Why do those who save have to subsidise the spenders?

Did you see the recent news article about better off pensioners subsidising those with no savings by several hundred pounds a week when care home fees hit?

That has prompted me to re-visit a subject close to our hearts.

I realise that some people simply cannot save huge amounts and that the so-called middle classes with assets should pay their way but there is something intrinsically unfair about the current system.

I say this because those able to save more probably earned more during their working life and therefore paid more in income tax and National Insurance.

Of course the better off should always help those less fortunate – that’s what a decent society does – but shouldn’t there be a level playing field for our elderly?

When MIL needed specialist care in 2016 (see IDGOM 97, November 2016) our family visited 21 dementia care homes (all privately run) in Suffolk. Weekly costs ranged from £690 per week to £1,420, with the average being £969.

Among them were several owned and run by Care UK. Suffolk County Council closed its 16 care homes a few years ago and struck a deal with Care UK to build several new homes in the county – on the proviso they moved the council-funded residents into the new homes at a flat rate fee of £650 a week per resident.

We were quoted £1,050 for a residential dementia room for MIL by Care UK – which meant she would be getting the same care as council-funded residents but paying £20,000 a year more.

Is that fair? Discuss.

I love the value offered by the German discount supermarkets. Shopping in Aldi or Lidl can save you a packet compared with the Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA and, in particular, Waitrose of the UK food chain.

But boy oh boy do you need the patience of Job when it comes to checkout in these Germanic outlets.

It’s like an Olympic sport, with both supermarkets wanting customers to handle their purchases four times –putting the shopping in the trolley, then emptying the trolley onto the conveyor belt, putting it all back at break-neck speed into the trolley before retiring to the front of store to pack purchases into your bags.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been told not to pack my bags at the checkout. And of the number of times I have ignored them and carried on.

My reader may be wondering why, if I don’t like the system, I continue to use Aldi and Lidl.

Because they are the Ryanair of food shopping – reasonable cost but no customer service.

Accidents really do see me coming

I may not get out much but I do seem to attract accidents rather too easily.

I hadn’t really thought about it until SWMBO commented, after my most recent mishap, that I am “accident prone”.

Initially I was upset and even a little disappointed. Me, accident prone? Never. But that got me thinking. Have I really had THAT many accidents over the years?

Sure, I did almost slice my thumb off whilst sharpening the carving knife with a steel (remember them?) one Christmas day.

And I really did poke my fingers into a light socket when an outdoor blub blew one balmy day. I was just trying to get the rest of the shattered bulb out. OK, maybe I should have turned the power off.

Then there was the panic at a family barbeque. Loads of hungry, expectant diners waiting for me to produce a feast of charred remains. Coals not ready? No problem, I thought. A quick squirt of some of that liquid lighter fuel onto the reddish charcoal should really do the trick. Ah, the smell of burnt hair. It took months for the heavily singed follicles to grow back on my arm.

What about the time I was putting something back into a very high built-in cupboard in the living room? It required the step ladder. Now I’m a professional so I checked the little yellow lock tabs to ensure the ladder was stable.

First box passed to me by SWMBO was safely deposited in the cupboard. I don’t fully remember what happened with the second box, other than I can report how painful it is to land on the wooden arm of an armchair from a fairly great height. Took the wind out of my sails, somewhat.

What was at the time the most painful mishap happened while I was cleaning my office at home. I’d hoovered (other brands of vacuum cleaner are available) the industrial carpet to within an inch of its life and, rather sensibly, I thought, I unplugged the beast while I continued with a little light dusting.

Unfortunately I left the lead and plug on the floor and while reaching up to dust the top of my framed 25 yard breaststroke certificate from Harlow swimming pool circa. 1965 my foot slipped out of my flip flop – and plunged down onto the three-pin plug.

Although now there were only two pins visible as the third was embedded into my heel. Fortunately my car knew the way to A&E.

Anyway, enough of historical events. What happened recently, you are wondering, to make SWMBO make the stinging “accident prone” comment?

Let’s just say a hefty club hammer and a sweaty hand do not good bedfellows make. But the good news is that the wound on my shin has healed nicely (thank you for asking).

And I wonder why I am now greeted by name at the local A&E. Got a season ticket, me.

Charities that try just a little too hard

I wrote last month that SWMBO took part in the Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk in Norwich with her sister, her brother and his wife, raising more than £1,200 through generous donations from family and friends.

Like most other charities, the AS is undoubtedly a wonderful organisation – willing people putting others first and using the great British public to provide help and support to many, many people.

But some charities can drive me crazy sometimes.

Their actions can border on the pestering. They think the endless emails, letters and phone calls are simple, sensible methods of keeping their supporters active and, more importantly, giving.

Fundraisers use their time to raise valuable money for good causes. In the meantime too much of that money is, to my mind, being used on staffing, phone charges, postage, printing etc.

I don’t need a letter asking me to send a donation to the people affected by the latest man-made or natural disaster. And I certainly don’t want a phone call.

I can make up my own mind on what I want to support and where I want to send my money. Pity I can’t have a say on HOW it is spent.

Memory Walk raises cash for a great cause
SWMBO plus one of my BILs (brother-in-laws), two SILs (sister-in-laws) and a rescue greyhound completed the Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk at the weekend, raising around £1,200 for the charity.
Yours truly and my other BIL provided essential supervisory and tactical support for the 7.5 kilometre walk.
This included seeing them off at the start, chatting over a few coffees, making sure the burgers on sale at the Norfolk Showground were up to scratch and taking Finish Line photos for posterity.
BIL, I should point out, is somewhat indisposed on the physical front at present with hip problems while I am just plain lazy.
A massive well done to the walkers and a big thank you to all the family members and friends who gave so generously.
A wonderful way to remember MIL.
To find out a bit more about the walk, please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sarah-almond2.

Ryan Air to charge for hand baggage? Told you so in 2012
OK. Hands up those of you who were shocked at the latest Ryanair antics? What, not a single hand?
I guess we have all become used to the customer unfriendly antics of the lowest of the low-cost carriers.
Ryanair has been battling to save its reputation (can you save something you haven’t got?) since it announced a couple of weeks ago that more than 2,000 flights that will be cancelled up until the end of October because of a huge admin blunder involving its pilots.
To make matters worse, many travel insurance companies have refused to meet claims for the disruption caused, leaving travellers with no real option hut to throw themselves at the mercy of the airline.
My reader will know that I have had a bee in my bonnet about Ryan Air for a number of years. At this stage I will lay my cards on the table and say I have often used the airline – in fact, we flew Ryan Air to Berlin only a couple of weeks ago.
Both flights that time were fine – still a bit heavy-handed with the full-on sales and marketing on board from the crew but plug in your headset, switch on your favourite movie/ album on your smartphone and the time passes relatively peacefully.
So why do I use them and then abuse them? Simples – the airline still offers exceptional value for money, with a return fare to the German capital costing less than a return train fare to London from our part of deepest Suffolk.
But you must be prepared to take the risk that something untoward is bound to happen at some time during the experience. Keep your wits about you, keep calm and take control and all should be well.
Back in the day when I was flying down to the Algarve every six to eight weeks on business I used both Ryan Air and Easyjet and rarely paid more than £50 for a return ticket.
What got my goat on more than one occasion was what seemed to be the continually changing policies of Ryanair. One minute they’d let someone haul a bag the size of small country on board and the next they’d stop everyone and penalise half the flight for having a bag too big or too heavy.
You just never knew what you might face departure gate so I vented my travel frustrations in those days by blogging about them – see http://thelowcosttraveller4.blogspot.co.uk/
On January 12, 2012 I wrote: “Michael O will undoubtedly have a long list of more wheezes to extract more dosh from punters. Next? Forget the €1 to go to the loo – people would just train themselves to avoid using the on board facilities. But my money is on a fee for carry-on bags. Over the last couple of years I have seen many, many occasions when, on a full flight, overhead space simply runs out and some bags end up in the hold.”
I followed this up on March 14, 2012 with: “So what is Ryanair's end game? Well, how long until we have to pay a "Priority Cabin Baggage" charge of, say £5 per case each way, if you  want overhead storage? Sounds impossible - or is it?”
And what did Ryan Air announce not so long ago? “From 1st November 2017, Ryanair customers will have to pay £5 for priority boarding if they want to carry a wheelie bag on board.”
Let me know if you want some tips on picking Wednesday’s National Lottery numbers.

A nasty, personality stealing and frustrating illness

I doubt my reader will have noticed, but it is two months since I last shared my ramblings.
The primary reason for this lack of interesting, intellectual and invigorating view-sharing is family related.
SWMBO’s mother, my mother-in-law, MIL, passed away at the end of July after a short stay in hospital. As you can imagine, this sad, but not totally unexpected, event, stopped the flow of my creative juices.
The family had celebrated MIL’s 90th birthday at her residential care home just 11 days before she died. As seems to be the case with all our family get-togethers there was plenty of fun, loads of laughs and lots of sharing of memories.
Thank goodness for that – we have a lovely afternoon to remember her by.
MIL had Alzheimer’s, a thoroughly nasty, personality stealing and frustrating illness.
Which is why SWMBO is taking part in the Alzheimer’s Society Memory Walk in Norwich later this month.
Every penny raised for the Society gives all of us a better chance of living with this terrible illness.
Living longer has many, many advantages. But it is a double-edged sword as the longer we live, the more likely we are to suffer from some form of dementia.
The generosity of our family and friends means SWMBO has already raised a considerable sum.
If you slipped through the net when we contacted people about the walk, please do have a look at SWMBO’s Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sarah-almond2.
Thank you.

Want strangers to know you're away? Have a smart meter

Our trials and tribulations with Eon over our non-functioning, not so Smart Meter were recorded in a May IDGOM.
Well, late last month a very nice engineer arrived to have a look at the offending object. Within the hour he had removed the meter from the wall in the garage, installed a new “old” meter and taken away the display unit.
He said I would now have to give meter readings online every quarter. Something I had been doing since Eon went online in the last century.
It seems that some areas do not have a good enough mobile phone signal to allow the smart part of the meter to do an ET and call home.
When I first enquired about having a smart meter installed I mentioned the poor mobile phone signal in our area. No problem, Eon said, and the new meter was fitted in June 2015.
Muppets.
A word of caution if you have a smart meter that works. Did you realise that you are, in effect, letting a third party know whenever you are on holiday or even away for a weekend. The smart meter sends readings back to base every 30 minutes. And I would guess you don’t use as much electricity if you are not at home. Just saying.

Thank you, my dear reader. Another £0.35 towards future care home fees.

Poor old Wayne Rooney – having to take such a heavy hit in his family’s income. His £160,000-a-week deal at new club Everton is just over half his Man. United wages. I look forward to seeing the long-lens shots of Colleen at the local food bank in due course.

STOP PRESS: Car hire firm employee spots minor scuff

My piece at the end of June about hire car company scams has elicited a response from my reader. He writes:

“That’s interesting in that we hired a minibus from Europcar over Easter. Main problem was that it was not what we ordered.
“However, when we got back they claimed that there was a minor scuff on a side door panel which was minute and could have been there when we took it, as it was odd how the man spotted it so quickly.
“That cost me nearly £250! Unfair as firstly they were never going to repair it and secondly it probably would have disappeared with rubbing compound.
“Don’t think I would use them again.”

Back in March I told my reader that I had calls from a “company” on numerous occasions which consisted of a pre-recorded message from a fellow in a fairly clipped English accent who excitedly told me I was eligible for a new, free gas boiler paid for by the Government.
If I would like to discuss this, press “2”. If I would like to cancel future calls from the company, press “9”. Yeah, right.
Good news - they stopped at the end of May. It may be a coincidence but I reported every one of the 25 calls received to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
Bad news – a new version of this unsolicited and unwanted verbal spam started this month.
This time with a real person on the line, a woman with a Scottish accent who said we could be entitled to a Government grant for a new boiler if ours was more than five years old. When asked who she was calling from, she mumbled something unintelligible.
I have reported the call to ICO – and would suggest you do the same.
Call 0303 123 1113 or look them up online at ico.org.uk and report the call.

Beware the overseas car hire scoundrels
It was interesting to hear this week that Trading Standards raided the UK head office of car hire firm Europcar as the company was accused of raking in millions of pounds by fraudulently inflating repair costs.
I say interesting because this practice has been prevalent in the tourist hot spots of Europe for many, many years.
How do I know? Well, I have to admit, my dear reader, that I have been a victim of such scams.
And I knew someone who worked for a car hire company in southern Europe who told me of the various schemes used and how they increased significantly when bookings were low in order to boost takings.
I should also add that my car hire experience is not limited to once a year for that big holiday – I was renting cars in Europe roughly eight or nine times a year as I was a partner in a business in the Algarve, visiting our office every six to eight weeks.
My experiences included a little scratch on the front bumper, a small graze on the wheel arch, some scratches around the door lock, a burn hole in the back seat and a dent in the boot lid. All cost me varying amounts from my credit card deposit.
On one particularly galling occasion the car hire company assistant went out to check our returned car. I followed her out (I’m like that) and was surprised to see her go straight to one of the rear passenger doors, exclaim and then call me over.
No checking the mileage, no checking the external bodywork for damage – just straight to the rear seats. Where there was a burn mark the size of two Euro coin.
Yes, I was a smoker in those days but SWMBO and I feel sure we would have noticed that I’d set the rear seat on fire!
And no, we did not think of checking the back seats when we collected the car.
As we were due to depart the Algarvean shores in about an hour and a half I didn’t have the time or the inclination to argue too much – and I think the car hire companies know that. Would you want to risk missing your flight?
When my next credit statement arrived it had been debited with almost €500 by the hire company.
After a lengthy battle, and with a great deal of help from one of my business partners (you know who you are), I got the money refunded less a reasonable admin fee.
I just pity the next person to hire that car – because I am convinced the seat was never repaired and I wonder how much the hire company made out of that one piece of damage?
I eventually learned my lesson and would like to share my wisdom (?):
1) Photograph the car from all angles (digital cameras are great with their time stamp utility)
2) Check the bumps and scratches against the paperwork given to you BEFORE signing it. Add any damage not shown and DO NOT leave until the car hire assistant has counter signed.ll
3) Check the interior for marks, burns etc.
4) Use a company that offers a fair fuel policy i.e. return as you collect it. If the tank is a quarter full, you take it back a quarter full.  A common wheeze is to give you a full tank that you pay for upfront. You're then told to return the car empty, often with no refund for unused fuel. And the amount charged can be much more than local prices – basically they seem to think of a number and double it.
5) Use a company that offers CDW with zero excess liability. Basic insurance cover will usually be included when you book car hire, but when you collect your car, hire firms often say: "Without our excess insurance, you'll pay a large amount for a scratch". This insurance can be up to £25/day – don't do it. Instead, look to get an excess policy from a standalone provider for as little as £2/day. These policies work by you paying and then reclaiming the money back from the excess insurer. I bought such a policy for around £60 a year. Worth it if you hire cars abroad a couple of times a year.
6) Even so, the car firms will require a deposit of €600-€1,350 on a credit card to cover any potential damage. If you have an accident, they'll take the money off your card. You then claim back the cost off your own excess insurance. Keep all the documentation to help your claim.
7) Make sure you have unlimited mileage included.
I can’t guarantee this is all totally fool-proof but it will certainly help. And, in true BBC Crimewatch style, please don’t have nightmares.
There are good car hire companies out there – just don’t pack your commonsense with the holiday clothes.

Sir Elton shows he still has what it takes

I mentioned in a blog late last year that I had bought some tickets to see Elton John at Portman Road, home of Ipswich Town FC.
At the time I was a little worried – would his voice hold up? Could he still knock out the old favourites with as much vigour as in the past?
Or was he going to be like his mate Paul McCartney, who, let’s admit it, has lost it.
Who can forget his shaky warbling at the London 2012 Olympics?
Well I needn’t have worried. The big day was yesterday (June 17) and Sir Elton was, put simply, quite magnificent.

As fans, we are obviously a little biased but even the usually cynical moi was very impressed.
The set lasted more than two hours and, apart from the occasional sip of water (?) and an admittedly laboured strut or two around the stage to whip up the EJ devotees at the front of the stage, he stayed at the piano the whole performance.
He may be 70 but he can still entertain a crowd.
I also mentioned last year that we had last seen him live on June 21, 1975 at the old Wembley Stadium at a concert that also had Joe Walsh and the Eagles and The Beach Boys on the bill.
Wrong.
We were at the Concert For Diana in in 2007 at the new Wembley Stadium when he was on the bill with many talented artistes, and Kanye West.
I mention that not as boast but because Sir Elton said at Portman Road yesterday that the home of Ipswich Town was only the third football stadium he had appeared at twice – the others being Watford and Wembley.

Wonder if he remembers spotting us in the crowd in 1975 and 2007 as well? I am sure he waved at me last night.

The sad passing of Sir Roger Moore last month had one positive moment for SWMBO and me.
We have been unsuccessful in attempts to get tickets for the New Year’s Day concert in Vienna for more than ten years. It’s a lottery and we have consistently missed out.
Yet each year, near the front, sat Sir Roger and his wife Kristina.
Do you think I can have their tickets?

When a Smart meter is not a Smart meter
“Hello,” said the rather husky voice when I called my electricity supplier after our smart meter stopped working.
“You would need to contact our Smart team in regards to the Smart meters. This is their number: xxx-xxxxxx.” So I did.
Remarkably, I got through to another human being after only pressing a few numbers on my keypad. I explained that my Smart Meter hadn’t worked for a week.
I was told that the company was updating the software on all its Smart Meters and that it should have been completed overnight last week but was taking “longer than expected”. I was advised to try again in a day or so.
Five days on and tried again – and it’s still not working. Now I know that all technology has its problems so the fact that something technical had gone wrong did not worry, or upset me, unduly.
What does make me angry, however, is the way the company communicates with its customers.
I have received numerous emails from the company over the years, either confirming matters or advising me my contract is ending etc. etc.
So why no email to save me turning the wretched thing on and off for a week, moving it around the house in case it was the strength of the Wi-Fi signal wasn’t strong enough and then having to ring them?
They know who has Smart Meters fitted so there is no excuse. And they certainly know my email address. Muppets.

I still can’t believe that my footie team, the mighty Arsenal, beat Chelsea to win their record-breaking 13th FA Cup.
According to the pundits, Chelsea only had to turn up to give new manager Antonio Conte the English double in his first season in charge. Just goes to show what they know.
My family have been diehard Gooners for as long as I can remember. My uncle has two season tickets for the Emirates and my cousin, his son, has one.
My uncle very kindly lets me “borrow” his occasionally for my brother-in-law (another Gooner) and I to enjoy a day out.
Occasionally being the operative word. As we like to reimburse my uncle for one match (I know – we’re so kind) that works out at £52.50 a game (adult season tickets cost between £1,000 and £2,000).
Add onto that the cost of fuel from deepest Suffolk to a mainline station 30 minutes from Tottenham Hale, two return train tickets from that station to Finsbury Park, a few refreshments before and after and a programme and suddenly you are, collectively, £200 poorer.
Which makes going to watch a Premier League game these days a luxury. Not quite the working man’s sport it was, what?

Spare a thought today for Kate and Gerry McCann
Whatever you are doing today please stop for a few seconds and spare a thought for Kate and Gerry McCann.
Ten years ago to the day their three-year old daughter Madeleine disappeared in the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz. You may have heard about it. No, you have DEFINITELY heard about it.
Numerous theories abound about what happened to little Madeleine. She was snatched to order for a wealthy but childless couple. She woke up disorientated and wandered off, having been left alone with her siblings while her parents had dinner with friends a few hundred metres away, and fell into the sea.
She was picked up off the street by an opportunist and sold into white slavery. She was killed by her parents, who then spent ten years covering it up.
Whichever camp of belief you live in, the only thing we know for certain is that a family has been stripped of a loved daughter.
I speak with a little experience of the case as on May 3, 2007 I was Publishing Director of a weekly English language newspaper based in the Algarve.
I worked from my home office in the UK, visiting the Algarve every six weeks or so.
I happened to be watching ITV’s breakfast programme the following morning when a relative of Gerry McCann made a desperate appeal for the missing youngster.
My journalistic instinct kicked in and, after booking a flight to Faro, I contacted the office in the Algarve to warn of the media storm that would be approaching and that we must always stick to facts when reporting the case.
This meant we missed out on many copy sales over the ensuing years – but it also meant that our newspaper never had a legal issue with the McCanns or their team.
Unlike some newspapers, in particular some of the UK red tops, which published anything and everything, true or not, simply to boost cover sales.
Do I know what happened to Madeleine? No. I have views but will keep them to myself.
Do I think Kate and Gerry McCann were involved in some way? Yes, but only because they left their children alone in an apartment while they had a meal with friends.
A decision they will regret for the rest of their lives.
So, spare that thought and just remember they are parents who have lost a child. No-one deserves that.

How the fakers are cashing in on the news
Fake news has been around for years but the problem is heightened today by young peoples’ preference for instant internet “news” whilst showing a careless disregard for whether something is true or not.
Many are clearly not bothered where their news comes from – just look at the amount of spurious rubbish that is re-tweeted or shared on social media sites.
In the good old days of, say, the 1970s or 80s we trusted our newspapers and our newsreaders.
(The exception was the now defunct Sunday Sport. I don’t think many of us really believed that a London bus had been found on the moon. But that’s because the Sport never set out to be a record of event and fact and the majority of its readers knew that – they just wanted a bit of light-hearted silliness and escapism from the drudgery of doom and gloom – as news often is.)
Now we have amazing, super-fast digital technology plus scores of internet companies (and once great newspapers) wanting hits and click-throughs to generate revenue. In essence, news just does not sell anymore.
Economist Tim Harford has tried to explain the fascination with fake news. “Several studies,” he wrote, “have shown that repeating a false claim, even in the context of debunking that claim, can make it stick.
“The myth-busting seems to work but then our memories fade and we remember only the myth. The myth, after all, was the thing that kept being repeated. In trying to dispel the falsehood, the endless rebuttals simply make the enchantment stronger.”
Now step forward Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, who wants “evidence-based journalism”. He is setting up Wikitribune, described as “a news platform that brings journalists and a community of volunteers together.
He said: “We want to make sure that you read fact-based articles that have a real impact in both local and global events. And that stories can be easily verified and improved.”
Sounds pretty revolutionary but to those of us properly trained as journalists in the olden days it’s old hat. We have been there, done that and got several tee-shirts.
Not only were we taught to check a fact or statement but to check it out with multiple sources whenever possible before going into print.
Nowadays anyone can say anything online and have that statement repeated over and over around the world – within seconds.
Let us all wish Mr Wales well. His latest venture is well-meaning but I’m afraid it is too late. The news and fact horses have bolted and the stable door is just getting bigger all the time.
Trust me, I’m a journalist.

SWMBO and I are back from a glorious trip down the Rhine. On a river cruise, I hasten to add, not in a canoe.
This will come as shock to my reader as I did not tell you before we left.
I also did not post photos on social media of us sipping pints of Crème de Menthe at Norwich Airport as we waited for our flight.
This lack of advance information is not personal. It’s just that I can’t be sure you have a relative or associate who likes to know when homes will be empty.
One small aspect of the trip I’d like to share with you was the “Welcome to” text I received from my mobile service provider as we went from country to country.
We started out in Switzerland and my provider advised me of the cost of data, calls and texts to and from that country – see below, left.
This was repeated as we wound our way through France, Germany and The Netherlands. See below, right (costs were the same in all three countries).
Quite remarkable the difference in cost - £5 a MB of data in Switzerland, 4.3p in the EU. Calls £1.65 a minute in Switzerland, 4.3p in the EU.
And people may wonder why I voted to remain.

Savers subsidise those who made no provision for old age

For those in the know, like our family, it came as no surprise when “news” broke this week that so called middle-class pensioners are being forced to pay higher care home fees to subsidise those who failed to save for their retirement.
It seems that MPs found that councils are telling private providers to increase costs for pensioners who have to pay the fees themselves, thereby subsidising cheaper, council-funded places for pensioners who don’t have savings.
All this mean that “middle-class” pensioners are being charged much more for the same room and level of service. The shock, horror news was revealed by the Commons communities and local government committee, which describes it as “unacceptable”.
The committee’s report quotes research suggesting that self-funders were paying an average of 43 per cent more than councils were paying for an identical care home place.
A study by Age UK last year said councils typically pay between £421 and £624 a week for each care home place, while self-funders are charged between £603 and £867.
That does not include specialist care, such as dementia, or nursing costs.
These extras, in our experience in Suffolk at least, pushed the weekly fees to between £1,000 and £1,450.
Currently, anyone who has assets of more than £23,250 in England must pay their own bills, and councils start to meet the costs only when the value of their assets falls below that threshold.
Mind you, that’s not strictly true. MIL’s assets, which I consider to be saleable items and cash, are well below that threshold but she is not eligible for any council or government help.
This is because she and FIL sold everything they had to buy annuities five years ago to put towards their care home fees. I say out towards because the annuities do not cover the total cost.
Anyway, back to committee’s report which revealed that “several care providers had been advised by councils that they should subsidise the council’s fees by charging higher rates for private clients”.
Whilst we were looking for a new dementia care home for MIL last year we discovered that Suffolk County Council had closed its 16 council-run homes and linked up with private care provider Care UK.
The council “backed” the building of half a dozen state-of-the-art Care UK homes across the county with the proviso that the residents from the 16 now closed homes be accommodated. Seems fair. But is it really?
The Council pays Care UK £650 a week per resident. MIL’s fees, as a private payer for exactly the same room, food, laundry services and care, ranged from £1,050 to £1,350 at the four Care UK homes we visited.
I’ll leave you to do the maths.

SWMBO and I are able to squirrel away a little cash each month from this blog for any future care needs we may face.
You may have noticed the advertisements on this page. I am delighted to reveal that your click-throughs have raised, to date, the princely sum of …… £3.61.
That’s 36 minutes of future residential care paid for. Thank you.

More proof that it pays to shop around
Most modern vehicles are, in reality, sophisticated computers on wheels.
But the on-board electronics can be, at times, just a little bit too clever.
Warning lights, signs and sounds abound. If your tyre pressure is low, your car will tell you.
Back in the day you knew the tyre pressure on your Mk1 Ford Cortina was low when the steering went wobbly and you became acquainted with a verge or, worst case scenario, a ditch.
An audible warning sounded earlier this week as SWMBO started up my car.
A loud beep as the car jumped into life was accompanied by a message on that little screen you glimpse through the steering wheel. Oil Service, it said.
Naturally, SWMBO reported this incident to her transport assistant, aka me. She was a little worried as she thought, quite naturally, that the oil was low.
Fortunately I had come across this warning in a previous car. The garage where we have our cars serviced programmes the computer to remind you when you are getting close to your next service.
So, there was no problem with the oil, but just a reminder. I don’t have a problem with that but the blessed warning will now strike ever time the car is started until we follow orders and take it in for its next service.
This, rather neatly I feel, leads me on to the nub of this missive.
Maybe it’s just me but you would think a standard service carried at a dealership for your particular make and model would cost the same whichever dealer you chose.
Wrong. I called three Ford (for it is they) dealers and prices quoted for EXACTLY the same service were £336, £295 and £245, all including labour and VAT.
The £91 I’ll be saving is an awful lot of wine.

Do you use Google maps? Do you trust Google maps?
Be careful as all is sometimes not what it seems.
I was searching on Google for a planning application in my local metropolis, Bury St. Edmunds.
I couldn’t find the details anywhere (maybe an application has not been submitted yet?) but Google, very helpfully, gave me a taster of a Google map with the applicant, which is currently a store, pinpointed on it.
Yep, there it was, right in the middle of town – in the middle of Nowton Park.
Which is not in the middle of town but a mile or two outside.
I’ve let Google know. Because worse than them making a mistake is a punter who knows it’s a mistake not telling them.

The ability to take responsibility and to move on

My ambivalence towards the Russian establishment has often confounded my friend. Have I ever visited the country, he asked? No, I said. Do I ever intend to? No, again. So what’s the problem?
It’s simple. My mother lived in Berlin through World War 2 and was 10 years old when the conflict ended. I cannot begin to imagine the horrors she and other members of my extended family faced.
In her later years bits and pieces of information came out when we chatted about the wonderful city of her, and my, birth.
Most of it was heart-warming and inspiring – I was well into my 30s before I found out that one of my great-aunts had hidden her Jewish neighbours from the Nazis. In her hollowed out floor-to-ceiling tile-faced oven in the kitchen. Amazing.
And she never had a really bad word about the French, British or Americans, even going out with a Brit she met during his two years’ National Service in the city in the late 1950s and then moving to the UK to marry him.
But some of her stories left me speechless, particularly about the Russian troops who entered the city after the defeat of Germany. Mum mentioned this to me just the once, in the 1980s, and never spoke of it again.
I refer to all this now because of something military historian Sir Antony Beevor said when he appeared on Desert Island Discs earlier this week.
Apparently he faces prison if he goes to Russia because of his account of the mass rape of German women by Stalin’s armies at the end of the war in his 2002 bestseller Berlin: The Downfall 1945, which led to Moscow passing a law banning criticism of the Red Army.
Sir Antony said: “Technically I am liable to five years’ imprisonment if I go back. The ambassador explained that the [Russian] victory in the war was sacred and obviously the appalling accounts of the rapes undermined the sacred element of the victory.”
The ambassador accused him of “lies, slander and blasphemy”.
Now I have nothing whatsoever against the people of Russia, just as I am certain that the majority of Brits don’t really hate the Germans.
History is littered with examples of man’s inhumanity to man. But what makes us different to other animals is the ability to take responsibility and to move on.

When will our government and the BBC stop going on about the "ageing population" who are putting a "strain" on the NHS? It shouldn’t come as a surprise that people are living longer and therefore need more care.
We members of the “ageing population” are, after all, the people who worked all their lives to pay into the NHS so I think that makes us as entitled to use the service as anyone else. If there is a shortage of money in the NHS, the solution is straightforward – put more in.
And perhaps introduce a small charge for every non-emergency visit to a surgery or hospital. This could then be refunded via a tax rebate every April or May for people who have an NHS number or a tax reference. After all, we’ve already paid for the service via tax and NI.
It can’t be that difficult, in this technology-filled age, to keep a log of people’s payments. And anyone not entitled to use our NHS pay does not receive a refund. Simples?

Theatre director or homeless person?

I first noticed her as I was warming my hands on my coffee mug while waiting for my friend Sidney.

Those of you who have suffered through all 100 previous IDGOM missives will know that Sidney, which is not his real name, has a mental health issue and I have been “linked” with him for more than two years through a local befriending charity. We meet once a week for coffee and a chat.

I digress, though purely for reasons of providing some background.

Scene of my caffeine caper was a well-known high street chain of bakers in my local town. Having finished attempting, unsuccessfully I may add, to link my smart (?) phone to the Wi-Fi network of a neighbouring business I turned my attention to one of my favourite pastimes – people watching.

The establishment had the usual Wednesday afternoon crowd – mainly “older” people, a few younger couples and a sprinkling of mums and young children. And the woman.

She stood out initially because she had occupied a table for four. And I mean occupied. Two massive suitcases blocked off one way to the back of the table where the bench seat was and she was perched at the other end. There was no way through. A very effective method of marking one’s territory, I thought.

The table itself was covered in a mass of paperwork, catalogues and brochures. At first I figured she was some arty-farty type, perhaps a theatre director who had finished her run at the local theatre and was biding her time before catching her train/ taxi/ friend’s car home.

She had many bangles on her very slim wrists, had a hippy’ish look about her and seemed to be writing (a new script?) on an A4 pad.

Then it dawned on me. She was nothing of the sort – she was a homeless person. My initial reaction was to ask the staff what was going on. Once a hack, always a hack.

I was told she had been there since 10am (it was now 3pm) and had not bought a thing. She’d just sat there, looking busy.

Apparently two days earlier she had spent the whole day there and had to be asked to leave at 6pm when the establishment closed. I was also told she had previously frequented the local McDonalds, again without every buying a thing and it appeared she had been asked to leave and was now using “my” establishment.

I said I would pay for a tea or coffee if one of the staff asked her what she wanted but I was told that would not happen “as she’d never leave”.

Now I can understand that - it could be construed, by her, as meaning that if she stayed there long enough someone would buy her a drink. It could also be interpreted as condoning her non-purchase, stay-all-day actions.

But it looked to me as if she was going to stay there for as long as possible anyway, drink or no drink. Especially as the establishment’s policy (staff had checked with Head Office) was not to ask her to leave or to throw her out.

By the time Sidney and I left, the woman, who was probably in her 50s or 60s, had done her make-up at the table and changed her top.

I couldn’t help wondering whether she found somewhere to bed down for the night.

Or maybe she WAS waiting for a train/ taxi/ friend’s car. What do you think…?