4 January 2015

Still haven't got used to writing 2015 yet. So what's France proposing? I like the sound of the proposed new PAYE system. Anything that means I haven't to quake every April at having to complete a French tax form in French is a good idea! I'm never sure I've done it right and, being me, expect the gendarmes at the door any moment. Additionally France is removing the first income tax band, so that an estimated 9 million low-earners won't have to pay. Also like the idea of the new 'hotel hospitals', which will be a half-way house between home and hospital - a much cheaper, and personalised/adapted, way to convalesce after operations. Maybe the UK should look at this as a way of saving money so as to direct more funds to patient care.  All in all, 2015 sounds promising. But, looking out the window, it's minus temperatures again. (Are you listening IDS?)  Him indoors says it's like in Mississippi. What? Yes, it's Tupelo (2 below.....)!

1st December 2013

December already. Below zero. And not just the weather. Tensions between British expats in the EU and the mother country are chillier by the minute. Lately there's been conflict over the freezing of the so-called 'winter fuel payment'. The crux of the matter: this payment is part of the old-age pension and, as such, cannot be deleted on a whim.  War veterans like 90+ year old Harry Shindler in Italy are courageously mounting their own personal crusade. You see: it's not the amount; it's the principle that what you've paid for you should get. But now it looks like there is even more artillery being mounted by the anti-EU brigade in the UK. NHS costs are ever-rising against the insidious slide of services. Fundamental really. Bevan's original, wonderful concept of free health care for all simply can't cope with the current overburdened population size.So, how to claw back costs? It's proposed to pay EU states less for expat health care, meaning we must in future return to the UK for non-urgent 'elective' care.  So, who's going to pay our travel and accommodation costs for this?  For pessimists like me, things couldn't get worse could they? Oh no, there's that awful Marine Le Pen from Le Front National on the cusp of winning great gains in France in the Spring.   Him indoors: time to hit the bottle.

19th August 2012

The European Court of Justice has finally come up trumps. When you first start work all European countries say 'pay national insurance and we'll guarantee you benefits in your old age'. What the UK doesn't say is that benefits like the winter fuel allowance (WFP) which all UK-resident pensioners receive automatically, will not be paid to those who subsequently move elsewhere in Europe before the first payment.Well the European Court of Justice has now ruled otherwise. All UK pensioners born before July 1951 can now claim directly from the DWP. Of course, inevitable 'outrage' in the UK press who think we're all lounging on hot beaches every winter. Ian Duncan Smith, the Pensions Secretary, has said that before everyone applies, they'll have to check temperatures in other countries! Last winter here was the coldest in living memory - far colder that England. But, that's not the point.  Old-age benefits should be guaranteed in full for all contributors, wherever they subsequently live. Either the UK should pay, or the European country you move to. They can't both opt out! Annoyingly for us, the UK has ruled that in a few years all pensions will automatically rise and include all benefits for all, but not for current pensioners.  Him indoors is already sharpening his wood saw. To cut down our trees for fuel? No, to attack Ian Duncan Smith.