Those in the 2016 onwards scheme have to pay in for more years and that affects a lot of women who took career breaks to have and look after children and care for elderly relatives.
They would not get the full state pension unless they continued to pay NI stamps.
For the majority of pensioners the 10% increase means an additional £740 pa. Very welcome.
But it brings their annual income (assuming they were fully paid up) to £8,140 pa. £156.50 pw.
“Britain risks becoming a “rule taker” from Brussels after the government chose not to give the competition regulator powers to set codes of conduct for big internet groups such as Google and Facebook, the watchdog’s outgoing chief executive has warned” ft.com/content/bfc7a3…
While the UK is now outside the EU and sets its own rules, Andrea Coscelli said that in practice companies were already investing to adapt to the laws set by Brussels, making it harder for the UK to diverge later because of the “undue cost” on corporates
This is yet another area where the costs of Brexit were seriously underestimated.
The department has grown by half as many staff again, from 600 to 900 as work previously shared with other EU countries now are our sole responsibility.
“any suggestion that the Bill maintains the same level of protection as the HRA is ultimately doomed to failure because, for reasons hinted at above & developed below, the Bill significantly diminishes the level and forms of domestic protection afforded to the Convention rights.”
If…this results in more applications to (& UK losses in) the Strasbourg Court, the Gov will then face a stark choice between accepting the Court’s judgments-exploding the myth that the Bill magically enabled the UK to loosen its international obligations via domestic legislation
— or defying them & finding itself in breach of international law.”
Politicians and commentators in Berlin have reacted with dismay to remarks by Olaf Scholz’s foreign policy adviser, Jens Plötner, who said the media should focus more on Germany’s future relationship with Russia than on supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons ft.com/content/e1deaa…
Speaking at a debate at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), he said the discussion about helping Ukraine was driven by a “feverishness that misses the big issues”.
I’d say being bombed to smithereens is a pretty damn big issue.
More of a Plönker than a Plötner
He then cast doubt on Ukraine’s membership of the EU
Noah Barkin, an expert at the German Marshall Fund of the US, a think-tank, said: “The messages that Plötner sent are worrying for the people of Ukraine, Germany’s partners in eastern Europe and many of its closest allies”
Large 🇺🇸 Veteran Affairs study.
Over a Quarter of a million with at least one infection.
Nearly 40k with two or more infections.
Over five mill with no record of infection.
Increased risk of all cause mortality for those reinfected.
Increased risk of sequelae in certain measures eg Pulmonary, cardiovascular, hematologic, fatigue, gastrointestinal, kidney, mental health, diabetes, musculoskeletal and neurological
“It’s a fact that ought to be so obvious as to be banal: the most effective way to help people who don’t have enough money is to give them more of it.”
It’s efficient and they will spend it (going back into the economy) not hard it like the rich.
Studies show that they give better life outcomes, improve mental health, alleviate stunted growth among children and increase the number of women and girls in education.
And that’s just if we restrict our analysis of cash transfers to those given by rich states to poorer ones.
If we widen our gaze to include working people in the rich world transferring cash to their relatives in middle and lower-income countries (the highest source of external financing in those nations before the pandemic) then their impact is stronger still