Mrs Smith is seething ...

[Mrs Smith]

I recently heard my (soon to be ex) friend's mother has got full support from the dear-old State towards her stay at the Old Crusties Retirement home after a lifetime of boozing, smoking and gambling their money away. My darling daddy skimped and saved all his life and got nothing !

The answer is simple and I am going to write to my MP and that nice Cameron boy. Of course, everyone is entitled to a basic care (we can use those old Army bases) but then on top of that you pay however much you want for any additional services (at standardised prices). For instance soft toilet paper would be and extra £50 per annum, nurses who speak english and extra £300 pa etc. etc.

Surely this will stimulate some fairness in the system ?

My daughter says I should not write opinions like this as the ladies at the bridge circuit will call me a fascist but I am seething ...

[Dundeegeorge]

But Mrs. smith

don't be alarmed at being called a fascist.
What you must always remember is that if you have a valid point to make which can't reasonably (and by this I mean a non-political person's viewpoint) be dismissed, then you will be derided and your viewpoint ridiculed.
A good rule of thumb is 'if somebody is mocking you, you're probably right'.
It works for me.

[zathras]

I recently heard my (soon to be ex) friend's mother has got full support from the dear-old State towards her stay at the Old Crusties Retirement home after a lifetime of boozing, smoking and gambling their money away. My darling daddy skimped and saved all his life and got nothing !

Heard on the Radio this morning that the system of means testing was not helping the those in retirement age and a call for means testing to be removed from the equation when determining access to benefits. Perhaps that might readdress the balance.

see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4857606.stm

Elderly people must be guaranteed a minimum level of state-funded social care, the government has been told.
Means-testing for care like washing, dressing and cleaning must end, said a review of England's social care by government adviser Sir Derek Wanless.

But it stopped short of backing free social care, suggesting a minimum care package should be topped up by personal contributions matched by the state.

Ministers said they would form a task force to look at the issue.

The report, commissioned by health think tank the King's Fund, found "serious shortcomings" in care provision and funding arrangements and called for investment to treble by 2026.

[Spacecadet]

Unfortunately things like this are always means tested these days. So those people who were clever and did make sure that they had provisioned for themselves for the hard times will get nothing or at least a lot less than those who just p*ssed their money up the wall.

[eternalnomad]

Unfortunately things like this are always means tested these days. So those people who were clever and did make sure that they had provisioned for themselves for the hard times will get nothing or at least a lot less than those who just p*ssed their money up the wall.

Its only fair

[tim123]

Unfortunately things like this are always means tested these days. So those people who were clever and did make sure that they had provisioned for themselves for the hard times will get nothing or at least a lot less than those who just p*ssed their money up the wall.

Whilst harsher, the German system works well here. The family *always* get to pick up the bill. If daddy saved then he pays for himself, if daddy p1ssed it up then wall then his kids get the bill to pay (even if they have to borrow to find the money).

The only people that the state pays for, are those with no money and no kids.

In a situation where only a tiny percentage go into a home then this system is somewhat unfair, but in the world that we are now living in with people living longer and many more of us needing to go into care, it seems a much better way.

tim