The Poolie Bunker

49000 illegals have crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in the past 24 hours from Morocco,they've had to call the military out to deal with them all..Enjoy your welcome from the locals today Pedro Sanchez!

Just pro-rata the state pension based on the number of years you have PAID National Insurance Contributions, not including those years that were paid for you by someone else.

I was surprised when I checked my contribution some time ago to find that I have contributions from the year I was in further education in the 80s which counted towards my 35 years. I had thought that as I started work in 1990 it would have been 2025 before I had 35 years of NI Contributions but nope, I had more than 35 years when I checked.

If we are happy for some folks to have nowt then that seems to be the way to work it...... and no UC to top up the gaps

And where do think their final destination will be for many of them ?

A soft arse left wing led country like the UK,you got it ,Jamie..roll on 2029 eh.

A soft arse left wing led country like the UK,you got it ,Jamie..roll on 2029 eh.[/quote]
thats where people make the mistake. they are not all destination england as most of europe are as soft as we are. apart from the poles is there another country where they are not officially welcomed there. its as if people do not want there lives enriching.

Too true accrington, how dare the poles want to keep their national identity and have pride in their own country.

Poland? haven’t they taken enough in with the Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia?

thats where people make the mistake. they are not all destination england as most of europe are as soft as we are. apart from the poles is there another country where they are not officially welcomed there. its as if people do not want there lives enriching.[/quote]


Whats going to change in 2029 ?

We shouldn't be thinking about what'll change in 2029, we should be acting now.
It's up to the government of the day to protect our shores, our culture, and our people. The issue we have is the liberal elitists who think they know best for us won't allow governments to execute the people's wishes wether it's stopping the boats or making Brexit happen, they're working to their own agenda.

To keep the tax thresholds frozen to 2031 which will be 10 years has been a major encouragement to avoid work and choose benefits street lifestyles which is about the same as working for the NMW.

We need a government to widen that gap as huge as possible.

Some people say wages are to low.
But for me it's the benefits which are to high.

Raise the threshold up above the annual State Pension every budget like they used to do.
Cut the benefits to how it was in the 80s where the gap between working n not working was huge.
It worked.
People choose work or the drive to try n get a job.


Make work work and benefits not work.

Less cash for the government to pay out and a shit load more tax coming in.

And cut down on immigration.

Thats just basic Arithmetic you don't need a degree to solve this problem.

Whats going to change in 2029 ?[/quote]

By then they will of killed more of us.
Like PTID says action should be happening ASAP.

well you have my vote at least even though the lefties will call us far right. the annoying thing is most groups of people feel the same including some that will even vote labour.

Labour have mentioned that anyone solely in receipt of the State Pension should not have to pay tax, tbh that’s a very small majority of pensioners, the ones who get hammered are the pensioners with a company pension or a private pension. The tax threshold should be raised to around £20000 for a single person. It’s a bit of a farce benefits like Pension Credit is not taxed but your State Pension is.
Here’s my take on you arguments KPG, none of them are workable.
Make work and benefits not work, how many years have governments been trying to do that, working tax credits are paid to people where employers are not paying them enough, you remove that benefit it will not make employers pay more, they will just employ less people. Single parents are not in a position to work full time so as long as they work at least 16 hours they can claim benefits, how can you force them to work more hours if they have kids too look after ?

Cut down on immigration, the country would be at a standstill without immigration. Look what happened when freedom of movement stopped, they all went back and now we have to import non eu people.
Health and Social Work: Employs the largest share of non-EU migrant workers (nearly a quarter of non-EU employees), driven by doctors, nurses, and care staff coming through the National Health Service and social care providers.
Wholesale, Retail, and Hospitality: Historically absorbs large proportions of both EU and non-EU workers, spanning supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and food delivery services.Administrative, Business, and Transport Services: Features high concentrations of international workers in logistics, warehousing, cleaning, and corporate support roles.
Manufacturing and Construction: Extensively relies on foreign-born labor, especially sub-sectors like food and drink processing and specialized manual trades.
It’s not as simple as basic arithmetic KPG.

Jamie them jobs can be filled by the English.

Today's wages aren't to bad.

It's the benefita that are to high.


Unless someone is widowed then they ain't single parents that's why the csa was formed.


It just sounds like you don't want to pay a bit of tax on all your pensions and fuck us lot who live in England.


I reckon you just got a mental disorder to argue with people.

Anyway pal take it easy.
Have a few Sing beers.

Jamie is AI…he’s not real…

Why dident you tell us all years ago

The only people who make things difficult to solve are MPs and Civil Servants. Not many would last in any management position in the public sector. If I'd said to my line managers things are too difficult I'd have been out on my arse pretty sharpish.
Train British kids to do more of the jobs done currently by migrants, it'll take a bit of time but it would work.
Make those whore in benefits and doing nothing do community or charitable work otherwise cut the benefits.
We're an island nation so stopping the boats is easy in practice, it's the politics that prevent it happening.
The defeatist attitude of it's someone else's fault, it's always been like this so it'll never change, it's too big a job or too difficult - wrong person in the wrong job.

The jobs can be filled by the English so why aren’t they because migrants will work for less. Wages aren’t bad so why are benefits paid to top them up to a living wage ? The CSA was abolished years ago KPG.
I still pay tax even though I don’t live in the U.K. on my pensions and any accrued interest from my savings, no getting away with it, if its paid to you in the U.K. its taxed, no idea how the millionaires get away with it. Just being realistic, if it was that easy to sort it out why wasn’t it done years ago or do they really want to ?

I do use AI posh name for google Snowy.

Civil servants are institutionalised from the shop floor to the managers, most have never worked in the private sector.
Train the kids up, unless it’s sat in front of a screen they don’t want to know, previously the parents worked in the manufacturing, engineering, down the pits etc and the kids followed suit, these industries no longer exist so the kids have no example to follow. Companies want ‘ready made’ employees and don’t want the expense of training people up.
Make those on benefits do community work, been tried before, would you be willing to supervise them ? You can take a horse to water but can’t make it drink it.
I sound like a defeatist, yes I am, I have seen and heard it all before, I find it difficult to imagine how things will change or can be changed not unless WW3 breaks out.

Might as well not bother trying then, everyone moved to Thailand?

‘Nudge, nudge wink wink, say no more’…. as the they said on Monty Python…
Anyone who says they’re moving to Thailand always gets the same response behind their back.

20 odd years ago it was 70baht to the English pound£.

Now it's 45baht to the quid.

Plus inflation has gone up at least 50% on the baht in that time.

Then theres the plane ticket costs.

We the lads did a day trip to Ko Samet.
Taxi from hotel 70 odd miles to fishing port ban phe then a ferry to the island and a nite in a log cabin for £10.

Brilliant chilled out experience having a few beers on the beach under the palm trees.


But them days are now history.

Plenty of YouTube videos on how expensive it is nowadays.

The beach life is quality but now comes at a cost.

Maybe some prefer the jungle life.

Great country to holiday.
I also did the Bridge over the River Quai day trip from Bangkok which was a great experience.

Living there full time a total different ball game.
Then there's the journey to Cambodia to get that extended visa.


I'm sure Jamie will give us the up to date version that it's still cheap and quality and that's just fine.

a holiday destination and living there full time are two very different experiances. know myself and from the actions of others who retire, move to the coast and then sell up and off back home after they suffered an off peak winter. then there is the number of women who become widows quite quickly after the move.

you are right. can anyone actually see a government in this country and many of its residents being happy with the benefits of people being taken away to force them into work. the media would love that with the stories they,ll have of mental health problems and people attempting and committing suicide due to it. the big problem is that you cannot blame these on benefits as they have no older role model or schooling that pushes the work ethic.

It'd be wonderful if nobody had to work and were handed free money for nothing, but someone's got to pay and the likelihood that sufficient of today's kids are going to grow up to be the taxpayers to support the rest in the future dwindles by the day.
Something has to be done and it's needs to be radical. It's not that long ago when my parents and myself at times had the shame of being on the dole, nowadays for many those same circumstances mean a life of reasonable comfort.
I'm not advocating forcing people into work but I'd reduce benefits to a lower level with top ups at NMW levels for those who do community work.
Burnham is touching on something similar for families on benefits who get their kids into apprenticeships which if it is implemented would be a step in the right direction.
Subsidised child care, transport and improved public transport links would all help imo.

what i cannot understand is that areas say there is unemployment rate of a certain percentage but say there are vacancies. unless the lame and lazy refuse these jobs then both cannot be correct. unless you can ptove otherwise i always thought refusal of worm meant you are sanctioned for benefit payments.

Apparently most of the electorate appear to have done judging by the turnout at elections, only 25% of the electorate bothered to turn out for the Manchester mayoral election.

Because it was a pointless charade.
Burnham is just a working class Starmer.

out of that 75% who didn,t there will be over half who do not bother to vote anyway and the rest who abstained because they do not believe in the concept of elected mayors and the power they have. since we left the eu we only have 4 chances to vote now. when i started to vote it was a novelty with just the UK and council elections about. now its the general election, mayors for some, district councillors and local ones. all to be paid for plus the winners wages.

For a start you were a tourist so everything you mention means you paid tourist prices, I live here, I don’t sit on the beach, I have done all the Thai tourist trips years ago. Plane ticket prices don’t affect me as I only travel every other year.

No need to do border runs, well you can’t as the Cambodian land border is closed, I have a visa I renew annually at the local Immigration Office. £40.

When the baht was 70 baht the retired expats who lived here were millionaires, that was over 20 years ago probably most have passed away now.

I have been travelling here since 2012, the best rate I ever got was 50 baht to the pound, I can comfortably live with that rate, low rental costs, energy costs, fuel prices and no council tax. Alcohol is still cheap as long as you don’t go near the tourist rip off girlie bars or are a pi** artist, £1.50 a pint, full English Breakfast £3.50 with tea, fruit juice etc. if you like English food plenty on offer similar price, most places have daily specials and membership cards. I barely eat out, all the cooking is in-house, some Thai some English.

I travel around, flights are cheap, an annual holiday usually to one of the various countries in S.E Asia and the cost of living there is cheap as well.
That’s my summary KPG, yes you would find it ‘expensive’ now due a difference in the exchange rate since you were here, flights prices from the U.K. have gone through the roof since Covid even more now due the Iranian conflict, £1000+.

Burnham has never had working class employment, I can’t see there being much change, why do we need Mayors, we have councills with highly paid Chief Executives.

these mayors have miles away from the old ones that stood for a year and was given in line fue to the length of service they had. these have far more power. you are right, why do we need them but the labour party love the idea. on top of that why do we need town councils when you have a district one with people from the towns represented on it. the present labout party want more devolved decisions for the regions which will mean more and more elected and unelected representatives doing wat was done previously. the problems in my area anre not unique by a long way and are the same ones as they have in hartlepool apart from anything coastal. jobs for the boys again.

Cheers for the quick update.

I see Rupert Lowe has offered an alliance with Farage,I can't see it happening which is a shame because I could see hundreds of thousands being deported with their criminal records and having no rights to be here,Jamie..I wonder how all them lefty lawyers making millions from the UK taxpayers would all fare with them two in power eh.

Are the figures out there for how much debt he's left Manchester council in,Jamie?..I did read one figure but I thought this must be an exaggeration,maybe you could clear this up?

No idea, why are you asking me ?

Why are you bringing me into the comment ?

time to bury egos for me. two parties fighting for the same votes will never work. just splitting the vote. like all parties there is only a certain percentage that they appeal to. got a feeling that farage has reached his peak as a leader and needs to support and hand over to someone else.

It was a ‘City Region at Manchester incorporating 11 Councils I understand…and he was El Supremo…thing is, before this rise to glory by the back door, all he was known for generally was re-organising the Buses there.

He has ‘working class’ pretentions’… looks good to the brothers and sisters in the House.
He’s the Bobbby Ball to Starmer’s ‘Kier’ Cannon.

I am devoid of answers re governments, a load of university educated wannabes who haven’t a clue about the general public. Burnham can’t make that many changes more so to benefits, the back benchers won’t allow him to.

Them back benchers with their Degrees in ‘Working Class Studies’ from the ‘University of being Working Class’….will be his downfall…they’re the handbrake on realistic progress.

If I was Burnham I would tell them start being rebellious and I will call a G.E. the majority would lose their seats if he did.

Burnham won't be calling a GE early, he's waited too long to get to be Labour Leader let alone PM to risk losing it anytime soon. There's not a cat in hells chance of any party winning a working majority at present.
He'll be giving it to the back-benchers at Conference, adapt or die 2029.

The torys n labour keep blameing immigration on the people smugglers.

When the main problem is the defence of our shores.
I mean Border Force been instructed to assist them to the beach.

Simple solution from Reform deploy Navy in the channel.
And save us taxpayers money to make sure our Oaps are better appreciated as the majority have worked hard for their retirements which are getting shorter due to the age going up and long covid still doing it's rounds.

A bit of simplicity common Sense from Donald regarding Immigration and Energy.

For Britain.

Drill baby drill and man up on immigration.

And some idiots think he hasent got a clue.

You forget the U.K. doesn’t own any of the oil and gas in the North Sea, Thatcher sold it off, any oil and gas extracted from the North Sea is sold on the world market.
As for Trump, you need to keep up with the news KPG, whats he done, dug a hole for himself over the Iran conflict and can’t find a way out of it, the Iranians now and will forever control the Hormuz Traits, he has caused an economic disaster forcing global energy and food prices up. Next time you put petrol or what ever in your car just remember why it has gone up again.

Farage/Reforms popularity is waning, they have lost 6 by elections in a row plus their financial irregularities, they play the one card trick they keep bleating on about by coincidence announcing their plans just before the Clacton election. Why were Reform activists urged to switch from Manchester to Clacton, do Reform see Binface as credible opposition or any of the other 30+ candidates ? I can see Farage saying he has been ‘acquitted ‘ of all his financial wrongdoings after winning the election, it won’t go away, the MSM are now asking questions also Tice is now under investigation for alleged failure to declare a financial interest during a debate.

For a start they have to get them out of the boats onto the ships, not an easy task, you just can’t attach a tow rope to dinghy. I can see the French welcoming Royal Navy ships to enter their territorial waters and dump people in France.
KPG you appear to have loads of simple solutions, I do like your craic though but none are feasible but being a Reform supporter you are taken in by every thing the bunch of millionaires spout out.

It doesn't matter where the oil and gas is sold or who owns it, the industry creates thousands of jobs and raises billions in tax for the government. Also the UK environmental regulations for the sector are probably the strictest in the world so it's greener for us to produce it rather than other countries and then the added carbon footprint of shipping.
Norway is ahead of the UK in green energy and policy yet they're re-opening old oil and gas fields and drilling new ones - why is it good for them but not for us?
I'm pretty sure we could have small navy and border patrol boats just outside French and Belgian territorial waters returning the dinghies back to the nearest safe haven in France and Belgium in accordance with Maritime and International law.
Big EU meeting today to discuss border control because more and more member countries are waking up to the fact that they're being invaded. Germany looking at Rwanda, Italy already has Albania although numbers being processed are very low. Shenghen rules suspended by many with Spain due to their liberal PM welcoming them with open arms.

Our energy bills 4 x higher than the USA.
Ya can't put that on Iran conflict