Inequalities,

There is a story going around that Nigel Farage has stated that he will not be turning down his £73,000 a year pension from the EU. On the one hand you might think that a man who does not like the EU, who worked hard to get us put of the EU and is supposed to have become an MEP with just that purpose in mind might not want any more to do with the institution. On the other hand, it’s perhaps what you might expect from him.

He is apparently reported to have said that of course he is accepting the pension as he does not see why his family should suffer even more! What exactly has his family suffered, by the way, from the UK being in EU? And I think that we have to continue contributing to his EU pension even after we leave. Brilliant! I would like to opt out. Just as I would like to opt out of contributing to David Cameron’s Prime Ministerial pension. I am pretty sure neither of these gentlemen is short of a bob or two.

Meanwhile, for those of us who live in less exalted circles, I came across this:-

 “Hundreds of thousands of children and older people have been plunged into poverty in the past four years, according to a stark analysis laying bare the challenge to families trying to keep up with the cost of living in Britain. The research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found almost 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners in the UK were living in poverty last year compared with 2012-13, the first sustained increases in child and pensioner poverty for 20 years.
The foundation warned that decades of progress were at risk of being unravelled amid weak wage growth and rising inflation. The thinktank urged the government to unfreeze benefits, increase training for adult workers and to embark on a more ambitious house-building programme to provide affordable homes for struggling families.”

Phil and I are fortunate enough to be among the people who managed to retire with a reasonable work-related pension, nowhere near the Nigel Farage EU level but with more than enough to get by on and some left over to help out the offspring if necessary. We hear a lot about the Bank of Mum and Dad these days. However, the Bank of Mum and Dad only works if there are funds available and I think younger generations are finding it hard to set up those funds for when their turn to be the bankers comes around.

Here’s another story:

 “The Co-op will start selling food past its "best before" date for just 10p as it looks to tackle the issue of food waste. From Monday shoppers at 125 Co-op stores in East Anglia will be able to purchase "perfectly edible" items as part of a campaign to reduce the chain's impact on the environment. Items such as tinned goods and dried food which have a "best before" date, rather than "use by" dates, will be available for the reduced price as part of the scheme. The "best before" date is about quality, not safety, so the food is fine to eat beyond even though it has gone beyond its optimum.”

I have long argued that sell-by dates were a bit of an anomaly. Meat and fish and other produce that might cause you harm if eaten when they start to go off need a sell-by date but is it the case for fruit and veg? Recently I have bought apples at reduced prices because they have gone past their sell-by date and then had to keep them for a week while they ripen up to a truly edible condition. Similarly, avocado pears at their sell-by date are like rocks. And yet some people are still ruled by sell-by dates. Crazy world!

 And Aldi, a quite excellent store these days, has a scheme in place to deal with food left in the shops when they close at 4.00 pm on Christmas Eve. Organisations can contact Aldi,before December 8th and arrange to collect left-over food so that it can be distributed to the needy.

It’s all beginning to seem a little Dickensian!