We've reached the point in the UK where working full time doesn't actually mean anything anymore.
It used to mean stability. It used to mean you could afford a home, eat properly, maybe go away once a year and not panic if your car made a weird noise.
Now it just means nothing.
You wake up early, work all day, come home tired, and still somehow sit there wondering how you're going afford everything.
Rent is ridiculous. Bills are constant. Food prices change depending on the mood of the supermarket.
And wages? Basically frozen in time.
You're not lazy. You're not bad with money. You're just trying to survive in a system where everything goes up except what you get paid.
@Robin_Askwith I love your enthusiasm! How fabulous to be out in the warm sunshine, playing such an edgy character, with wit, and a twinkle in your eye. Love it 🥰
@steveallenshow I've seen the email. Very exciting! For non London residents, who can't get to the live shows, will there be a link to the podcast please?
The state pension is not a random government favour, it’s the back end of a 35–40 year compulsory “contract” where people are forced to hand over National Insurance on the clear promise of a basic pension at the end.
Politicians and think tanks helped design an unfunded, pay‑as‑you‑go system where today’s workers pay today’s pensioners, then have the gall to call it “unsustainable” as if the public dreamt it up.
If a private firm sold you a retirement product on fixed terms, took your money for four decades, then announced at 66 that you “didn’t really need it” and would henceforth be means‑tested or frozen, they would be in court for mis‑selling and fraud.
The crisis here is not pensioners “leeching off the young”, it’s a political class that built a Ponzi‑style NI system, diverted the proceeds for other spending, and now wants to default on the people who kept their side of the bargain.
You do not blame the victims of a defective product for believing the brochure; you go after the people who wrote it.
@VeryGameGirl@SimonCalder Did your airline organise getting you home or did you have to buy another flight? I'm curious to know if insurance or airlines pay in these circumstances.