old news

Election Our Votes

2007-04-24T09:35:00.000Z

Old News

Authors Too blogging on.

Old news examined with old people in mind.

Thursday May 3 is Election Day for the National Assembly Government of Wales.

Authors Too have been looking at the fliers from the main parties. Who will get our vote? We are the pensioners, the "grey"vote, and we carry a considerable weight.

Traditionally we have been supporters of Labour, and we have been voting for them for so long that it is difficult for us to stop for a moment and think.

If we do, we see that Labour is dead. What is very much alive is New Labour, a party that has killed off the old socialist sentiments that we, the ordinary people created, and to whom we showed our loyalty in election after election.

New Labour is a new party, and under this new party us pensioners are worse off than we were last year. So before voting for New Labour we owe it to ourselves to stop and think.

We have never returned the Conservative Party and Authors Too see no reason why, even under their new leadership, why this should change.

So we move on. As the Party of Wales we would have expected Plaid Cymru to have gained a far greater following than has been seen by way of votes cast. Why is this? Are we, in the valleys, afraid that we will have to learn the language? We shouldn't be because we don't have to. What is important are the policies.

And what of the Liberal Democrats? Historically they increase according to the other parties' decrease. Having come into existence only comparatively recently they have never had a standing of their own. We have never given them strong support.

And the Greens? Strange how we all lean toward green ideas but never vote for the party. We wonder why that is? Is it because the Greens are new and we are stuck in the mire of of tradition?

Finally the Independent candidate, for whom the vote is almost entirely a personal one. In a government, introduction of policies depend on numbers and the Independent member is almost always a lonely individual.

In the end how do we decide? If Authors Too were betting people we would say the running would be between New Labour because too many people will vote in the traditional fashion mistakenly thinking they are voting Labour: and Plaid Cymru for those who pause and think.

What concerns us pensioners most are firstly, the fight for a decent pension, and two, because we rely on it more than most, The National Health Service. After ten years under New Labour two and a quarter million of us pensioners are living in poverty. And despite the money New Labour says it has poured into the NHS ,the truth is that services have been cut. This applies to all positions, from posts in Nursing and Midwifery, down more than 20%, to all other training groups down by roughly the same amount.

But Plaid Cymru we say is untried. True. So it is up to you to make up your mind. Old News has no axe to grind. Its only purpose, between the spin and the jargon, is to try to get as near the truth as is possible - and for ten years New Labour has frequently been a stranger to it - just think of Iraq.

So do we believe now what they are saying and give them another chance? Or will we say that we are Welsh and vote for the party who claim to be the party of Wales.

Authors too have already decided which way they will vote, but because we have the privelege and protection of a secret ballot we will keep it between ourselves and the ballot box.

Oops! Sorry! Secret ballot? Not if you use the postal vote. If you vote by post you will have to sign your name and give your date of birth. Why should postal voters, usually old people like ourselves, have this privelege and protection taken away?

Still to come. An open letter to NPT MP & the new AMwho do not seem to know of the scandal of the bedsit council tax.

Blogging off, Authors Too for Old News.

PS. Rhodri Morgan is telling us that we are all better off by£5000.00, yes, five thousand pounds, since the Welsh Assembly government has come into being. From Authors Too,

no comment.

Budget: Pensioners' Raw Deal

2007-03-30T09:19:00.000Z

Welcome to Old News

Who are we? We are Authors Too and we publish our OLD NEWS Blog via our Sheltered Housing Friends and Residents Association. Our purpose is to take the spin off old news and pass it on to old folk like ourselves in plain understandable English.

This blog is about

The Budget.

Gordon Brown has given us pensioners nothing. In fact, he has taken money away. Look at the figures. Our pension has been increased by 3.5%. Inflation stood at 4.6%. Council Tax on Band 'A' has gone up 3.3% (about £27.00).

And don't be fooled by the reduction in income tax. We ordinary pensioners pay very little to begin with. You will only benefit from this if you are very rich. Don't forget, if you are fit and able to go out to work, you will be taxed on your Old Age Pension which will be classified as earnings.

Why doesn't Gordon do the simple and proper thing and increase our Old Age Pension to a respectable level. I don't know why he does not do this. Write to your MP and ask him or her.

We pay the same amount for our water, gas, electricity as people in full employment. Old folk die every winter of hypothermia. The £200.00 winter fuel allowance is not enough. The £200.00 is a blatant admission that the Old Age Pension is totally inadequate and not enough to simply keep ourselves warm.

Members of Parliament should be made to stick to the Biblical Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." But do they? They most certainly do not. They get 130 days a year out of the House. They have fixed themselves generous pensions and guess what? They have just given themselves another £10,000.00 a year just to keep in touch with us. Wasn't this their job in the first place? And, wow, some of the expenses they claim make our pensions look like a seven year old's pocket money.

Peter Hain got £21,000.634 for just staying away from home, and what about Janet Anderson MP claiming £16,612.00 just for driving her car.

No, it seems our MP's serve themselves before they serve their public. But don't get us Authors Too wrong. We are not anti New Labour or pro any other party. We just like to say and see things as they really are.

We Old Age Pensioners are getting a raw deal. We are the people who won the war, fought in Korea, Suez, Cyprus, Malaya. We are the people who worked all our lives, paid our taxes and National Health contributions. We deserve better.

Now, to blog off, we mustn't forget that we, the grey voters if we stick together, can shift governments. There are a lot of us and any party in power will be interested to get us on their side. So write to your MP and tell him or her of your lifelong contribution to the wealth of this country and now you want some of it back. Or else next time they wont get your vote.

Coming soon

An open letter to NPT MP who seems not to know about the scandal of Old People's bed-sit Council Tax.

Blogging Off, Authors Too for OLD NEWS.

welcome to old news

2007-03-16T11:55:00.000Z

Introducing Old News on line: stay posted for updates