Myths and Misconceptions about Welfare

A very good report in the indie about voters being "brain washed by Tory Welfare myths".

I would go further and say these are not myths but deliberate lies and distortions being put out by this Tory led Government to justify ideological attacks on the most vulnerable.

Not only on the chronically sick and the unemployed but mostly the working poor who depend upon the state to top up their employer poverty wages.

Actual benefit fraudsters should be dealt with harshly as they are thieves and criminals. However, so should the many City and business thieves who in practise steal far more from the public purse, yet rarely end up facing the justice at the Criminal Courts they deserve.

UPDATE: Check out Channel 4 FactCheck here on more Tory welfare porkies.

Bond Bubble Burst

This could be yet another disaster for ordinary savers thanks to our dysfunctional financial services industry.

This morning I read a newsletter from a respected firm of pension solicitors highlighting 10 key issues for 2013.

Number 8 was to beware of a possible "bond bubble". The concern is that bond prices (government loans called gilts or other traded loans to companies) are so over priced that soon there will be a "crash". Gilt yields (due to high prices) are currently at a 200 year low.

If this happens then the value of personal pensions for many people approaching retirement who will tend to have most of their money invested in bonds will be devastating.

It's complicated because a fall in gilt prices should mean an improvement in annuity rates (the amount of money you will actually get each year if you retire on a personal pension) and will also help out defined benefit schemes. But there is no doubt that if you are in a standard "lifestyle" personal pension plan (which most people in "normal" times should be in) then in the 5 years before your retirement most of your money will be moved away from long term savings in equities and into bonds and cash. A predicted 40% crash in bonds would be a disaster.

As always, wealthy or financially sophisticated investors will avoid the risk. Joe Public will not. This is another reason why individual defined contribution (or defined ambition) schemes are not the answer to the pension problem in this country.

With individual defined contribution schemes (personal pensions in all their shapes and sizes) ordinary individual savers have to take all the risk over their pension fund asset allocation and investment strategy. That is not their job. That is not what they are good at in life. Their funds are usually far too small to be able to afford the expert and ongoing advice needed.

While most trust based collective defined contribution schemes can afford this advice and will hopefully will put in place measures to protect members I cannot see how they will be able to fully protect those about to retire if bond prices collapse. The "market" is not the answer to everything.

The answer is of course decent modern defined benefits schemes for all.

Berlin 1939 and Berlin 1945

My late father (another John Gray) carried out his national service in the RAF in Germany 1947-1948 as a Aircraft Technician.

I picked up an envelope of postcards and photos he had collected during this time from my sister Lucy during the New Year holiday.

I had remembered that he had a set of postcards titled "1939 Berlin 1945". In this set were photos of prominent and historic buildings in Berlin before the War and after. As a child looking at these cards I can remember being horrified by the devastation.

My father wrote on the inside of the pack "I spent a weekend in Berlin while based at RAF Gatow. The photo's speak for themselves. Thank God we didn't lose the War".

(click on collage to bring up detail)

Cannabis Farms - Catching the super energy consumer

Last month following the figures for the number of cannabis farms closed down by the police I wrote to the big six to ask what they were doing to assist the police in this matter.

Here is the reply from ScottishPower.

New opportunities for Single Moms, Women, in 2013

In our Scholarship Blog, we reported that Single-Mom Scholarships are expected to substantially increase in 2013.

Research by National Academy of American Scholars indicates that the private and non-profit sector have targeted single moms, women, and mothers for additional scholarship opportunities because of their collective budgets, and the higher ration of women attending colleges and universities than men.

Single moms, in particular, have needs and obligations that their non-mom female counterparts do not. Obviously, single moms have the additional obligations, additional duties of raising a child, and that fact alone is an entire package of duties.

For more information about new opportunities for single moms, mothers, and women, please review

Scholarships for Single Moms, Women, and Mothers

Facing a water pipe emergency? - advice from United Utilities

United Utilities are letting residents know about their Winter Wise campaign to help people prepare for bad winter weather and give them advice on what to do if their water pipes freeze or burst.

May people don’t realise that the supply pipes under their garden and in their homes belong to them, rather than us. So, in that case, when there’s a problem we can sometimes only give them advice.

FutureYou - helping young people

I was recently contacted by FutureYou, a online support network that aims to help thousands of young people – the so-called NEETS – break out of unemployment. I want to do my bit at spreading awareness of this organisation.

The successes that they have had is quite surprising. According to their latest surveying, 47.7% of NEETs that have used FutureYou have moved back into education, employment