Tuesday 17 September 2019

A translation service for pretentious coffee shops

As you know, I don’t get out much but I do frequent the odd coffee shop, either with my befriending friend Sidney on our weekly get-togethers or with SWMBO on special occasions.
If, like me, you get a tad confused by the drinks menu on offer, I offer my translations.
Black coffee – Americano
White coffee – flat white
Frothy coffee – Cappuccino
Milky coffee – Latte
Choccy coffee – mocha
Not coffee – tea
Call me old-fashioned but all I want is a coffee – sometimes with milk.
Mentioning Sidney gives me the opportunity to give my reader some good news, for a change.
Sidney was notified earlier this year that his benefits were to be cut by almost a third.
Naturally this upset him somewhat and our weekly get-togethers focussed on this subject for some months.
I suggested he might consider an appeal against the decision as I am firmly in the “if you don’t try, you definitely want get” camp, believing that these decisions are made in the full knowledge that people affected generally moan a bit and then accept matters.
He spoke with his sister and an appeal went in. It was initially turned down so Sidney and sister took the case to tribunal.The hearing was last month – and Sidney won, with his benefits reinstated.
I wonder how many people less fortunate than us are having an even bigger struggle just to live becaiuse they did not appeal?

Monday 2 September 2019

BBC – cut salaries to subsidise some free TV licences
Oh my, what a furore over the BBC’s plan to scrap the Brucie Bonus of free TV licences for the over 75s in June next year.
My take on this is simple - if you can afford it, pay it, no matter what your age.
After all, the £154.50 annual fee works out at £12.88 a month. That’s three pints of beer, a packet of cigarettes or a takeaway pizza a month.
Undoubtedly those less well off in society should get the licence for free.
But how does one decide what “less well off” means?
Well, a good starting point is maintaining the free licence for those claiming pension credits.
Did I really write that out loud? Me, agreeing with something the Government’s proposing?
This saga might well prove to be the catalyst for the BBC to do something about the salaries it pays its so-called “top talent”.
Based on the Corporation’s own figures, the top 74 earners were paid a total of almost £20,000,000 a year in 2018 – an average of around £270,000.
Top of the pile, as has been well-documented, is Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker on £1.75 million. At the bottom are 28 people on AT LEAST £150,000 pa. This list includes Adrian Chiles, Clare Balding, Mary Berry and Trevor Nelson.
That sum equals 129,000 annual TV licences. I realise that figure is a tiny proportion of the
4.6 million or so households that contain someone aged over 75 who receives a free TV licence at present but wouldn’t cutting these frankly ridiculous salaries be a good starting point?
Answers on a postcard, please.