The problem with the benefit system

For every post about that theres one from someone else about youngsters expecting too much and needing to suck it up.

Yes a lot of threads seem to end up in the same place.

Presumably that's due to tax cuts being focussed on income but then non-income based taxation increasing substantially?

To be fair though Rick, and this is not a criticism, you choose to live in a city (understandably linked to your career choice) that has disproportionately higher living costs. You could choose to live elsewhere and enjoy a much higher standard of living and own a far bigger house for a lot less money. I understand it is all a trade off, you work in a sector with higher incomes therefore need better geographical access, but that is still a personal choice. I don't see someone choosing to live in an expensive area being the result of previous generations wealth or an issue with state pensions, it is simply supply and demand. If one chooses to live in a high demand area you need to earn more and wills spend more, meaning less disposable income.

Your final point is wrong. Unless you are judging travel purely by the thoroughness of security checks when flying.

We'll have to disagree on that one. I flew a lot more than my children do. You rocked up a lot later, it was quieter, virtually no queuing, you could say bye to people at the gate etc etc. Night and day.

Hell, I remember going with my mate and his mum to pick up his brother, because we could play hide and seek across the whole of Stansted. Quality.

Because it was cheaper.

It's not so cheap now.

You said it became harder after 2001. Are you now saying it became harder after covid? The 2001 statement is just complete nonsense.

For example, I was in Warsaw once looking to return to the UK. I went to pretty much every agency, on foot, to compare ticket prices. There were multiple companies running direct buses to London. I would guess that I paid something like £50.

Now, I can just lie in bed and buy a plane ticket through a search engine for £78. There appears to no longer be any direct buses.

If, like me, you are nostalgic for the overland days when you could sit on a bus for 24 hours, then fine, things are worse, but for the average person who prefers a 2 hour flight, things really are a lot better.

Don't forget that buying a cheaper return required a Saturday night away. Short returns during the week were at business prices, not leisure ones. The cost was signigficantly higher than it is now.

not to mention the far, far wider choices of both departure airport and destination.

But Rick keeps telling us how rich pensioners are.....

Beat the spammer

The agony of not benefiting from a break for a tax they already don’t pay.

Is this a parody of "The irony thread" where middle class professionals, led by someone who professes to be in the top 1% of earners, argue that oiks who have no chance of making meaningful payments to a private pension scheme should not get a MAXIMUM of just over £200 a week state pension?

Wehay, Bally returns.

People on UC are expected to - what's the difference?

And, to be clear, I've made it plain the social security should be there for people who would be destitute otherwise.

I just don't think that the bulk of the retired particularly need it. Richest cohort in Britain - as everyone points out, is to be expected - doesn't need a universal benefit.