Info and forum posts by 'Par Mizan'

RE: Denying pensioners winter fuel allowance

This story is not going away, not by a long shot....
Starmer urged by opposition to publish winter fuel payments impact assessment.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/11/keir-starmer-urged-to-publish-winter-fuel-payments-impact-assessment

Marty Hopkirk is now a real ghost

Actor Kenneth Cope has died aged 93, he made his biggest impression on the TV screen playing the ghost of a private eye in the fantasy television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in which he played Marty Hopkirk.

I loved that TV series, it was full of imagination on how a ghost interacted with the living and got his fellow detective out of many nasty predicaments.

My favorite episode well remembered was an 'Al Capone' type American ghost with a tommy gun and a grudge against the guy who killed him.

RIP Kenneth Cope.

RE: [VIDEO] RIP James Earl Jones

RIP....That voice he had, really said it all in every movie he played.

RE: Denying pensioners winter fuel allowance

Well Starmer and his Labour cronies has pushed though this disgraceful cut denying many pensioners the winter fuel payment. 

The PM has admitted the move is unpopular, and has resisted calls to rethink the cut for 10 million pensioners, or to tweak the eligibility for the £300 winter fuel payment.

I think this move will come back to haunt the Labour Party.

RE: Denying pensioners winter fuel allowance

Today on BBC news...

Starmer faces union pressure over Winter fuel payment cut.

'Leaders of two of the biggest unions have added further pressure on the government over its plan to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in England and Wales.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told the BBC the government should "do a U-turn", while head of the PCS union Fran Heathcote said it was a "misstep" which needed to be "put right".
Paul Nowak, head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) which brings unions together, has also said the government should "rethink" and consider other lines of support for pensioners.
Sir Keir Starmer, who is facing a potential rebellion at a vote in the Commons on Tuesday, says the cut is necessary due to the state of the country's finances.'

RE: [VIDEO] Megalopolis

Looks good fantasy but no idea what it is about, I have to see it.

RE: Denying pensioners winter fuel allowance

Yeh, I must be full of Id, LOL

(One of my fav Si-fi movies)

RE: Denying pensioners winter fuel allowance

Breaking news.....Commons leader Lucy Powell has announced the pensioners heating allowance will be debated on 10 September followed by a vote.

Just hope it is a free vote and not using the party whip, as PM Starmer must not win out to be able remove this allowance.

This talk of no money available is nonsense as The Government and previous Government can find billions of Pounds for tanks and armaments to be handed to Ukraine and Israel, also give billions away on overseas aid, but not help poor pensioners here. What a crazy world we live in. 

Starmer must not be able to be a dictator and get away with things, as there are other hated things in the pipeline he wants to introduce as mentioned in above comments. For example the dreaded pay=per-mile tax he is wanting to introduce on cars. This is just another means of eventually taking cars away from the working people and get them on the bus and expensive trains. It would likely start at a low price per mile then over the years quickly run up to higher figures till we could not afford to run a car.

Starmer must be put in his place now, while we still have some sort of democracy.

As marksparks999  says in his comment, RANT OVER, but this new government is making me and many others worried already.

Denying pensioners winter fuel allowance

Disgusting!.....Well no sooner than when the Labour party got in they give big increases in cash for train drivers to keep the unions sweet, and then they removes £300 winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners, which they need to keep warm in winter to survive.

At present we are waiting to see if a debate goes ahead in Parliament, and it seems PM Starmer wants to make it a three line whip to prevent a labour MP backlash, as many Labour and Conservative MP's are very angry at removing this allowance.

Now they go on about those on pension credit will get the cash, but if you have full state pension only with no private pension, then you are a tenner/week above the figure to qualify for pension credit, so millions just above the figure will not get the money. 

Another factor is, if pensioners do not have the money they could freeze, they could die of hyperthermia, they could end up in hospital for weeks at roughly £2,500/week/per bed costs to the NHS and that's not including the treatment costs. So where are the savings Mr Starmer? Do you care if people die?

Lets hope this debate goes ahead, and common sense hopefully should dictate a reversal of this decision to remove the winter fuel payment.

So in conclusion, the Labour party are so called 'for the people'. Well they are not getting off to a good start, are they?

This item was edited on Wednesday, 4th September 2024, 13:41

RE: [VIDEO] Civilization VII

I am not that keen on 'build a civilisation', build type games, I had enough problems back in the day with rollercoaster tycoon and railway expansionist games. Just got too engrossed in them spending too much time and had to give them up for my sanity.

They were enjoyable at the time, but are very tame compared to modern games. Plus the price of £50 they want for games nowadays is crazy, I need that money for more important things like saving up for my winter fuel bills :eek:

RE: Watch One Piece anime for free*

Going to give this a go, thanks

RE: Fast Fibre Internet speed question

Thanks guys, that cleared this all up, as I am no expert at fast fibre.

For those who have not got fast fibre yet, a few points of interest....
Not only do you need a 240V supply for your router as expected, but also which I did not expect, you need a 240v supply for the fast fibre box that is fitted inside the living room. This messed up my double socket, as I now need more sockets to supply the fast fibre and my telly and DVD player, so had to buy one of those multi socket adapters to plug into my double socket, so I had enough sockets to feed everything.

Also the plastic fast fibre connection box and plastic trunking that is outside the house fitted on the wall only comes in gray, so looked ugly against my white stone wall, so bought some plastic primer spray and white spray paint, to blend it in, as per photo below. Looks a lot better now.

This item was edited on Monday, 2nd September 2024, 18:34

RE: Fast Fibre Internet speed question

Thanks guys, the wi-fi answer is likely the problem, it passes from ground floor living room where the router is, through the upstairs floor and through a stud wall to get to my computer in the bedroom.

What about the second question, about the speed going lower when internet is busy, is that still happening with fast fibre? as I know it was a problem with my previous telephone line internet.

Anyway i am still happy with the fast fibre, as my previous speed was 11Mb/s download and 0.8Mb/s upload with the telephone line internet and this was causing buffering when playing youtube videos, it was that bad. Now youtube plays fine.

Plus the fast fibre gives me a 20Mb/s upload which is way quicker than before.

Fast Fibre Internet speed question

Just got 'fast fibre' fitted, though Openreach were more like 'slow fibre' by the time they buried the cable across the grass, drilled a hole through the wall and fitted the internet fast fibre box which took two months of negotiation, hair pulling and waiting. Good job I kept my old internet going till this was solved as it does take time.  

Question 1....I am paying for 75Mb/s but only get a maximum of 45Mb/s, using a speed checker. The provider said I would get a bit less, but this is a lot less, is this standard that they can charge for a figure they cannot achieve? its a bit like buying a fast Ferrari and its top speed is limited to 50 MPH. How are they allowed to advertise a speed that is not achievable. Can i complain to the internet provider that I get much slower speed than stated, and ask for the price per month to be lowered or do we have to bite the bullet and accept what is given?

Question 2...I though that fast fibre would get rid of the problem of telephone wire internet, that when the internet is busy (say Sunday) it then slows down. I find with this fast fibre that I get 45Mb/s when the internet is not busy, and only get around 30Mb/s on busy times. So this problem still exists on fast fibre. Yes?

RE: [VIDEO] SpaceX manned flight canceled till Saturday

Your right, its the women spiky hair in the ISS that gets me. I think they use starch :D

RE: [VIDEO] The Outlaws

I saw the first season and liked it and thought that was it.
Seems I have another two seasons to catchup with that I did not know about.
Thanks for informing me.

I do like gritty dramas, I am watching one at the moment on ITV called 'Platform 7' which is crime and supernatural combined, ie, a ghost who dies on the railway line tries to find out who killed her. Four - one hour episodes. Can be seen on catch-up.

RE: [VIDEO] SpaceX manned flight canceled till Saturday

Has anyone worked out if there will be enough food for all those extra months those two astronauts will eat up.

Also will the ISS sewage system have extra capacity for all this, or do they just do a dump in space :D

RE: [VIDEO] Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Its was a sad ending to Christopher Reeves life.

We found out later that the medical bills were horrendous, and Robin Williams who was a close friend paid a lot of those bills.

America, land of the free, is a joke when it comes to medical costs, as even with medical insurance it does run out of costs are high.

Thank God and national insurance contributions for the NHS here in the UK.

RE: [VIDEO] Star Trek: Lower Decks

Although i like si-fi, I tried to watch this cartoon series and it was too childish for me, so packed in after episode 2.

[VIDEO] RE:What are you listening to now??? (Music recomendations)

Tell me why I like this, cause I do not know, as I am not into rappers or old French music but somehow this mix all seems to fit. I found this just randomly going through youtube, but I really like it, it gets my toes tapping. 

RE: 2024 Olympics Paris

Started looking through the highlights, and thought the woman in the river on a mechanical horse riding on what looked like a fast moving French navy stealth mini-sub was interesting, not sure what the symbolism was, but interesting. Also the Minions sketch was good, never heard minions talking French before LOL.

I did like the balloon on fire rising at the end, I though it was real flames, but Pete-MK has put me right, it was a smoke machine with lights.

Anyway, its was too hard to beat the 2012 British Olympic opening for style.
I mean Bond and the Queen skydiving and then Mr Bean. Just a class act.

RE: 2024 Olympics Paris

Just started the opening ceremony, thought it was going to be good with vibes of the Paris catacombs and 'phantom of the opera', but gave up now as it looks more like a bunch of boat people going down the River Seine.

So going to tape it to fast forward the highlights later if any, and decided instead on watching my usual Friday night detective/crime shows 'Father Brown' and 'Sister Boniface'. I never seem to solve the crimes LOL.

RE: [VIDEO] Post Trump fallout

"Get out of that nursing home bed and get back to work", sounds like my former boss when I broke a leg and was invalided for two months at home, I got a phone call from the former boss to come in at sit at my desk and continue working, as he said I still had two working hands. So hop to it.

As expected I told him to, and so did not last long in that job LOL.

RE: Borderlands

So is it a film or a series? and is it going to be in the cinema or streaming on some expensive format, which I don't have?

RE: Biden steps aside

I have been saying for a while he should be in an old folks home instead of holding the Nuclear detergent.

RE: [VIDEO] Post Trump fallout

Reminding me of paul the octopus who predicted the 2010 world cup winners, maybe he should make a comeback, if he is not already on a dinner plate.

RE: [VIDEO] Post Trump fallout

Trump is laughing all the way to the bank now as a martyr to the cause due to his near miss, and meanwhile the Democrats are pulling each other apart on calls to get rid of Biden as he is no longer fit for purpose other than an old folks home.

Its all getting a bit late in the day but keep watching folks as anything can happen.

RE: [VIDEO] Longlegs

I will give it a miss, I am not into horror films that give me 'flashbacks' years later. Unfortunately there are films like that which you watch and do not realise the effect on you till later.

My examples of this was 'squid games' and even worse 'the cube'
Solution now is to just avoid these sort of films where I am not sure how it will affect me later on.

[VIDEO] RE:Deadpool & Wolverine

I have seen all the Wolverine films, one of the best scenes is the atomic bomb going off in Japan very intense indeed. warning quite graphic. 

RE: [VIDEO] Halo (Paramount+)

I saw season one a while back and it was a bit naff. Not as good a story as most cartoon or CGI Halo series as its stuck in that enclave. I can see why as it must have been a very expensive set. Will not bother continuing with it.