Top civil servants: stay out of politics!

Letter sent to the Times, the Liverpool Echo and the Southport Visiter:

Dear Editor,

It is a disturbing development that senior civil servants are briefing the press with their opinions of the Labour Party leader. All civil servants are required to be politically neutral, as it is their job to implement parliamentary decisions and government policy, not to try to influence the political process. However, like all other citizens they have the right to express their views through the ballot box.

As a former union rep for much more junior staff in the civil service than the mandarins concerned, I know that if any of my members had taken similar actions against elected politicians from any party, they would have at the very least been put on final warnings for gross misconduct, if not actually sacked outright.

Top civil servants should not be be given more favourable treatment than that which the vast majority of their colleagues in the lower grades would have received.

For the record, I am not a Labour Party member and so have no partisan axe to grind here.

Yours sincerely,

Neville Grundy
Chair

Merseyside Associate & Retired Members

News updates - from the web

Our regular round up of relevant news items, by Steve Ion of ARMS Mersey.

One in ten over 65s in work - here.

Waspi: Jeremy Corbyn pledges support for pensioners - here.

Expats pensions possible impact - here.

Care home costs increase - here.

Potential plans to reform final salary pensions - here.

News updates - from the web

A triple lock, yesterday

Our regular round up of relevant news items, by Steve Ion of ARMS Mersey. 

Over 60s cutting back to make ends meet - here.

Why we must stick with the triple lock - here. 

Annuity pensions cut again - here.

Lifetime ISA should not be used for pension - here.

WASPI campaign has no support from Government  - here.

UK firms paid five times more in dividends than into pensions - here.

Retired people spending less than £20 per week - here.

News updates - from the web

Our regular round up of relevant news items, by Steve Ion of ARMS Mersey. 

Ros Altmann's resignation letter in full - here.

Altmann: "I felt like I was in detention" - here.

Annuity rates on pension investment drop by 37% - here.

A new vaccine could reverse dementia - here.

Perception of downgrading importance of pensions by government - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

• Adult social care faces 1billion shortfall - here.
• Joined-up health and social care - here.
• Funding concerns of defined benefit pensions schemes - here.
• Theresa May's husband works for investment firm whose major clients include Amazon and Starbucks - here.

Business Writer In Aspic

Tony McDonough writes what appears to be a 1980s composite editorial straight from the pages of the Murdoch Press, the Daily Mail, the Express and the then Liverpool Echo. He asserts Eagle can take Labour back to the fabled 'middle ground'; he doesn’t mention she and her allies lost Labour the last two elections and during the Blair years attracted the lowest ever turnout in a general election and bequeathed in Iraq the most toxic legacy since Ramsey MacDonald joined the Tories in 1931.

Aping the worst features of political analysis he dismisses Corbyn as being 'grumpy' and more of a comedian than a leader.

He then regurgitates the old false calumnies that Labour in the 1980s destroyed Liverpool's economic credibility. Is he not aware that under a Liberal/Tory coalition locally and Thatcher nationally 65% of Liverpool's economy had collapsed? These were the dark days the socialist council inherited. We refused to impose further suffering on the city. We cancelled redundancies, built houses, created jobs, opened nursery classes, etc.

Tony claims he mistakenly supported the left in the 80s. Is he suggesting that we should have implemented the draconic cuts demanded by Thatcher and worsened the plight of thousands of Liverpool’s citizens.

I look forward to his reply.

Tony Mulhearn.

Witch hunting by our 'free' press

The spectacle of a media pack in full blood-thirsty pursuit of Jeremy Corbyn has provoked the question, particularly from younger observers of the current events, why does the media behave in this crazed, irrational, fashion?

Against Corbyn are Rupert Murdoch (The Scum), Paul Dacre (Daily Mail), Daily Express, The Telegraph, The Times, The Observer, even the so-called Labour paper the Mirror, with Kevin Maguire the ‘radical’ journalist joining the chorus against JC. All of these papers, like Corbyn’s would be assassins, have belched out the lying narrative since day one of the crisis that 'austerity is necessary'. That is austerity for the poor, and increasing wealth for the financial spivs who created the crisis. ITV, Sky news and BBC’s 'Flagship' programmes like Newsnight, and their number one Torquemada Laura Kuenssberg attempt to give some 'intellectual' heft to the hysteria. The component parts of this congealed instrument of hatred far from being irrational are bent on destroying JC politically and socially because he represents a challenge to their wealth and privilege. Jeremy must trust the massive support he enjoys, make no more concessions to the closet Tories and stand firm for a socialist future.

Tony Mulhearn

ARMS Mersey 

committee member

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Pensions timebomb faced by UK firms is frightening - here.

Media turns Nazi after EU vote: "stop older people voting" - here.

WASPI update - here.

9 things you might not know about older people in the UK - here.

Why it’s lazy, misleading and wrong to blame older people for Brexit - here.

Sign of the times: people have to work longer - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Lost pension tracking service ... any job you have had and you're not sure whether a pension went with it, try this through the DWP and it's free - here.

LGBT people face 'devastating' discrimination in end-of-life healthcare, research warns - here.

Support for housing should be given to elderly as well as young - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Can I buy extra years National Insurance for new flat-rate state pension? - here.

Unsafe hospital discharge of older patients ‘getting worse’ - here.

Older people 'suffering in silence over loneliness' - here.

Worrying pension deficit at UK’s top charities - here.

Bank of England's chief economist calls for more simple pension system, as workers have little chance of making sense of funds when financial experts 'have no clue either'  - here.

The Orlando massacre terrorist will fail. Here's why.

Owen Jones explains why. From The Guardian website.
Click here to sign the on-line book of condolences.


tiny.cc/frs7by

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Tata bailout threatens UK pensions as rescue fund braces for steel deal hit - here.

Why is it more difficult than ever for older people to leave hospital? - here.

People 65+ to outnumber children under 5 for the first time ever in the next 4 years - here.

Can Britain afford to pay its pension bill? (Try tackling tax dodging?) - here.

Fibre linked to healthy ageing - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Which? advice on paying for care - here.

3,000 local chemists could close after £170m subsidy cut - here.

Football's silent shame: Dementia 'conspiracy' is a stain on the game - here.

Public toilets 'wiped out in parts of UK' - here.

Older drivers should carry on until 75 before renewing licence, says review - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Britain's pension system is a disgrace – we all deserve an easier way to save for retirement - here.

Almost two-thirds of people aged over 75 have never gone online - here.

The new era promised by the Care Act is yet to arrive - here.

Older people at 'heightened risk' of investment scam calls - here.

Delays in discharging older patients from hospital 'cost NHS £820m a year' - here.

Work until 70 to claim your state pension: Ex-FCA chairman Lord Turner - here.

What life as a pensioner really costs revealed - here.

Nearly half a million carers in their 80s

An "invaluable but invisible army" of carers in their 80s has increased by almost 40 per cent in the last seven years, new figures published by Age UK reveal. Around 417,000 octogenarians - one in seven - now look after a loved one saving the health and care system almost £6 billion every year. With a greying population that figure set to almost double to 760,000 by the end of the next decade.

The majority of these older people are looking after a partner as older couples try to manage living at home for as long as possible, leaning on each other for support. This all reinforces the need for fully-funded state provision of care.

Further reading here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Updates on health research on Alzheimers: new brain scan technique can spot Alzheimer’s 15 years before symptoms appear - here.

Older pensioners continue in poverty: evidence destroys wealthy pensioner myth - here.

News updates - from the web

More news items from the internet, compiled by ARMS Mersey Group secretary, Steve Ion.

Better housing can help tackle the crisis of loneliness in older people - here.

The elderly are at risk of losing £140 energy rebate if they switch supplier - here.

A report into end of life care finds the dying elderly being forced into to hospital against their will - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

EU Referendum over 60's vote - here.

And you thought you were safe with your "gold-plated" civil service pension. No money in the pot for public sector pensions, but how about the trillions swimming round in off shore accounts - here.

The 'if only' of care costs - here.

Good news on a potential cure for Alzheimer's. This is where the money should be spent on medical research and improving basic living standards for people, not sitting idle in an off-shore account - here.

Health care: how to improve it - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Workers warned they face 'nasty surprise' when they retire as they will not qualify for the full rate - here.

300,000 elderly people 'have unmet care needs and are chronically lonely' - here.

Altmann admits savers ‘bewildered’ by pension changes - here.

Bank bailout v Tata bailout – how the costs compare - here.

State pension reforms: ​Millions still clueless about entitlements - here.

Could women be about to land a fairer pension deal now Iain Duncan Smith has gone? - here.

The care visits that STILL last just 15 minutes: two years after councils were told to stop cutting corners, hundreds are offering slots in defiance of government warnings - here.

Health rationing row as NHS hospitals set out rules preventing the elderly from having operations - here.

Spike in deaths 'due to dementia and flu' - here.

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Unpaid carers can't keep on plugging gaps in the NHS and social care - here.

Elderly hospital patients given eviction warnings - here.

20 million - mainly low-earners - to lose out under pension reform - here.

Having pharmacists in care homes could save the NHS £135 million per year - here.

PM pressured to help women hit by state pension age rises - here.

Cuts preventing councils from implementing Care Act – British Red Cross - here.

Women have barely half the pensions of men, says TUC - here.

Brexit: 400,000 Britons living on the Continent could have state pensions frozen - here.

 

'Work for longer': major shake-up of state pensions announced - here.

The state pension shakeup that could leave you with nothing at all - here.