Farage - Break up the euro & restore human dignity
Punts & Clones: Fed up with Euro, Irish town cashes in old currency
British savers have suffered bigger losses from their workplace pensions in the last decade than virtually every other nation in the developed world, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said.
The international think tank warned that the poor performance of British pension companies could leave people retiring without enough to live comfortably.
The OECD said that returns on money invested by pension companies on behalf of savers fell every year between 2001 and 2010.
Every other developed country - with the exception of the US and Spain - saw an increase in the size of people's pension pots, including Chile, Portugal and Korea.
Pension companies in Britain invest a higher proportion of their money in stocks and shares rather than government bonds.
The credit crunch and subsequent falls in the value of shares have exerted “major stress” on these private pension funds. See Article
The Telegraph - 2,000 troops to be sacked today
Two thousand servicemen who have served their country for at least six years will be told that they have lost their jobs today.
At 9am this morning thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen from across the country will be ordered to appear before their commanding officers and handed their redundancy letters.
The biggest redundancy of service personnel for two decades will see a cull of mid-ranking officers who have gained the most operational experience in a generation with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Officers starting their advanced course at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham said they were waiting the news with “great trepidation” last night.
“We have all been on near constant operations for almost a decade but some of us know it’s going to good bye tomorrow without much gratitude or respect for all we and our families have gone through,” said one officer. “You can imagine the state of moral.”
The axing of 4,100 troops from all three Services comes as the Armed Forces reduces from 180,000 to 150,000 over the next five years as part of cost-saving defence cuts. See Article
The Telegraph - This latest euro fix will come apart in less than a month
Another day, another sticking plaster solution from beleaguered eurozone policymakers.
Only this one may not even succeed in buying time – I give it less than a month before some such other piece of bad news comes along to fire the crisis anew. Like all the others, the latest fix seems to create as many problems as it solves. The euphoria in markets at Spain's rescue lasted all of a few hours; having bounded away at the opening, they ended broadly flat.
But please don't call it a bail-out. It may walk, talk and look like a bail-out, but to the Spanish premier, Mariano Rajoy, Spain's handout is completely different to the three rescues we've already seen, even though at €100bn (£81bn)– or some 10pc of Spanish GDP – it's quite a bit larger than that of Ireland and Portugal.
No doubt mindful of the fact that every political leader who has agreed on a bailout to date has been defenestrated soon afterwards, Mr Rajoy has attempted to snatch victory from the jaws of humiliation by proclaiming the €100bn of aid an unparalleled triumph. Don Quixote himself would have struggled to see such majesty in all too self evident defeat. See Article
Daily Mail - Elderly denied NHS care can sue: Ministers will outlaw age discrimination by hospitals
Denying treatment to Health Service patients because they are too old is to be outlawed.
From October, the elderly will be given the right to sue if they have faced age-discrimination by NHS staff.
Those refused operations, tests and scans routinely offered to younger patients will be able to take legal action against individual members of staff or trusts, ministers will announce today. See Article
Daily Mail - Standard pension age 'will become 67 or older': Leading think-tank warns workers to brace themselves
Workers must brace themselves for a state pension age of 67 or older becoming the norm, a leading think-tank warned yesterday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said workers across many countries will inevitably have to wait longer for their pension.
But it raised fears about the consequences of continuing to increase the state pension age, with ministers currently planning to link it to life expectancy. See Article
Daily Express - NOW 80% DEMAND VOTE TO QUIT EU
DEMANDS for the British people to have a say on our role in Europe got a huge boost yesterday. A new poll showed more than 80 per cent of voters are crying out for a referendum.
Nearly half of voters – 49 per cent – want their voices heard straight away, according to the survey.
A further third, 33 per cent, believe that there should be a vote “in the next few years”.
in revealing people’s deep dissatisfaction with Brussels in our popular crusade to get Britain out of the EU.
We have consistently said Europe has changed so dramatically since 1975 – when Britons last had a referendum – that another is long overdue.
Yesterday’s survey by Populus underlined the strength of feeling and will fuel many MPs’ calls for greater urgency.
Labour MP and former minister Kate Hoey said: “This poll shows that the message the Daily Express has been carrying for many months is resonating with the public. A referendum is not a sideline issue – it is crucial to the public and must happen.” See Article
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