To think that Lord True has a brass neck

[fromsheffieldtobrighton]

This dick has suggested cutting pensioners' benefits in order to aid the young.

Nothing wrong with helping the young but will he be leading the way in contributing his £4000 a month expenses to the cause or his subsidised vey fancy lunches?

Call me an old cynic but I'm going to hazard a guess that he won't and nor will the majority of his gravy soaked colleagues. they have a pretty decent salary-many of them do bugger all for it-but they still insist on shoving their noses in the expenses trough.

What a nasty man...set generations against each other while he and his chums grab, grab grab.

No way should this happen. These pensioners have paid in for this all their working life. Some pensioners without a bus pass and free TV would have no company at all leading to further problems with social isolation. If they want to get rid of something that costs money and is bloody useless get rid of The House of Lords. Leave the pensioners alone.

Sorry I can't see the "free bus pass" element in my payslip.
These perks are being paid for by younger people. Older people had free university education, decent retirement age, triple locked pensions, reasonable house prices, and it's time they "took something back"?
Pensioners are the richest group of society. These perks should at least be means-tested.

If the government really was concerned about social isolation then there'd be free broadband for disabled people or a decent caters allowence or sure start centres. They only care about votes.

That may be the case-or it may not-but what do you think about a wealthy prick like Lord True who , with the majority of the House of Lords, grabs what he can-on top of a very generous salary- putting this forward.

We must all be frigging stupid if we are going to take lessons in how to distribute money fairly from the likes of him.

He stinks of hypocrisy and he must be bloody stupid or not give a shit to even suggest it while trousering every spare penny in sight

. It would have become him better if he declared the House of Lords would no longer be grabbing massive allowances for merely turning up and farting after their tax payer provided swan and claret!

Oh absolutely!

It's like JRM thinking food banks are "marvellous".
Makes me sick.

These perks are being paid for by younger people Well obviously, that's how it works. It isn't some piggy bank where you get out what you put in. Each generation is paying for those older than them. So todays pensioners, when working, shelled out for the ones who came before. Of course the burden is more onerous now because people are living longer. If you feel hard done to by that are you, when your time comes, going to take a stand and abjure statins or whatever so as not to add to the burden?

Older people had free university education Actually only about 4% of people in 1960s and certainly less than 10% of people in 1970s went to university. The majority started work at 16 or even 15. So even with the difference in retirement age they probably spent longer working

Everyone should read the House of Lords Publication of Financial Support for Members.

In May last year, Lord True claimed over £4000 even though the House only sat for 15 days. Who knows how many of these days he was there for!!

Lord Tebbit, who once declared that people should get on their bike to look for work, claimed thousands with a few extra hundred for travel expenses. Why doesn't he get on a bike himself and save us all a few quid!

Yes, let's have an intergenerational punch up. That'll help.

He was on 5Live and Newsnight saying that 60 yr olds get bus passes. Apart from London,they don't. It's linked to pension age which is 66 or 67. Pity he can't get his facts right seeing he chairs the 'working' group.

Means testing would probably cost more than a blanket entitlement. The government can find billions to waste when they want to - eg Brexit.

Pensioners are the richest group of society.
What a load of shit.

The House of Lords are one of the richest groups in society and Lord True jumps up from his leather seated stupor to say that one poor group should be deprived in order to give to another poor group.

It's like a scene from a dystopian novel or film except it's real and there is no outcry from what must be a comatosed population.

Earlier this month, his esteemed colleague, Lord Agnew, suggested replacing teachers with short term contract support staff in order to save money and now Lord True comes out with his little gem.

Their balls must be bright blue with pure chutzpah.

After housing costs, yes pensioners are better off.
Fewer people went to university, sure. They didn't need to. You could support a family 40 years ago on one middle-income wage.

I very much doubt that when I retire at 70 there will be a state pension or an NHS. Despite me "paying in all my life". And our children will be even worse off.

Uterus, we older people paid whilst you were growing up receiving free schooling, medical care and the other assorted benefits our system provides. Now we are too old to work, and frequently in ill health, we receive a token pittance as part of the social contract to which we all subscribe. Kindly stop whinging.

I have been surprised that these add ons survived when many more basic services were cut for younger generations.
My understanding was that it was this committees job to make recommendations and they have done so.
Expecting people to run the country at their own expense seems a little optimistic so payments and expenses seems reasonable to me OP. Using often older people's lifetime of expertise in the House of Lords seems sensible.

As for means testing pensioners. It would cost far more to set up the admin for this and run it than give the pensioners the bus pass and free TV licence. Get rid of The House of Lords useless bunch of leeches.

That is neither here nor there.
Do you think a very wealthy man with his nose in the trough as far as he can get it should be telling us how to distribute money fairly?

There are well off pensioners, there are well off younger people: there are poor pensioners, there are poor younger people but the one thing you will not find is a poor member of the House of Lords.

Don't you find it outrageous that they who grab, grab, grab get on their hind legs to ell others to give up their bus passes. if they really think there is inequality, not enough to go around, why are they-who take so much from the public purse-not exempt?

Lord True is a disgrace and we -as a society are a disgrace to have reached a stage where a man like him can get on his hind legs and with a straight face-in public at least- say this steaming pile of shit at all.

from Sheffield Hear hear

OP I believe the UK should be running a well funded democracy, two houses with different roles is the norm for this.
It could reasonably be argued that they should both be directly elected but this would be unlikely to reduce the running costs.
Any organization has well paid people at the top making decisions about poorer paid people at the bottom. UK pic is no different in doing this.
This man's job was to write a report of these issues and he has done so.
I personally would be in favor of much higher salaries for all politicians and much lower expenses but overall that wouldn't reduce the cost of government which has to be paid for in one way or another.

Well, in the case of the UK, we haven't really got a second house. from What I've seen, there are never many there and of that small number, an even smaller number take part. They could all fit in a studio flat...the studio flat of lords.

Yes, Lord True wrote this report with the pure aim of setting generations against each other while no-one stops to ask him and his fellows why aren't they leading by example. You do know they claim allowance for turning up, signing in and then pissing off for a lunch which we mostly pay for don't you.

He should have called his report, 'Let Them Eat Cake''. He is a cheeky twat, we are stupid for providing an atmosphere in which he felt he could present it without anyone calling him a hypocrite and, as far as I can see, he is top at precisely nothing except being on a nice little earner.