THE 'GRIPEVINE Air your grievances here
You are invited to contribute any matters which fall into the 'crass stupidity' category. They may be significant or insignificant (if funny).
Not So funny Items
Pension tax concession
One of the Labour governments first actions when taking office was to remove the tax concession (worth about £2bn) relating to pension investment income; originally, this concession was primarily put in place to assist individuals to provide for their retirement. Due to the euphoria of being rid of a dissolute Conservative administration, even the media missed making comment on the issue. However, one person, in a street interview, likened the decision to Maxwell's theft from his companies' pension schemes - stating that at least Robert Maxwell got his just deserts and his pension holders would get some money back.
Assuming one needs to have accumulated £400k by sixty, and that one can only really start to put significant sums to one side from age thirty, young workers will need to find at least another £50k over their working lives to compensate for this action.
email your thoughts to the Labour Party here circulation@socialistparty.org.uk or socialism2000@socialistparty.org.uk (if you want to receive their reply, don't forget to give them your email address otherwise I will receive their comments, and, quite frankly, as I think their action is indefensible, I really do not want to hear from them)!
Barclays Bank
The BIG Bank. I banked with Barclays from 1963 until 1998. I should have left them in 1995 when, due to their vicious policy of reducing lending during the post-Thatcher depression, a good friend succumbed to the unrelenting pressure, finally dying and leaving his business in considerable difficulties. Their extraordinary approach to the problems my friend faced (see page on Argo Cars) was purely to set the new overdraft limit at the new balance following the sale of a chassis; this effectively left the company without working capital. The blame for over-lending lies squarely with Barclays who should have shared the risk rather than work on an 'I'm alright Jack' policy.
I finally left when they sent one letter telling me that I was over my agreed limit, but that it was not a problem, just advising that a slightly higher interest rate would kick in, then, when my salary, which was paid by direct-credit, went astray one month, they promptly refused payment on my car and my mortgage, only letting me know in writing after the event, thereby allowing me no opportunity to redress the matter. When my wife and I closed our four accounts, they were so disinterested, no-one from Barclays could even be bothered to pick up the 'phone and ask why!
Barclays, you disgust me along with, I suspect, the hundreds of small people who presumably have moved following your programme of branch closures; whilst some closures may be needed to remain competitive, the dreadfully inept means used to make the closures at a time of publishing very high pay awards for your senior officers and the revolting advertising campaign which clearly told your small customers that they were not wanted, surely places you in the 'Gripevine' firing line. Buying the Woolwich and promptly closing another raft of branches will do nothing to repair a deserved autocratic image, and soon you will be losing another quantity of small investor/customers with the attendant bad publicity. You have forgotten that from small acorns do great oaks grow, and such acorns have long memories, and your long-term business will certainly be irrepairably damaged. If you, the reader agree with the implications of the above, email your thoughts direct to Barclays by emailing - stephen.rice@barclays.co.uk
Timeshare
Ann and I decided to try timeshare - yes, we attended one of those brain-washing seminars, but thought we were unaffected by the speel, and carefully considered the options. In the end, we were sold a deal which had not been explained properly, and we found ourselves with two lots of maintenance fees.
The selling company called themselves Universal Vacations Company, or UVC - they were only interested in taking your money and were a 'fly-by-night' business which quickly disappeared. This is one of the problems with this sort of holiday - there is quite a lot of legal stuff to consider, and your investment is totally in the hands of others. Yes, in theory you can register with RCI - no criticism of that organisation (they were the only people to actually try to get us our holiday entitlement), but you are up against people who change the rules as they go along leaving you frustrated and, in our case, having fewer holidays for a much higher price. We cannot advise you strongly enough to avoid timeshare. It may suit those who have substantial spare cash to invest in high-value accommodation at peak periods (ie. a minimum of £20,000 - anything less than that means your investment has little or no resale value). Our off-season week was at Playa Flores, La Colina near Malaga. A nice enough complex, but once seen, no particular reason to return. The points value with RCI was virtually nil, and even if you saved two years points (leave them no longer - they miraculously disappear - one of those rules you find out about afterwards), your choice is very limited indeed - so much for being able to stay anywhere.
The other resort was Cromer Country Club - again, a pleasant, well-situated complex. Although we were 'inventory' holders there, we were obliged to book through RCI - all the attendant frustration of waiting on the phone etc. - when we asked to book direct with CCC, a new rule appeared out of the woodwork - 'we could do this if we gave two years notice'. This we did, but received no acknowledgement of our written request. After four expensive frustrating years during which we took only three weeks out of a potential eight weeks entitlement, we gave up, and opted out after finding, unsurprisingly, that there was no resale value whatsoever.
Fuel Prices (12/9/00)
Why are we shooting ourselves in the foot with this campaign? Whilst I thoroughly agree with the aims of the protests, I cannot see how the action will change anything; the Labour administration with 'President' Blair could not care less about the disruption to the people most affected by the shortages. (I was delighted to see both Blair and Prescott mildly inconvenienced in Hull, however).
The current protest should be stopped by mutual agreement now, thereby giving the government the opportunity to bring our vehicle taxation more into line with the rest of Europe, never mind the rest of the world. Many of us would accept high fuel taxes if we saw the monies invested in better roads, and indeed alternative transportation, but all we see is a steady erosion of the quality of the road infrastructure, and very expensive slow smelly public transport which offers journey times at least twice the journey time at three times the price offered by the car.
When stopping the current protest, a time limit should be given by which a sensible plan of taxation reviews may be put to the nation. If these are not forthcoming or they prove to be a sop, the protests should restart, but this time accompanied by support from almost every car and goods vehicle owner in the country. The only thing the government will understand is the withdrawal of compliance with its fiscal policy relating to vehicle taxation. If just 10% of us had the courage to stand up for what we believe by taking action ourselves (rather than the useless boycotting of petrol stations on Mondays which affects no-one, least of all the government) there would surely be a speedy response.
The proposal is that before the end of this month, we should all return our license discs demanding a refund. (They may be pretty useless anyway without fuel for our vehicles). Carry on using our vehicles (insurance is unaffected in the majority of policies as the holding of RFL in no way affects the safety of the vehicle - best to check your policy first though), and if pulled up, admit the offence, and soon the courts will be overwhelmed as will the refund system. In-the-post will actually hold water as a defence as very few refunds will be processed. There will be a significant financial impact from such action, and it is fair; it will not be just a few people sticking their neck out, but everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the protest without affecting the weaker in our society. Exceptions - yes, of course doctors, ambulances etc should be free to travel without fear of being stopped by the police - they had better tax their vehicles too!
Funny items
(crass stupidity is rarely funny - I hope you can come up with something!)
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E-mail your contributions here, and I will include them if they pass the test (cry or laugh). Please make it clear if you do not want your name to appear with the item.