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Reply | Does anyone else feel Omari
at 21:32 18 Sep 2025
Very much doubt it’s as much as he’s on now, plus a very significant signing on fee if imagine.
He’s only just arrived there - not sure why people are already having him down as a failure, or having made a bad choice. We are years behind Forest as much as it pains me to say it. |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 20:35 18 Sep 2025
We do spend lots on stuff - and that’s a function of our industry largely being gutted (albeit some self inflicted) over decades. So we are now almost entirely reliant on consumerism - and that’s one of the reasons we fared worst out of the G7 during COVID (I.e we have thi structural imbalance in our economy which is so heavily weighted to services which were shut down). So now successive UK governments are reliant on us ‘buying stuff’ rather than tackling a complex issue.
The bond market has to be seen in the context that most Western economies debt to GDP ratios are (wartime aside) at record highs and continuing to deteriorate due to large deficits. As a result sovereign ratings have also deteriorated. Quite simply investors are concerned about ability to service our debt without improvements to the fiscal situation or deficit reduction (Germanys strong export industry has enabled a much healthier debt position). The current issues in France are a good case in point:-
https://think.ing.com/articles/frances-fiscal-credibility-under-pressure/
I know people hate the household analogy but as the higher risk the borrower typically the higher rates paid (though there’s obviously many factors). It doesn’t help we have an outside amount of index linked debt which makes it hard to inflate away. In terms of improving the fiscal position we don’t have quite the same level of taxation as our European peers, but that’s a function of governments not wanting to suppress consumer power too much so it’s kind of a vicious cycle of our own making. |
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Reply | Quite an interesting poll regarding support for the royal family/ monarchy.
at 18:50 18 Sep 2025
Even us Republicans had some respect for the Queen as a person. But Charles is not particularly likeable, and giving speeches about tackling climate change whilst turning up to food banks in a helicopter, and having the carbon footprint of 40 British citizens is the stuff of satire. |
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Reply | Jimmythegiant, Zack Polanski and Gary’s Economics-
at 11:09 18 Sep 2025
I don’t have a problem with his messaging, I agree with quite a lot of it. However it’s easy to break things, not so easy to fix them. From the content I’ve seen he doesn’t offer up many solutions, but maybe you have to buy the book for that… |
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Reply | Jack Clarke
at 10:08 18 Sep 2025
Couple of goals he’s scored should be a nice confidence booster. High pressure penalty too so late in the game. Definitely a player in there… |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 09:32 18 Sep 2025
Not sure a single person has said pensioners shouldn’t get a rise. Only that we need long term reform of the system. There’s around 157 billionaires in the UK (less per capita than Norway). Even if you took their entire net worth it wouldn’t pay our pensions for a single year (let alone an annual wealth tax). YES they should pay more for equality, but suggesting taxing the wealth of a handful of billionaires will make a huge difference to the UKs fiscal situation is populism really. Baring in mind a lot of assets will be in different tax jurisdictions as well.
Norway (ethics aside) did a great job building their sovereign wealth fund, which continues to grow and Norwegians are set for generations now, if only we’d had some politicians with a little foresight… |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 08:51 18 Sep 2025
But for context that’s our second biggest spend after healthcare (and projected to rise). Workplace pensions should be enhanced with bigger mandatory contributions (as in much of Scandanavia).if as you suggest people can’t afford to put money aside to save, then they presumably can’t afford more tax to properly fund the state pension. Personal taxes haven’t risen in line with demographic changes. |
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Reply | Cameron Burgess wow what a finish.
at 06:16 18 Sep 2025
Agreed, and I don’t recall Burgess being particularly rated when he first arrived at Town. It took him a while to become a first team player. Hopefully over time Greaves will get up and running too. |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 06:03 18 Sep 2025
Only because for the last 15 years or so successive governments have been completely incompetent. We’ve borrowed record amounts and spaffed it away on dodgy contracts, useless PPE, fraudulent furlough claims which were never pursued, hospitals that were never used, and borrowed to pay for the borrowing we borrowed. We are paying more on borrowing than our education system, years to see a surgeon* and an army that could fit in Wembley. Germany has a hugely lower debt to gdp ratio thanks to coherent economic policy over decades and still went through COVID, andddd was harder hit by the energy crisis (due to reliance on Russian gas).
I just don’t see how the current pension system is sustainable with the aging population, and that’s wider recognised by the pensions industry, OBR, IMF etc. I would rather we shift pensions to private funds and the state concentrate on improving public services. Paying current pensioners through current tax payers is insane, it’s going to require ever more tax payers and flies in the face of sustainablity. I think this is what is happening gradually, but I’d add we need better healthcare so that more people can work, and work for longer (if they choose).
*on a lighter note perhaps the plan is to kill everyone off before they reach retirement… [Post edited 18 Sep 6:24]
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Reply | Andy Burnham watch ....
at 14:16 17 Sep 2025
As one of the more balanced and less hysterical posters, how do you square the ECHR conclusion that there WAS a ln issue with antisemitism in the party to the point where it could be seen to be accepted? I think once you (plural - not you literally) start ignoring independent institutions who are there to uphold our rights, whilst merely offering opinion pieces to challenge, it becomes a little Trumpian. And there are few more impartial people than hope not hate - whom a former poster accused of smearing him and being part of the establishment (yeah he slipped into quite the 4Chan descent into ludicrous stuff). [Post edited 17 Sep 14:23]
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 11:28 17 Sep 2025
It’s very much out of date because state pension ages are rising all across Europe, and likely will continue to do so. France is in a particularly perilous place in terms of national debt and it’s inevitable they’ll have to reform their scheme. I don’t see why shifting the burden to the private sector is controversial. The original state pension was only expected to be paid to claimants for a couple of years post retirement- not a couple of decades.
The issue is people who’ve contributed haven’t contributed enough, and those contributions weren’t ever set aside, they were spent. That’s the government’s fault and to reemphasise I’m not suggesting current pensioners should be penalised. I’m simply suggesting that demographics have changed, and will continue to do so. No amount of immigration is going to change that unless there is a rapid fall in life expectancy. State pension in its current form is a drag on public services and therefore on quality of life and economic growth (across Western Europe). We can reform it without putting current pensioners in poverty (this govt have already done that to some with WFA). |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 10:42 17 Sep 2025
The size of the economy is irrelevant - it doesn’t make us wealthy, our per capita wealth has flatlined or fallen for over a decade. We are behind our European peers in many metrics. India has a huge economy- it certainly isn’t wealthy. The £7bn you reference is peanuts compared to the £140bn (and rising) annual cost of the state pension. The Europeans are also reviewing their pension ages and costs because it’s isn’t affordable (civil servant pensions alone have billions in unfunded liabilities).
Again - no one here has suggested current pensioners should be penalised, but the OBR and virtually every forecasting institution agrees the current Ponzi scheme is unsustainable. |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 09:55 17 Sep 2025
Immigration hasn’t improved the fiscal situation because the imbalance is too great. It will require immigration to constantly increase in number year on year - as those people will become pensioners too. There simply isn’t enough money being paid into the pot (paying current pensions with current taxes, rather than future pensions is insanity). Any such scheme that existed in the financial sector would be banned by regulators- it’s unsustainable and inevitable it will pop at some point.
State pensions were devised at a time of much lower life expectancy but are no longer fit for purpose. The burden needs to be shifted to the private sector where the funds actually grow rather than go straight out of the door. It’s THE biggest drag on the western world but as others have said electoral suicide - someone need to be brave though as the Danes have done. Ability to claim can be tapered over time and replaced by a means tested income for the poor or those with disabilities etc. |
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Reply | The state pension will rise by 4.7% next year.
at 16:54 16 Sep 2025
I mean even the social democrats in the Nordic countries have worked that out. Petro-state aside they now have some of the highest retirement ages in the developed world. Other than Norway with its fossil fuel wealth fund, they are effectively Ponzi schemes.
Those that are taking it shouldn’t be punished, but it is definitely unsustainable in its current guise. We aren’t paying enough in, and it isn’t a fast growing pot like with private pensions. I expect as a millennial I won’t ever receive a state pension and I’m okay with that so long as the money is invested in public services. |
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Reply | Andy Burnham watch ....
at 14:09 16 Sep 2025
Maybe we are talking at cross purposes but I’m talking about passive income and wealth in relation to individuals (as opposed to corporations, our Corp tax is at G20 median so I don’t think we are an outlier there). It’s possible to have different capital gains rates for individuals and corporations, as is the case in many countries.
If you are a billionaire, or multimillionaire taking income from your equities, or a loan against the value of your equity then you are currently paying much lower rates than someone who’s a nurse, teacher, banker, whatever. That’s not capital that’s going to be deployed in the wider economy, it’s just their net worth. Switzerland has a wealth tax which makes up around 4pc of a much lower tax base. They more than punch above their weight in terms of attracting inward investment and quality of life. Whilst it’s not going to dent our debt to gdp ratio, perhaps it could be ringfenced to start building a national wealth fund which I think is one of the best ways to improve the fiscal situation long term. |
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Reply | Andy Burnham watch ....
at 12:19 16 Sep 2025
Interested enough in money to take it from the Iranian regime though. |
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