At last! Something to look forward to in retirement

Errata

For once, I'm quite speechless

Retired people should carry out community work to avoid being a 'burden to the state' - and have their pension cut if they refuse, a senior peer has suggested.

Lord Bichard, a former head of the Benefits Agency, said older people had to make 'a more positive contribution'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2222383/Retired-people-pension-docked-refuse-community-work-says-mandarin-retired-Whitehall-aged-54.html#ixzz2AENexcsb
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pollypenny

Errata wrote: »

For once, I'm quite speechless

You speechless? Never? :rotfl:

Dunroamin

Errata wrote: »

For once, I'm quite speechless

If only Lord Bichard was as well!

Savvy_Sue

Well I'm OK, I don't suppose I'll ever be able to retire anyway ... :rotfl:

chesky

Blimey - if it weren't for 'us oldies' our local CAB would collapse. Cheeky Lord Bichard - wonder what he does, besides clocking into the House of Lords.

To be absolutely honest though, most volunteers I know do it mostly for themselves - to stop from being bored, to keep their brains active, so they don't have to watch day-time TV. It's just lucky that there's a good deed pay-off.

azureblue_2

Surely 'forced to volunteer' is an oxymoron?

Twitter says Lord Bichard retired on £120k+ ... not quite the same as the rest of us then.

yangptangkipperbang

This is disgraceful - just who does this man think he is ? I note he has a huge tax-payer funded pension as well.......rant.......rant.........rant

Hang on a minute - it's a Daily Mail "story"...............better have a read of Hansard and read the TRUTH :rotfl::rotfl:

cabbage

azureblue wrote: »

Surely 'forced to volunteer' is an oxymoron?

Twitter says Lord Bichard retired on £120k+ ... not quite the same as the rest of us then.

Oxy moron - only half right!

Bogof_Babe

Plenty of people over retirement age are still having to do paid work in order to make ends meet! Are they supposed to do a shift at the coal face, then a couple of hours in a charity shop before going home for their tea?

Ridiculous .

teajug

azureblue wrote: »

Surely 'forced to volunteer' is an oxymoron?

Twitter says Lord Bichard retired on £120k+ ... not quite the same as the rest of us then.

And according to the radio he retired at 54.

steady__eddie

I can't manage Hansard but a report from that other well known purveyor of unbiased truth, the B.B.C. may be found here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20044862
For a few years now, I have managed to escape the increase in the retirement retirement age and at the time of writing I have a further 250 working days to do until I become a burden on the state, (not that I'm counting you understand).
I do a manual job and my recreational drug of choice is paracetamol, some morning a dram of the breathe of life is required in my tea before I get my trusty old push bike out and cycle off to work at 6 a.m.
I have been looking forward to a rest next year, I figure that I've earned it but it would appear that others disagree.
The mechanics of policing such an initiative intrigue me. More civil servants enquiring, "How many voluntary organisations have you had an interview with this week ?"
In conclusion, I have decided that my only course of action if I am to become an involuntary volunteer, is to self harm outside of Lord Bichard's residence and hope that it is not a volunteer who has to clean up afterwards.