Fashion Contrast

OK, so some are quite keen on a Tory government I don’t know what I think, but I guess like many others we probably need some kind of change, be that not very drastic, but something which benefits all of us

Under a Tory government we would have to work longer for a state pension, could be a good thing depending on personal circumstances etc

George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, will announce today that the Tories would raise the state retirement age to 66 in 2016. Labour’s policy is to set the retirement age at 66 in 2026, at 67 in 2036 and at 68 in 2046.

After finding this article I decided well OK, Ill summarise it briefly and then get some ‘ real people’ opinions courtesy of the original article

Mackname brings this interesting comment to the equation:

Firstly, quite frankly, increasing the rate of National Insurance is a much better idea than increasing age of pension. Secondly, what do we mean by working at old age? Does it mean full-time or part-time and how many hours it is? I don’t think that we can generalize working ability (also different working condition) as the same for everyone. Finally, this policy may cause obstacle for younger generation getting to work, etc.

Which is interesting as say you have an investment banker who’s job it is to sit say by a desk and then you have a manual labour kind of job such as a Brickie who’s job physically will affect him more then the Bankers – Cristal anyone?

2Barrows says this:

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, there are 11.1 million mortgages in the UK, with loans worth over £1.2 trillion. That is £1,200,000,000,000. For every 0.5% reduction in interest rates, borrowers save £6,000,000,000 in interest. That is £6 billion saved in interest payments per 0.5% change in rates. It would be far more equitable to take that saving (or part of it) as tax from those who are benefitting from artificially low rates of interest, rather than steal a year’s pension even though it is a pittance from those who probably really need it (where are the jobs for 65 year-olds now?); have paid contributions for it; have planned for it; and are probably already paying for the financial mess disproportionately because their savings income is reduced. The prudent, as usual, end up paying once, twice, and many times over. A first time buyer mortgage is well out of the cards for many right now…

I’m not even going to go into that one – it looks far to complicated to dissect and frankly I don’t have the time…

Cjdods is slightly more angry – perhaps he hasn’t worked and doesn’t have any form of savings and could well be being harangued by his local Corporate Bank.

So, pocket dipping Politicians now want us to work longer for their Coffers?? Typical Tory arrogance. Hate the lot of ‘em. Oh for a serious Political contender. It looks like out of the frying pan and into the fire if this lot get back in power.

Need I say any more on the subject – public (small sampled) opinion seems to be fairly mixed, which is a good sign, and definitely proves that this upcoming general election will be interesting!

An interesting blog post came to my attention today – ‘Will the quality of broadband connections affect housing prices.‘ An interesting question I hope you will agree. Contemplating buying a house is something which some will have to really think about at some point in their adult lives, its kind of like the final step of the lifestyle we are meant to subscribe too – ‘house, wife and kids‘ notice I did make huge efforts to include the comma there for fairly obvious reasons!

Its fair to say when that forever remembered day when you pick up your first time buyer mortgage, keys and walk through the front door of your new home, a happy memory I hope.

Of course there has to be certain protocol that has to be followed, such as surveyors checking on your future home and what not, you know the garb so I’m not going to go into it.

What was so interesting about this post is that if it is the case that broadband is essential surely a house’s price should be reflective of the broadband connection available or even the mobile broadband signal that you can expect…

Consuming and uploading data are traditional ways people interact with the Internet, but now people use it in a completely different way, applications have emerged such as Google Docs that are completely online (in the cloud). For these to work a decent connection is often needed, particularly as more complex online applications emerge. When working collaboratively online applications more often than not offer the most powerful and useful solutions. Add to this the factor of working from home which may become something to be encouraged in these climate-aware times then it would be natural to start wondering if you are at a disadvantage compared to your similarly skilled peers if you have a poor Internet connection.

Distance from a telephone exchange will of course make a difference to the signal that you receive…

One of the most common factors that can affect your Internet speed is the distance you live from a telephone exchange. For ADSL type connections the speed will decrease the further away you are from the exchange. Landline is of course not the only option now, pay as you go mobile broadband is becoming more popular, but even this will vary from area to area, some places have a stronger signal, some properties might be constructed in such a way that accidentally blocks 3g signals. A house in an area close to a phone exchange and with a good mobile signal will have a better Internet service, and the owners will be able to make more of what the it has to offer.

Its fair to say that the cost of building a house from scratch even on land owned by oneself is still going to be pretty expensive, perhaps the solution to cheap, affordable housing could be found through re-using the products that we have previously created…

Personally I cannot ever see myself owning a home, frankly with the money I presently earn and the little savings that I actually have coupled with the fact that now is apparently the time to start thinking about buying a property, whether I would actually be accepted for a first time buyer mortgage remains a mystery I don’t want to find out.

This scheme in LA in the US seems to be the answer at least to the problem that seems to stem from playing neighbouring city to one of the biggest ports in the US. Their idea was to create houses out of the fairly sturdy shipping containers which are omnipresent in the suburbs around LA, to build cheap, affordable housing which almost halves the cost of construction… A great idea indeed! Next we will be all growing vegetables or something