Lord Duckhunter

I just received my Benefit statement 2011 from my pension scheme and it's depressing reading. Even though I have a final salary one (which most of the private sector dont), a lot of my pay is made up with bonus and allowences for shift work. Neither is deemed pensionable ( I dont know if that's law, or my schemes rules), it means my pension is hardly worth a ****. I dread to think what some of the lower paid with stakeholder or DC pensions are going to do.We'll get by because Mrs Duck has an NHS pension and her father is quite wealthy, but millions of others wont be so fortunate. There is going to be a full blown pension crisis when my age group start to retire. My Father had a decent pension, and also an endowment that after paying off the mortgage gave him a £17,000 surplus. Mine wont even pay off my mortgage, the best case senerio is a £14,000 decifit.Of course that's not the Govt's problem and I understood the risks when I took it out, but just highlighting that previous generations benefitted from decent pensions, endowments that grew and grew and unbelievable house price rises.What is our generation going to rely on, Govt handouts? Having read through this thread and many things on TV, I'm convinced that we need to address this issue, whether Private or public sector. The Govt needs to "bribe" people to save for their future. Whether it's tax breaks or some sort of "save a £1 and the Govt will match it" sort of scheme for the low paid, but in the long term the less money pensioners have, the more future generations will have to contribute, and we'll have this debate over and over again.

Well they had Nick Griffin on, so anythings possible.

Come on, even you would surely? You could get her to cry "no,no,no" and bang her handbag on your headboard during sex.............

Last week my mate dragged me along to see the legend that is Ringo Starr. Although a big Beatles fan, I was slightly apprehensive about what sort of show it would be. After all he never had the best voice, was now 72, and hadn't had a hit for 40 years. Having seen Paul McCartney before I just went along basically because of who he was, and to share a few drinks with an old mate. However, he gave a fantastic show. He had a great band with him, including Edgar Winter & Rick Derringer and some guy from Mr Mister. After a few jars we were up singing along to "songs from that other group I was in", as well as his early solo stuff. He must be the only bloke alive who can get away with a Yellow Submarine sing song at a rock and roll concert. I came away not only having seen a living legend, but having seen a bloody good show (which at £60 was hardly a cheap night out) Has anyone else been to see a "name" and been surprised how good they were,or even someone you've been looking forward to seeing, but ended up dissapointed. In these days of tribute bands, is it better to see the real thing, or not bother and leave them in your memory bank.

Perhaps he could combine the two. Go out and get smashed Thurs afternoon and then try and pick up some leftie student bird from the audience (some of them look fit). Either that or try and bang one of the guests. That misearble old cow Polly Toynbee looks like she could do with a good ****ing. Or he may get lucky and Caroline Flint might be on the panel, she's well worth a go.........

Great point. As a country we look too "central" for our solutions to problems. It's all about "what are the Govt doing about this or that". Having lived in the States and seen local politics at its best (granted sometimes they go OTT, with some of the propositions), it's something I strongly believe we should move towards.The problem is that the council's will always blame Local Government Finance Settlement's for cuts, bad service or all manner of other woes.It ends up with local councils looking like Administrator's rather than policy makers, and therefore there's no point in people voting. If real power was devolved down to local people, not only would you get a higher calibre of councillors, but local people's vote would really make a difference. It's been travelling the wrong way for years, but was speeded up under Thatcher.A whole raft of measures were put in place to try and curb left wing councils and people like Derek Hatton. My view is that if the people of Liverpool want Hatton and the ilk running them, that's up to them, not some Tory sat in Whitehall. I would give local councils tax raising powers and more control over spending. At the moment we're just tinkering around the edges, because none of the 3 main parties want to give up any oppurtunity to "shape" our lives. Local people should run more of our lives with central Govt just running the stuff that needs joining together.

Having seen some of the scruffy barstewards marching I shudder to think what sort of education these people are giving our kids. It's hardly Goodbye Mr Chips............ I just hope Cameron and Clegg have the balls to stand up and be counted. Grocer Heath shied away from confronting the unions and I have a feeling Cameron will do the same. I find it that strange that Red Ed, aligned himself with the anti cuts march, but wont do the same for the teachers. Perhaps this goes to show how out of touch these teachers are over this issue...

Exactly. The Brothers will be wondering why they parachuted Ed in above the heads of the MP's, who wanted David.

But according to some on here, the public support these strikes. We are not talking about miners or British Leyland here, we are talking about Teachers, and yet the leader of the Labour movement can't bring himself to back them. He knows, what most of us know, that these strikes are unpopular with the British public and that it is people protecting their own generous pension benefits.It's not a just and reasonable reason to strike.

I prefer my political leaders to be a bit more stright forward than that. Say what you believe in, you can not have it both ways. Adds to the poor impression he's made already.He should try sticking up for his beliefs, it'll be better in the long run...........

So are you are saying that he does believe in the strikes, but is saying he doesn't for purely political reasons?

If the strikes were the right and proper thing to do, why is Red Ed Milliband telling people not to strike,and that it is a "mistake". He owes his job to the unions, but even he is not backing them.

Thanks for the responses, a little bit depressing reading really. Plastic glasses, and full of pr1cks. Just want a few decent pubs, with a bit of live music for a few jars. Went to Bournemouth the other night to see Ringo Starr, and drinking in Town before hand felt sooooo old and out of touch, dont want to fell the same in southampton. I refuse to drink anywhere with plastic glasses unless I have to, eg football or concert. Maybe better to stick to Poole/Ashley Cross............

+1 I'm not bothered either way, but my 11 year old likes to sit so we go to the Chapel. The Club turn a blind eye to standing in the Notham, but if it spreads to ther areas of the ground, they will end up having to enforce the regulations even in the Notham. You want to stand up, then pay to watch in the "unoffical standing area". You want to save money on your ticket, then sit down like everyone else.

Remember when I invaded Iraq, costing the Country billions? Remember when I sold off our gold at rock bottom prices? No, me neither. I didn't even vote for the clowns that did. Why should my VAT go up to 20%, why should I have a pay freeze for 2 years. Why should I work longer for a smaller pension and have had my contributions increased? You seem to want to live in some sort of Utopia where wealth is shared, taxes distributed fairly, and where lollipop ladies, policemen ect ect ect, only gain the benefit of a free market ecomony, but never have to pay for it's failures. My children and their children and their children didn't cause it, why should they have to pay?

Who voted the Governments in? Who voted to demutilise the Building Societies? We didn't need to bail Nationwide out..............

It's hardly the fault of the Tesco checkout women, or the taxi driver. Politicians must take some of the blame, from Thatcher's banking reforms to Brown's overspending. The people can not wash their hands of any blame, not when we have free and fair elections. Public sector workers were happy to receive the benefits of the millions bankers made for the UK, you can't wask your hands of it now and claim it's nothing to do with you. You talk about the public sector and how "They didn't create the debt", well my Grandchildren and their chidren certainly didn't create it..............

****ing hell, who took out 125% Mortgage deals from Nothern Rock, who voted to demutulise the Building Societies, who voted for Gordon Brown, who voted for John Major/Thatcher, who rushed in with easy credit to buy cars, TV's, Foregin holidays? EVERYONE, both private and public sector. The cause of our financial woes was greed from the British public as well as bankers, bad decisions by all political persausions, as well as bankers. It was a perfect storm that was far too complex to be seperated into Public/ Private sector blame.

I agree..............

Having lived in sunny Poole for 20 years, I am rather out of touch when it comes to Southampton nightlife. Me, Mrs Duck ,my Skate mate, and Mrs Skate are planning a night out in Southampton, and were looking for some advise on the best pubs or group of pubs for this night out. Before the match I drink in Bedford Place, but have no idea what it's like on non match days. We are all between 42-47 and dont want anywhere full of nippers. Love live music in pubs. Nothing too heavy, but rock and I'm not too keen on tribute acts. Need to find somewhere with decent pub bands, or oldies DJ. Stuff we like is, Beatles, Paul Weller, Stones, Faces, John Fogerty, ect ect. Normally like Poole Quay, or Weymouth, but transport issues mean Southampton is our best bet next time we meet. Would like similar pubs in walking distance, in case we dont like one or two. Has anyone got any suggestions as to where some young at heart 40's can have a cracking night?

I saw the interview with Marr on Sunday. He said that perhaps some parents would be able to help, but that the children wouldn't be able to receive their "normal menu". What I took it to mean is that if parents had skills that could be used by heads, and wanted to, then use them. An example I would give is my mate is a youth football coach, he has all his FA badges and is CRB checked. If he was willing to go in and run a coaching session on thurs, then the kids could attend. There maybe scout leaders, musicians, a whole raft of people that are crb checked that could run something for the schools on Thursday. If he is backtracking, then that's a shame, because its a bloody good idea. Obviously you would need consent forms from parents, and those against could keep the kids at home, with no action taken or absence registered against them..............

Played Romsey for the first time with our Society the other day, lovely course for the money we paid, great vaule. I'm a pretty average player as I dont really get the time, hoping to join somewhere like Wareham or Knighton Heath once the little ones are a bit older. Bloody frustrating game............

But how much holiday do you get, is it over 5 weeks? If so, maybe coming back one day earlier than you do at present, is not too much of a hardship.

I cant believe Ken Bates runs a scheme that costs him money.

This is a serious question; How much holiday do teachers get and couldn't these "training days" be used in those. Instead of pupils coming back from holidays a day late, couldn't teachers come back a day earlier and have their training days then? I would think that about 5 weeks is the average holidays most people get nowadays. They get Xmas and half of July and all of August,surely they could be cut down slightly.