Do they think we are stupid?

 Britain's welfare state cost has become bloated and unsustainable. There are now 3.9 Million people claiming PIP (Personal Independence Payments) compared to 1.1 Million a decade ago in 2016.   A friend of mine with Parkinson's failed the PIP assessment - she cannot work, cannot control the left side of her body, can't drive, can't dress herself, struggles with basic tasks like cooking etc but is ineligible but another friend's sister gets PIP and a mobility car because of her "bad back".  The system seems to be grossly exploited or at best unfairly allocated.  I'm half tempted to tell my friend with Parkinson's to tell the PIP assessors that she has a "bad back" due to being unable to control half her body - maybe she might get it.  There are now 890,000 mobility cars being paid for by the tax payer. In 2016 the number was 651,000. Has Britain's health really deteriorated so much in 10 years or are there simply more chancers? I was ...

 We are now in a new fiscal year and the new state pension for OAPs comes into effect.  Many pensioners will now suddenly find they are now paying tax on their pension. Labour has had to resort to taxing pensioners as taxing the rich hasnt worked - they have simply moved to Italy or other tax friendly countries. Last year the state pension was £230.25 per week or £11,973. From April 2026 the state pension has increased by a 4.8% to £241.30 or £12,547.60 per year. The tax free personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since April 2021 and Rachel has generously frozen it until April 2031.  A decade of fiscal drag where inflation will erode the earning parity. The pension has increased by 4.8% as a result of the triple lock despite CPI inflation being 3.4%. The reason was it was to keep pace with wage inflation.  Most non public sector workers I know have not had a pay rise in about 3 years. The reasion is overall public sector workers received a whopping 7% - 7.9% ...