Fuel Poverty.

I have always sad that the (foreign) energy supply companies and the local councils in the UK were overcharging.

In reply to John Sutton's post 41 - electricity charges in Spain; here in my part of Argentina:

I pay £200 electricity a year (and I have to use it to run a large pump to send well water up to the house so I use a lot each day)

I pay £12.60 a year in bottled gas which we use for cooking.

And our equivalent of poll tax for a detached house on the farm is around £8 a year. (And even though we live in a remote village we get a rubbish collection of any type of rubbish once a week).

The state pension is based on your final salary and is typically between 50 to 80% of your full time wage. A farm worker here retires on about £240 a month - not much but - he is still better off with these low energy charges than his UK equivalent.

When I worked in the North Sea it was conservatively estimated that the UK should have been self sufficient in supply of such. Have the government sold off these re- sources as well, or has the population risen that dramatically introduced by the open door policy of the previous labour government. This is what bothers most people out here re the influx of so many unwanted illegal immigrants, this country does not have the infra structure to support such a large population as people envisage. The maths of some of these people added to what little intelligence they have political activities is the only occupation they are capable of. Australia is a huge country but is not physically able to support much more than it already does. Try telling this to the PC people. The average person thinks PC stands for post card, which I did at one time, until was told otherwise. Ref. a previous post about what you would change and that is what I would do, PC would be a post card, the same as other terms which one is not supposed to say, and they say we live in a free democracy, what a load of rubbish. I still have son/daughter and grandchildren living in uk and wonder how far in advance the standard of living will drop when they retire. That is in advance of before it drops here, which it certainly will if some of the policys put out by present so called leaders goes ahead. Regards John Sabourn

Take a look at the national census figure's over the last 50 yrs in the U.K They show that the population has grown from 55,000,000 to an estimated 70,000,000 today that is the people who are registered in this country the figure is more 80,000,000 with the illegals. The future looks very grim indeed here mate once the country is open to Romania and Bulgaria, More cheap labour for our kids and grand kids to battle against. The politician's mask this by welcoming a multi racial society as a lot of Brit's can and do work anywhere in Europe. Fine but answer me one question when have you ever heard of one case where a Brit has been deported from any E.U. Country for being an illegal immigrant or getting to his destination riding under the chaise of a goods wagon immigration has to be on the top of any governments agenda here in the U.K. Sorry lads there is no room in the inn end of :confused: Regards John Terry.

when we signed on the dotted line for this common market our way of life went down the pan?jp

I saw Question Time on BBC TV on Thursday night,
That waffler, Ken Clark, MP and Justice Secretary , or something else. was extolling the virtues of being in eRUROPE how we need them and so on.
He is a Director of British Tobacco and many other business interests in eUROPE, of course it is wonderful for him,
He makes millions out of eUROPE.
.
Now Bob Crow of RMT Union, said the only intelligent thing he has ever spoken. "Get out of eUROPE."
Too much cheap labour coming in taking British jobs.
It will be worse when Rumania and Bulgaria take over our country.
Why do the British People allow the Politicians to destroy our once great nation that our fathers fought and died for, to keep out the europeans in two world wars.
We should all be on the streets protesting. and Stopping all immigration, WE ARE FULL .
Brian.

Brian we have got ourselves in a situation were our hands are tied and we are also gagged as well ? get out of the eu even if it takes a few years for us to get back on our feet we missed the boat on immigration migrants are here now and you will never get shut of them but at least dump the ones that don't belong here out. there is to much strain on the tax payer and at the end of the day you have to live and that costs money we just have not got. if we have a large population out of an eu country get the cost of that eu country to keep them at our rates of pay travel would soon be restricted through the eu. how is it every member of the british public will tell you what the powers that be are just getting we are full?jp

Hi shipmates, Some Multi nationals companys and big business, and buy to let land lords are doing very nicely out of illegals, asylum seekers, and bogus students and cheap E.U. workers The E.U. is a free handout to those who know the rules ? so get a good accountant for your share they give out yearly grants if you apply some payouts' in Cardiff The city council got £481,970 Morgan bros of lisvane private {milk dairy}£37,029 D England potatoe merchant £95,375 Dr A shboury £17,514 ??? and many more all get free money from the E.U.{ Anyone} can apply !!!! to have a share of the £22 bn payout last year The U.K. government paid in only £8.91bn, so its a Big winner for the U.K. we will never leave, Mr Ken Clarke is 100% right !!! too many greedy people and M.P.s are on the E.U. gravy train. Mr Cameron who understands all this will if still in power??? { wont last that long} give us a vote lol maybe in a few years time? only because his Tory voters will go to UKIP in many places its just a smokescreen the deal is done.

Louis Cameron is running scared the libs know they should not have jumped into bed with him clegg is cameron's door Matt the votes the cons loose will not go liberal so they are ukip bnp or independent now is the time to have the other alternative parties to grow in stature strike while the iron is hot and its melting right now one party blames another its down to the party that got us in the sh.te in the first place and they got us into the common market we were conned and its coming back to bite us in the a.se now.just my view jp

Every word he spoke was the truth on Q.T. The other night Brian, The whole of the infrastructure of this once great nation has been dragged down or privatised there are no real apprenticeship's for our next generation, There are companies that will only employ foreign workers, This all started back in Thatchers day when she destroyed the only tool the working man had there unions, I am sorry for repeating myself but it was the N.U.S. That got the majority of us on the Merchant Navy trail not the Shipowners. And the same applied in every industry in this country this is a lost generation of young kids coming through now without hope or dignity and they don't deserve it. Another thing said on Q.T. The other night which is true all the Asian, and Polish migrants who work so hard in there little corner shops and stay open until midnight and aren't scared to go out to work for a pittance, Don't do anything for growth in this country they send most of there takings home and that is very true. Lads for some reason i cant tick a like or a thanks????????? Abyone else having this problem Regards all Terry.:mad:

I have been a trade union member for 45 years , and come from a long line of trade unionists dating back through the 19th Century when the Derbyshire miners were starved back to work by the mine owners , what destroyed the Unions Terry was the greed and political ambitions of the men running some of them , they did not give one toss about their own membership , and found that the membership drifted away , Thatcher may have taken on the likes of Arthur Scargill , but his downfall was his own men , they were not 100% behind him . There are less than 2000 members now , in Derbyshire there are 4 members , three are paid officials , When Harold Wilson started rightly closing the loss making pits he started the decline in the Union membership , he was the man who started the implementation of the Beeching report too . Thatcher had her faults Terry , but the death throws of the Trade Unions and the working man was began by Harold Wilson , a Multi-Millionaire . The Labour party has been too full of these Multi Millionaires for too long , all telling us that they understand the working man , as they shook the workers hand they picked his pockets , but because they wore a red tie they got away with it . And just in passing , I actually liked the Poll Tax , why should a house with five adults pay the same council tax that I do , we all use the services , but why should the mansions of the rich , often owned by obscure companies to avoid taxation get away without paying . The root of our decline was buried in the soil of this Country long before Mrs T