Pensioners protest austerity cuts outside Parliament October 27th

[Ivanhoe]

Pensioners turn out to fight austerity

Angry pensioners pledged today to escalate the fight against Con-Dem wreckers by joining spirited anti-cuts protests up and down the land.

Nearly 1,000 activists from the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) converged on Westminster to protest against vicious cuts in vital services and to demand a basic state pension of at least £171 a week.

NPC general secretary Dot Gibson was cheered at a lively rally in the Methodist Central Hall as she declared: “We
have to make a stand together.

We stand together with students, school children, teachers, disabled people and trade unionists.”
She pledged: “We are not going back to the poverty and want of the 1930s.”

As banner-waving pensioners from all over Britain gathered opposite Parliament before lobbying their MPs, Ms Gibson emphasised: “We are urging our people to take positive action.

“This must include organising and taking part in demonstrations locally and nationally to defend the welfare state.”
Some of the lobbyists donned David Cameron masks or Nick Clegg masks and bore placards proclaiming: “We are all in this together, but it’s still billions for the bankers and peanuts for pensioners.”

The event took place amid a wave of scepticism over leaked reports of Con-Dem plans to introduce a future pension of £140 a week for all, but only to future pensioners. NPC leaders pointed out that the plan appeared to abolish the present state second pension.

TUC president Michael Leahy, general secretary of trade union Community, called for “the biggest, broadest and best” national anti-cuts demonstration in history on Saturday March 26.
But there were shouts from the hall of “too late!”

Public service union Unison deputy general secretary Keith Sonnett urged a powerful alliance to fight the biggest-ever cuts in the welfare state.

“In doing so, we will make sure that George Osborne, David Cameron and Nick Clegg become footnotes in history,” he said.

The meeting gave an enthusiastic welcome to Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins and Green MP Caroline Lucas.
Ms Lucas expressed confidence that if people united together, “we have a very very good chance of overcoming this very very cruel government.”

Mr Hopkins proclaimed: “This government has started a right-wing revolution which has to be reversed.”
Cheers erupted as he added: “I think we have got to take a look at the French.”

Making a rousing call for a state pension of £200 per week by 2015, Mr Hopkins went on: “This is going to be a long hard fight, but in the end we are going to have to defeat this government, and defeat it we will.”
Lobbyists trooped into Parliament to give their MPs a sharp reminder that one in five pensioners live below the official poverty line.

East Kilbride activists Rosemary Smith, Jeanette Pieper and Avril Anderson said they had been uplifted by taking
part in the huge 20,000-strong anti-cuts demo in Edinburgh last Saturday.

Ms Anderson said: “I am fighting for dignity in my old age. I don’t want to be in the poor house. We have to stand together.”

[Papaumau]

Excellent, just excellent !

"They"....including me sometimes....say that we never get off our backsides to complain even when we are obviously in the right, but that shows that we do - on occasion - get out on the streets and protest.

It is sad that that protest went un-recorded as far as the national news media are concerned.

OR....was it reported and I missed it, Ivanhoe ?

[Ivanhoe]

Papaumau, No it was not recorded by the BBC at all.

This is a fecking disgrace.  I am so sick of the BBC blocking this issue.

Any suggestions on what we can do to protest at BBC media apathy ??

[Hugh]

They should have done some thing before the labour party squandered all our money. While alot of money being pour into wars started by Blairs ego there's not much left in the pot.

[Papaumau]

Who are "they" Hugh ?

It doesn't matter where all of the money was spent before as every year they have a similar amount to spend again via our taxation input.

Believe me Hugh, there IS money in the pot for our state pension, if only they would choose to use it that way instead of in other wasteful ways.

Almost all of the other European states can do it, so why can we not ?

[Hugh]

 
State Pension
From April 2011, there will be a ‘triple guarantee’ so the basic State Pension will rise by either:

•earnings – the average increase in UK wages that year
•prices – how much the cost of living increases that year
•2.5 per cent
The basic State Pension will rise each year by whichever gives the highest amount. Additional elements of the State Pension will continue to rise in line with prices.

Didn't notice the labour party making any promises like above. No we got a small rise taken off us in council taxes year on year.

[Papaumau]

They actually DID  - after a bit of prodding - offer to reconnect the state pension to the average earnings but Brown said that "we" could not afford this until 2015. Now it is a concensus among all politicians across the board that this re-connection SHOULD be made and that it should happen ASAP.

If you remember mate, It was Thatcher and Major that removed this state pension ratio connection to the average wage all those years ago and because of this dirty trick the British pensioners are now much worse off.

It was calculated recently that if our state pension had continued to be connected to the average wage over those years that the pension would now be worth close to the £200.00 per week that Ivanhoe is calling for.

Yes Hugh, selective memory can play tricks on you if you don't watch out.

This syndrome was once coined as "selective myopia" and it certainly fits that description.

[Hugh]

Who are "they" Hugh ?

It doesn't matter where all of the money was spent before as every year they have a similar amount to spend again via our taxation input.

Believe me Hugh, there IS money in the pot for our state pension, if only they would choose to use it that way instead of in other wasteful ways.

Almost all of the other European states can do it, so why can we not ?

Others countries didn't have a labour party so keen to fight wars and give money away to every tom dick and harry. They didn't create high paid jobs in the public sector which have to be paid for out our taxes. Yes I agree money wastefully used by the labour party for 13 years. Will Cameron's party be the same we don't know yet, we will just have to wait and see. But bloody hell give them a chance.

[Ivanhoe]

Hugh, If you literally think that any governmnent running this country is short of money to pay pensionners a decent State pension, then you need to get out a bit.

[Ivanhoe]

A simple little message for HUGH.

We have not had a Labour Government since the 70's.

What we had from 1997 was a "New" Labour Government with a right wing agenda, namely a continuation of Thatcherism, including her pensions policy, but with non means tested and means test sweeteners for pensioners.

[Hugh]

And a message for labour supporters who kept voting for a them back in, year on year. If you want a right wing party lets have the real thing.

[Ivanhoe]

And a message for labour supporters who kept voting for a them back in, year on year. If you want a right wing party lets have the real thing.

It gets worse and worse from you.

[Hugh]

THEY

Angry pensioners pledged today to escalate the fight against Con-Dem wreckers by joining spirited anti-cuts protests up and down the land.

[Hugh]

And a message for labour supporters who kept voting for a them back in, year on year. If you want a right wing party lets have the real thing.

party

It gets worse and worse from you.

I have never voted for the Conservative but always done well under them so I cannot complain. I place my vote which I thought would help pensioners, and I couldn't see any help coming from new labour and I wasn't to sure about Cameron. Now its a matter what happens in the next year or so, to decide who i vote for next.

[Hugh]

And you have to remember Papa all the harm Margaret Thatcher party did could have been undone in the last 13 years by new labour. We could all see in the first 4 years they were not true labour, so why did they keep getting voted back in? No I did not vote for Blaire or Cameron so now I have to take whats on offer and hope they look after us.