If we removed the triple lock and means tested state pensions then this person could receive a larger pension while overall being more affordable for the country. But her age-mates have cruises to pay for so they won’t accept a change to the current system.

I’ve calculated based on my investments and how much I put into my pension, by the time I’m 60, I’d have around £800k. That’s ages away, but seems realistic if I continue. So why would the state then want to give me an additional £12k a year that I don’t need and it can’t afford? We should means test the pension and stop giving it to people with large private pensions. Give the money saved to young people.

If we were a serious country, scrapping the triple lock on pensions would be a consensus position and there would be a serious discussion about means testing the state pension And Labour backbenchers wouldn’t oppose any and all welfare reform

Of course it will get worse. It's scheduled to. Council tax isn't rising because of bins and potholes. It's rising because councils are the front line for the costs of an ageing, sicker, poorer country. And it’s going to get a lot worse. Adult social care is the biggest pressure in nearly every council budget. It grows every year, because the demographics grow every year. We’re not even close to the peak of this yet. So it will continue. Temporary accommodation accounted for nearly £3 billion last year. When it comes to SEND, 95% of councils carry high needs deficits. The overspend is heading for £3 to £4 billion a year and as a result, councils are borrowing to cover day-to-day cash flow. The only thing preventing nearly half of them from effective bankruptcy is an accounting trick that keeps the deficit off the books. That accounting trick will come to an end in March 2028. 79% of councils say they won’t be able to set a balanced budget the year it ends. So yes, it will get worse. 5% rises each year is the plan. You’ll get more tax and fewer visible services, indefinitely. Council tax stopped being a payment for services some time ago. It's now a standing charge on a country that promised to deliver more than it can fund. That's not a prediction. It's settled. And you’ve already been living it for a number of years.

I see Burnham is proposing to give money we haven't got to a bunch of women who don't deserve any compensation because he thinks it'll get him a couple more votes.

If people want larger state, better funded public services, etc., I'd much rather they argue for higher taxes than to indulge in the fantasy that you can just do it by taxing the rich.

I pointed out that the state pension - with a triple lock to ensure it rises year on year - is the most expensive state benefit. It is also not means tested. My inboxes exploded - the emails were wild and explain why politicians are reluctant to touch this issue @theipaper inews.co.uk/opinion/criticis…

This is what annoys me the most about pensions discourse. It’s constantly about how to finance a retirement that nobody in history, before or after, will ever have the luxury of. Absolutely mental that we’re being asked to put their WFA on PCP so we can get rations in the future!

Ahh it becomes more clear. Someone in Reform has data that the number of people that work overtime in Makerfield is high and this is rushed out garbage to try buy some votes. Now it makes sense.

Are you worried he'll steal your soul by taking a photo?

There is a damaging narrative that Labour built the welfare state in 1945 while Britain was broke, and that this somehow proves we can simply do it all again. It is historically illiterate and it is politically dangerous. Attlee's settlement was bankrolled by imperial surpluses, Marshall Aid, sterling's privileged role within Bretton Woods, capital controls that turned domestic savers into a captive bond market, and inflation that quietly torched the real debt. It sat on top of a state a fraction of today's size, financed by a young workforce, riding reconstruction productivity growth. None of that applies now. No imperial buffer. No Marshall Aid. No captive market. UK industry is under 2% of global output. The state already eats 45% of GDP. Expect this narrative to gain more traction in the coming days when people tell us we can just ignore the markets.

"The problem does not lie with the voters" Actually, a lot of it does. The voters throw a tantrum any time a politician even hints at small reforms to pensions, welfare, planning or the NHS, all of which are unsustainable in their current state.

Astonishing to watch the Labour back benches blow up their own government, revealing their stupidity. Farage and Bannon laughing all the way to the Kremlin. There have been four Labour leaders to win an outright majority at a GE. Four. #stablegovernmentplease

Reminder, People still rant about Gordon Brown “selling the gold” as if Britain collapsed afterwards. The UK economy carried on being one of the world’s largest, London remained a global financial centre, and our reserves were diversified instead of sitting in a non-yielding asset. Hindsight after gold prices rose is easy — but in real long-term terms it simply hasn’t harmed the UK the way far-right critics and idiots pretend it did. The US financial crash damaged our economy, NOT selling some metal

1. Income tax, VAT, and employee NICs have not increased. 2. Net migration down 70%, small boats down 42%, record number of removals. 3. Digital ID was in the manifesto and is not being made compulsory. 4. Closer ties with the giant trading block on our doorstep was in manifesto

I know this lovely, sweet, kind older lady who never forgets my birthday and always sends me a card. She’s warm, gentle, a devoted housewife. And she’s now a A RAMPANT and terrifying racist because of all the propaganda she’s absorbed. She thinks Muslims are “trying to kill her” and “girls in London have to wear the burka now.” If I try to gently show her footage of me walking around London and girls in mini skirts giggling, she just shakes her head and goes “well, they’ll all be dead in a year, with those Muslims about.” She really believes this. She absolutely believed it. That’s what a lot of these poor isolated old people are like. Scared to death of a lie.

One thing is certain, the brainwashed reform voters will turn up to vote in tomorrow's local elections, its up to decent people everywhere to go out and vote to stop the racists picking up seats. Send a clear and loud message to con man farage and co

Those that will still have a job you mean? Dangerous play with Agentive AI primed to fulfill many tasks… no sick pay, maternity leave, NI…. Business feels close to its limit and Consumers won’t pay the increased prices… proceed with caution.

The Green Party & Reform have more in common than it seems. They inhabit each end of a horseshoe. Both populated by highly problematic, badly vetted candidates. Both with simplistic uncosted and in some cases purely batshit extreme policies. Protest fine, but unfit for office.

This is what made this country great – morons drinking Stella, following a man with a bucket on his head and cheering a fuckwit on a 4x4 who’s wanted in Spain for a £40m fraud. So proud to be English right now.