How cold is it where you are?

[Icanthinkformyselfthanks]

Are you worried about the old people who are too concerned about paying their bills because they’ve lost their WFA to put their heating on/up?

Currently 1 degree.

Sorry, posted too soon. FIL’s house is always hot. Heating set about 24 degrees, very good insulation and he opens doors to cool down. He is elderly now but it’s been that way for 30 years.

DD lives in Cardiff, her heating was off for about 6 days, LL dragged his heels but it was fixed 2 days ago.

so warm !!

It needed to be means tested . Very wealthy people were getting it like my in laws who always donated it to charity.

What about single people or those with small children? Their incomes haven't gone up and they pay more for everything, heating, food, travel. I'm sure many of those are in. Heat or eat situation too and they still need to work.

This is quite a sly dig at the Labour government disguised as a weather thread.

This is just as true for disabled people.

Not all that sly, even. It's got all the subtlety of a brick through a window.

Well it is in 'cost of living' not 'weather' section, which could be a clue.

Where are you?

On the news they said the lowest temp was the Nothern Highlands which was -18

Pesioners are amongst the poorest in society

I agree, Im not sure you understood my point

Withdrawing the WFA from someone implies they are well off enough or rich enough to manage their heating. Im saying they're not necessarily well off enough to afford it becasue of the threshold (which has to be somewhere) but also the type of payments someone might be making. So its a red herring

Elderly people are specifically at risk in extreme weather, hot and cold becuase they dont have th same regulation internally as when younger, are the poorest among society and dont recognise whether they're hot or cold. Some of them find it diffcult to keep fluids up because going to toilet is difficult or onerous so are not filling up on hot drinks for example.

The myth of the different social climate. Educate yourself.

are the poorest among society

That's not universally the case. I have a relative with savings of over £300k, her own pension, half her late husband's pension, and full ownership of her home. Hence the means-testing for WFA, which brings pensioners into line with disabled children, disabled adults, and children under five.

I don't need to educate myself, thank you. I never stated that was what I thought, so don't be so rude.

Right To Buy made a huge difference to who could buy a house, to give just one example of that “different social climate". Uber hadn't turned a huge chunk of the workforce into a gig economy precariat, to give another example of that different social climate. A whole generation went to university for free, to give yet another example of that different social climate.

It's not a myth.

Im a labour voter but this is in the cost of living section? Did you stumble across it by mistake?

And the reality is that as per the past 50 years, as it will be for the next 50 years, the tories will be in government far more than labour will. And Labour had the opportunity to undo some of the tory policies that people are complaining about here and didnt, that in my view is shameful and inexplicable.

The reality is we are a country that prefers small government, and so if any of you now in your 20s and 30s think that voting, your voting in particular, will be different to the previous 50 years, you're fooling yourself.

As one example, university?

The vast majority of elderly pensioners today never got anywhere near a university!! It just wasnt a thing in those days, my parents left school at 14 and 15.

Right to buy was henious, more so the lack of reinvestment but it doesnt apply to whole swathes of the population, its not particularly significant in terms of pensioner 'wealth'. I dont know anyone this applied to let alone actually bought a council property.

Do you understand how statistics work?

I think people don’t understand the energy market.

there is already a mechanism in place to control the price suppliers charge domestic consumers.

the reason both gas and electricity prices have gone up so much is because the global price of gas has gone up. The government can’t force international oil and gas companies to sell us gas at a cheaper price.

Amazing how everyone here is related to, or knows hugely wealthy pensioners. Almost like there's a demographic represented here as well.

We are a 'managing' one retired, one working older couple, we know well off pensioners, poor pensioners, rich families, poor families, better off single parent, poorer singles parents, disabled families and singles with varying levels of income.
As I said before, why is there so much dislike and division. A huge number of people in society are struggling but pensioners seem to rarely get empathy, just assumptions of loadedness.

Yes, I do. I don't know why you are asking that.

My aunt's late husband had really good death-in-service benefits. That's 100% of why she has what she has.

It was easier to get jobs, apprenticeships, and housing across the board in the 60s and 70s, compared to today.

RTB put people onto the housing ladder who previously would have been lifetime social tenants. This is a huge transference of wealth to that demographic and has stymied would-be social tenants ever since, contributing to the soaring rental costs we see now.

@BurntBroccoli , I’m sorry you thought it was a “sly dig at the Labour government’. I thought it was abundantly obvious that I hate this policy, the ‘dig’ was absolutely intended and not meant to be concealed.

@SabreIsMyFave , I’m very confused. Aren’t those on the left of politics supposed to be caring and concern themselves with those who are struggling and vulnerable? That’s what I always believed. It made up for their economic illiteracy. It turns out many are way, way more selfish and hard hearted than any Conservative voter would be, who knew? 🤷🏼‍♀️
So much for the smug self congratulating attitude, so much for looking down your noses from the lofty heights of you superior morals. It was always a lie. Now we know the unedifying truth.

@Calochortus , I don’t like the dreadful selfishness I’ve seen here either. I’m heartened to hear that there are still people with a sense of decency who care for others less able than themselves. Unfortunately too many of the respondents are callous and selfish in the extreme.