelona I noted Petrol costs only 65 pence a Lltre, which my wife who covers 200 miles a week running our grandkids back and forward to school, thought was like Nirvana.
On the negative side I was disappointed that as a Scotsman in Rome I was all too often viewed as being English, not even British, and for no other reason than the preponderance of Westminster over all our affairs. And if this sounds a bit nationalistic, I am sorry, but being in an Ecclesiastical Centre like Rome, I did think of the Apostle Paul, who when ill treated as a Jew, could always appeal to his other rights as a Roman Citizen.
Which has lead me to question as to whether I would be better off as a Scottish EEC OAP Citizen represented through Holyrood, than a British one through Westminster. Then we may have more input to Reports such as the 'Harmonization of Old Age Security Pensions within the European Union' - which I noted on line by chance - and which states that the UK State Pension at best works out at 30% pro-rata of the national average wage. This was the lowest in the Union, and ignores other veiled 'tax deductions' which many of us are well aware of, and against an average of 60% elsewhere. However I have to add that, that statistic was compiled in 2007, so it could be that we rate better than the Eastern European Countries that recently joined. I think I must try and find out whom my EEC MP is? And more so with a new Belgium Emperor, or I mean president looming.
In closing I would just add that I have been told that the reason EEC Pensioners get into the Coliseum FOC is that traditionally in the old days they were often fed to the lions.
For Thought,
Alex Lawson, Administrative Status, a Scot, Brit, UK, or EEC OAP, not sure - and never asked ?
On the negative side I was disappointed that as a Scotsman in Rome I was all too often viewed as being English, not even British, and for no other reason than the preponderance of Westminster over all our affairs. And if this sounds a bit nationalistic, I am sorry, but being in an Ecclesiastical Centre like Rome, I did think of the Apostle Paul, who when ill treated as a Jew, could always appeal to his other rights as a Roman Citizen.
Which has lead me to question as to whether I would be better off as a Scottish EEC OAP Citizen represented through Holyrood, than a British one through Westminster. Then we may have more input to Reports such as the 'Harmonization of Old Age Security Pensions within the European Union' - which I noted on line by chance - and which states that the UK State Pension at best works out at 30% pro-rata of the national average wage. This was the lowest in the Union, and ignores other veiled 'tax deductions' which many of us are well aware of, and against an average of 60% elsewhere. However I have to add that, that statistic was compiled in 2007, so it could be that we rate better than the Eastern European Countries that recently joined. I think I must try and find out whom my EEC MP is? And more so with a new Belgium Emperor, or I mean president looming.
In closing I would just add that I have been told that the reason EEC Pensioners get into the Coliseum FOC is that traditionally in the old days they were often fed to the lions.
For Thought,
Alex Lawson, Administrative Status, a Scot, Brit, UK, or EEC OAP, not sure - and never asked ?
The Hypocrisy of The UK Government....................................Jimmy Deuchars
The Prime Minister is to apologise for forced deporting of children from 1930 to 1970. They are still at it. Social services are still snatching children and telling them falsely that their families do not want them and also telling grandparents and extended family that the children do not want to see them either. (Parental Alienation) This confuses and demoralises children into accepting forced adoption to complete strangers. An excellent cost cutting business plan! But children are not commodities.
Extract from the ‘Social Work Action Magazine’ Social work conference.
Quote “Social workers said they did not become SW so that they could be ‘case managers or have to make decisions based on money rather on what was needed” End Quote.
He will combine it with an apology to the 7,000 child migrants from Britain who still lives in Australia. As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were told - wrongly - their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them. Many parents did not know their children, aged as young as three had been sent to Australia. Child care agencies (guess who they are) worked with the government to send disadvantaged children to a rosy future and supply what was deemed "good white stock" to a former colony.
Full story. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/uk/8361025.stm
The Prime Minister is to apologise for forced deporting of children from 1930 to 1970. They are still at it. Social services are still snatching children and telling them falsely that their families do not want them and also telling grandparents and extended family that the children do not want to see them either. (Parental Alienation) This confuses and demoralises children into accepting forced adoption to complete strangers. An excellent cost cutting business plan! But children are not commodities.
Extract from the ‘Social Work Action Magazine’ Social work conference.
Quote “Social workers said they did not become SW so that they could be ‘case managers or have to make decisions based on money rather on what was needed” End Quote.
He will combine it with an apology to the 7,000 child migrants from Britain who still lives in Australia. As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were told - wrongly - their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them. Many parents did not know their children, aged as young as three had been sent to Australia. Child care agencies (guess who they are) worked with the government to send disadvantaged children to a rosy future and supply what was deemed "good white stock" to a former colony.
Full story. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/uk/8361025.stm
Good Luck..............................................................................................Janet Salmon
Dear John and the team,
Dear John and the team,
Congratulations on pinpointing the needs of pensioners and their voting power. I wrote to the parties pre-conferences to ask when the pension would be brought back to National Earnings and was told by the Tories and Labour, 2012. Why such a wait?
In Germany and US older people have great political power and in Europe we have the lowest pension relative to the National Salary. The arbitrary
increase of pension age from 65 to 66, is a case in point. How many candidates do you hope to run in the 2010 election and do you have links
to English organisations?
Age Concern and Help the Aged told me primly they were charities and couldn't campaign! That gets us nowhere - look at Greenpeace. Good Luckl
Janet Salmon
In Germany and US older people have great political power and in Europe we have the lowest pension relative to the National Salary. The arbitrary
increase of pension age from 65 to 66, is a case in point. How many candidates do you hope to run in the 2010 election and do you have links
to English organisations?
Age Concern and Help the Aged told me primly they were charities and couldn't campaign! That gets us nowhere - look at Greenpeace. Good Luckl
Janet Salmon
How unfair is this? ...................................................................................M. Carter
Are you aware that pensioners can only draw their pension on the Saturday or Sunday before it's due if the Monday is a bank holiday not a local holiday as is the case today in the Edinburgh area. Many went to Asda at the Jewel yesterday hoping to receive their pension and were refused. Those who have their pension paid into a bank account can draw their money any Sunday. This discriminatory practice affects the poorest pensioners who are reliant on their pensions being paid promptly. Having to wait another day is no hardship for the better off but it is for the poor.
Why should the UK bear the brunt............................................John Swinburne
Are you aware that pensioners can only draw their pension on the Saturday or Sunday before it's due if the Monday is a bank holiday not a local holiday as is the case today in the Edinburgh area. Many went to Asda at the Jewel yesterday hoping to receive their pension and were refused. Those who have their pension paid into a bank account can draw their money any Sunday. This discriminatory practice affects the poorest pensioners who are reliant on their pensions being paid promptly. Having to wait another day is no hardship for the better off but it is for the poor.
Why should the UK bear the brunt............................................John Swinburne
I have just returned from Bucharest where my team was playing their local side -Steau Bucharest. Motherwell lost 3-0.When we arrived and were transferring from the airport to the hotel we were delayed by a parade of troops who had just returned fron Iraq. Later I read in the English translation of the local paper that Roumania had quite a strong presence in Iraq for the past six years and a grand total of 8,200 of their soldiers had experienced a tour of duty in that troubled country.
The paper stated that their troops had suffered a number of casualties including two deaths during their six year involvement in Iraq.I wish that Britain could quote similar statistics for our brave lads and lassies who were involved in Blair's illegal war!
The paper stated that their troops had suffered a number of casualties including two deaths during their six year involvement in Iraq.I wish that Britain could quote similar statistics for our brave lads and lassies who were involved in Blair's illegal war!
Dementia..........................................................................................Jimmy Deuchars
Scientists warning of dementia timebomb
Earlier detection of Alzheimer's would stem the growing number of people needing health and social care. Picture: TSPL
Published Date: 21 July 2009
By LYNDSAY MOSS
THE UK is facing a "dementia timebomb" and must increase research funding urgently to stem the growing numbers who are developing the condition, experts have warned.
In an open letter, 31 of the country's leading scientists and experts have called on the government to end "years of underfunding" in dementia research.
Read more........
New Scientist Article
Grandparents Apart UK
22 Alness crescent
Glasgow G52 1PJ
0141 882 5658
http://www.grandparentsapart.co.uk
Scientists warning of dementia timebomb
Earlier detection of Alzheimer's would stem the growing number of people needing health and social care. Picture: TSPL
Published Date: 21 July 2009
By LYNDSAY MOSS
THE UK is facing a "dementia timebomb" and must increase research funding urgently to stem the growing numbers who are developing the condition, experts have warned.
In an open letter, 31 of the country's leading scientists and experts have called on the government to end "years of underfunding" in dementia research.
Read more........
New Scientist Article
American seniors scored better on cognitive tests than their British counterparts in the first transatlantic study of how aging affects memory. The findings suggest that factors such as education, hypertension, and alcohol use might make the difference.
Previous studies have compared physical health, finding British seniors to have lower prevalence of nearly every chronic disease like diabetes or cancer. This new study of 8299 older Americans and 5276 older British found that Americans scored better on a certain cognitive challenge that measures immediate and delayed recall abilities
American seniors scored better on cognitive tests than their British counterparts in the first transatlantic study of how ageing affects memory. The findings suggest that factors such as education, hypertension, and alcohol use might make the difference.
Previous studies have compared physical health, finding British seniors to have lower prevalence of nearly every chronic disease like diabetes or cancer. This new study of 8299 older Americans and 5276 older British found that Americans scored better on a certain cognitive challenge that measures immediate and delayed recall abilities.
Jimmy DeucharsPrevious studies have compared physical health, finding British seniors to have lower prevalence of nearly every chronic disease like diabetes or cancer. This new study of 8299 older Americans and 5276 older British found that Americans scored better on a certain cognitive challenge that measures immediate and delayed recall abilities
American seniors scored better on cognitive tests than their British counterparts in the first transatlantic study of how ageing affects memory. The findings suggest that factors such as education, hypertension, and alcohol use might make the difference.
Previous studies have compared physical health, finding British seniors to have lower prevalence of nearly every chronic disease like diabetes or cancer. This new study of 8299 older Americans and 5276 older British found that Americans scored better on a certain cognitive challenge that measures immediate and delayed recall abilities.
Grandparents Apart UK
22 Alness crescent
Glasgow G52 1PJ
0141 882 5658
http://www.grandparentsapart.co.uk