Free bus pass age to rise from 60 to state pension age

When I received my free bus pass 5 years ago it came at a opportune time as I had a recurrence of an illness which saw , me travelling between home and two hospitals on a regular basis and it saved me a great deal of money.

When the passes were first issued on a all Wales basis , I believe  Men received it at 65 and Women  at 60 a that was what the retirement age .

Fortunately for me it was equalised and both Men and Women received  their passes at 60.

Since then of course the 1995 Pensions Act increased the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 in order to equalise the age with men, with the change to be phased in over ten years from 2010 for women born between 1950 and 1955.This transition was later sped up by the 2011 Pensions Act.These changes came as a shock to many women who hadn't been aware of them. Some women discovered they would have to wait up to six years longer for their state pension which often affected their retirement plans. In 2015, WASPI was formed by five women to argue for the government to provide transitional payments to women born in the 1950s receiving their pension after the age of 60 They also call for compensation to women who now receive a state pension but had to wait longer.

So whereas the Welsh Government  had managed to make what was a unequal situation between  Mena and Women at the age they got their Buss Pass , the UK government managed to do it by rising the age of retirement for Women. Solving an unequal situation by making it worse for one section.

It did however mean that people now receive their bus pass 5 years before they reached retirement age.

I would argue that what we should have done is to have lowered the retirement age to 60 for everyone if they wished to do so or carrying on and receiving a higher pension at 65 or higher  and therefore increased the job opportunities for younger workers.

Though I wonder how many of those over 60 who use public transport are actually in full time employment.

However it will be a brave move to raise the age requirement as the Welsh Government has  proposed

The BBC report that

The age people become eligible for free bus passes in Wales is to rise from 60 to the state pension age under Welsh Government plans.Ministers are concerned at the rising cost of the pass, with 880,000 people expected to be eligible by 2021.
Transport Minister Ken Skates confirmed the move, to be introduced gradually, will be included in a proposed new law.
But the Older Person's Commissioner is concerned about the potential impact on the most vulnerable older people.
The state pension age for men and women is 65 and will rise to 67 by 2028.
Details of when the changes will be introduced remain sketchy. The pass, introduced in 2002, entitles users to free bus travel.
According to a recent consultation, pass-holders represent about 47% of bus journeys in Wales.

There were about 730,000 passes in circulation at the end of last year
Bus firms are reimbursed on the basis of an adult single fare, according to a White Paper published last year. Figures from 2016 show the cost of providing free bus travel up to then was in the region of £840m.
The White Paper that put the proposals to consultation said the cost to the public purse was "rising" and the Welsh Government "needs to consider ways of managing the rising costs without affecting the eligibility of those persons currently entitled to a concessionary pass".
It said the way reimbursement works was not an incentive for operators to keep fares low.
The consultation proposed introducing the change incrementally and in a way that means anyone who holds a pass at the time of the changes will be completely unaffected.

 In a statement to AMs, Mr Skates said the bill would "amend the eligibility for the mandatory concessionary fares scheme so that over time it will align with a person's state pension age".Older People's Commissioner Heléna Herklots said although details were limited, she was "concerned the changes could have a significant impact on many older people".
"Many bus services in Wales have been lost in recent years, with many more currently under threat, and a reduction in the number of users on less popular routes, many of whom will be older people, is likely to further exacerbate this," she said.
"More importantly, increasing the eligibility age will undoubtedly affect some of the most vulnerable older people in Wales, such as those living in poverty or near the poverty line, people who have given up work to care for loved ones and those living with long-term health conditions."
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We remain committed to the principles which have underpinned the scheme in Wales for more than a decade - providing older and disabled people, and more recently some veterans and service personnel, universal access to free bus travel anywhere in Wales on local scheduled bus services.
"Changes to the eligibility age will be phased in and we will ensure that universal entitlement is retained. Any person who holds a concessionary pass at the time the changes to the law are made will be completely unaffected."
Others who receive passes would be unaffected.

I imagine  m that this will a stealth increase and it will be done in such a way that  it will not be blatantly obvious.

Evert European country seem to be intent on raising the retirement age    as we live longer and are more active than previous generations.

But we should acknowledge that there is a difference, between an Office Worker and a Labourer working in to their late sixties, and this is the sort of debate we should be having.

Bearing in mind older people are more likely to vote it remains that it will be a brave move to rise the bus pas entitlement age and may not be very wise.

If Johnson is a clown it is Stephen King's Pennywise.

The Financial Times a few weeks made the extraordinary appraisal of the man who Today will be the Prime Minister of these Islands, with the headline 

Calling Boris Johnson a clown is unfair to clowns

Allan Beattie wrote,

You don’t have to read too many profiles of Boris Johnson before you notice a particular epithet recur. People have many and varied opinions about the odds-on favourite to be Britain’s next prime minister. But almost everyone, it appears, thinks he is a clown. It’s easy to see why. The eccentric appearance, at least by politicians’ standards: wild hair, unkempt dress. The exaggerated gestures: windmilling arms, excitable hands. The outlandish props: waving around a kipper at a hustings to illustrate a (completely false) claim about British fishing and Brexit. Mr Johnson has a talent for comic showmanship above and beyond the arch verbal wit typical of British political humour. Yet while the term “clown” is often used as an insult, it is in fact a compliment Mr Johnson does not deserve. Clowning is a noble art form animated by a spirit he does not share. Britain’s community of professional clowns is fizzing with indignation that their calling is thus being traduced by association. Certainly, clowning uses techniques such as exaggerated movement and incongruous clothing, derived from centuries-old European traditions of rambunctious physical theatre. But true clowning is about more than slapstick. Jack Stark, a British clown well known on the theatre and cabaret circuit, says: “Clowns can be clumsy and gaffe-prone, and live in a world of chaos. But how they respond to that world is different. Clowns want to make things better. Boris uses his act to get himself out of troubles of his own making.”

There are many comparisons  to Boris Johnson to a Clown in the Media, but I think that if we are to compare him in this way , it should be Pennywise  the title character in Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It. The character is an ancient cosmic evil which preys upon the children of Derry, Maine, roughly every 27 years, using a variety of powers that include the ability to shapeshift, manipulate, and go unnoticed by adults. During the course of the story, it primarily appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown


In the novel,  like Johnson It is a monster that can shapeshift and change forms. Pennywise the Clown is It's most used form., but we are likely to see a very nasty side of him soon.


We should be looking at Johnson as what he is a malignant  evil in the pennywise mode and not a a jovial uncle in a Clown Suit.

Don't think Johnson's Premiership will make Independence inevitable.

Unless there is an almighty shock, there 's a good chance that by the time you read this Boris Johnson will be the new  Conservative Prime Minister and by tomorrow he will be UK Prime Minister.

There wil be those in Wales and Scotland who believe that this will inevitably lead to both countries leaving the Union and  becoming Independent Nations.

Both Plaid's Adam Price  and Right winger  Jac O' the North  seem to fall into this oh to easy assumption

Adam Price  claims that a Johnson premiership would “wreak unimaginable damage on Wales and Scotland, risking thousands of jobs and crucial investment in our communities.” He argued that people will only tolerate so much before choosing a different path: independence.

“What the past three years have shown is that the land of milk and honey promised by the leaders of the Leave campaign was never possible,” he said, writing in the Scotsman newspaper.
“Indeed, any version of Brexit would wreak unimaginable damage on Wales and Scotland, risking thousands of jobs and crucial investment in our communities.
“That risk increases exponentially when the next British prime minister takes office next week. If, as expected, Boris Johnson does indeed become prime minister, the occupant of 10 Downing Street will be a man who relishes the prospect of a no deal Brexit.
“Let us be in no doubt that these are very serious times which require all of us to think very seriously and soberly about the kind of future we want for our nations.

“When Wales and Scotland do choose an independent future – and it is only a matter of when – I also happen to believe England would benefit from an equal partnership as much as our two countries.”

Whilst Jac, Bless him  tells us

 Regular readers will know that I voted for Brexit back in June 2016. I did so for the reasons I set out in EU Referendum: Why I Want OUT! which was followed in celebratory mood with Brexit, Wexit: Things Can Only Get Better!The clue to my motivation lies in my use of the word ‘Wexit’, for I believed then, and I believe even more strongly today, that Brexit, especially a disastrous and damaging Brexit, can lead to Welsh independence. And Welsh independence is my priority; more important by far than membership of the EU.

And its mot only Lexiters like Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour Party who believe that a Johnson Premiership , will lead  a early election and a Labour victory and new Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson is probably anticipating being the power broker in a a Hung Parliment


But this is going to haunt





But before we start to write Johnson political obituary we should remember that in 1979 a right wing seemingly adrift Conservative leader won a General Election and held power for over a decade .


Even In Wales rghe Tories received a rise in their votes .

UK General Elections[edit]

Year	Share of votes	Seats
1922	21.4%	6 / 36
1923	21%	4 / 36
1924	28.3%	9 / 36
1929	21.9%	1 / 36
1931	22.1%	6 / 36
1935	23.3%	6 / 36
1945	16.5%	3 / 36
1950	21%	3 / 36
1951	27.6%	5 / 36
1955	26.7%	5 / 36
1959	29.6%	6 / 36
1964	27.6%	6 / 36
1966	27%	3 / 36
1970	27.7%	7 / 36
1974 (Feb)	25.9%	8 / 36
1974 (Oct)	23.9%	8 / 36
1979	32.2%	11 / 36
1983	31%	14 / 38
1987	29.5%	8 / 38
1992	28.6%	6 / 38
1997	19.6%	0 / 40
2001	21%	0 / 40
2005	21.4%	3 / 40
2010	26.1%	8 / 40
2015	27.2%	11 / 40
2017	33.6%	8 / 40

Just as many of us in that period hardly met anybody who admitted to voting for the Tories under Thatcher in parts of Wales 

But even in the aftermath of the Miners Strike, part of the Labour Strongholds in the Welsh Valleys saw the Tories get respectable votes .

General election 1987: Caerphilly^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ron Davies	28,698	58.44	+12.8
	Conservative	Michael Powell	9,531	19.4	−0.2
	Liberal	Michael Butlin	6,923	14.1	−7.1
	Plaid Cymru	Lindsay Whittle	3,955	8.1	−5.5
Majority			19,167	39.03	−14.1
Turnout			49,107	76.6	+2.0
Registered electors			64,154
	Labour hold		Swing

Often it was claimed the only time anybody saw the Tory candidate was when he (it was nearly always a he) got of the train to attend the count on election day.

The Falklands' Factor and the rise of the SDP  (who split the Labour party more than the Tories) helped Thatcher  but she spent much of the time with nearly all the uK media on her side.

I am not convinced  that with a UK media including the BBC behind him . Johnson will get enough support to promote British/English  nationalism .that will keep him in power and turning our dreams into a nightmare.

Forget Brexit, Johnson's first act is to dance to US war Drums.

On top of Brexit, the new Prime Minister will this week be thrown into a full blown conflict in the Middle East.

Of course facing or   creating  the prospect of waving the Flag and Boris Johnson may well be looking  for his Falklands Moment and repeat Margaret Thatcher in transforming an unpopular government almost overnight.

It seems from most of the Media that Iran has seized a UK  Oil Tanker in a act of aggression, that must be met even with force.

However if  Johnson does he may well have been played (willingly or unwillingly) by the US government into supporting their own desire to escalate the situation for political purposes.

Simon Tisdall of the Guardian has written what looks to be a Conspiracy Theory  that has too much truth to be dismissed.

How Trump’s arch-hawk lured Britain into a dangerous trap to punish Iran

"John Bolton, White House national security adviser and notorious Iraq-era hawk, is a man on a mission. Given broad latitude over policy by Donald Trump, he is widely held to be driving the US confrontation with Iran. And in his passionate bid to tame Tehran, Bolton cares little who gets hurt – even if collateral damage includes a close ally such as Britain.So when Bolton heard British Royal Marines had seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar on America’s Independence Day, his joy was unconfined. “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” he exulted on Twitter.
Bolton’s delighted reaction suggested the seizure was a surprise. But accumulating evidence suggests the opposite is true, and that Bolton’s national security team was directly involved in manufacturing the Gibraltar incident. The suspicion is that Conservative politicians, distracted by picking a new prime minister, jockeying for power, and preoccupied with Brexit, stumbled into an American trap.
In short, it seems, Britain was set up....

 Bolton is a foreign policy hawk and is an advocate for regime change in Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Yemenand North Korea.^[] He has also repeatedly called for the termination of the Iran nuclear deal. He was an advocate of the Iraq War and continues to support the decision to invade Iraq. He has continuously supported military action and regime change in Syria, Libya, and Iran. A Republican, his political views have been described as American nationalist, conservative, and "neoconservative".^] Bolton rejects the last term^] and uses the term "pro-American" instead.

The Guardian continues

...The consequences of the Gibraltar affair are only now becoming clear. The seizure of Grace I led directly to Friday’s capture by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of a British tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz. Although it has not made an explicit link, Iran had previously vowed to retaliate for Britain’s Gibraltar “piracy”. Now it has its revenge.
As a result, Britain has been plunged into the middle of an international crisis it is ill-prepared to deal with. The timing could hardly be worse. An untested prime minister, presumably Boris Johnson, will enter Downing Street this week. Britain is on the brink of a disorderly exit from the EU, alienating its closest European partners. And its relationship with Trump’s America is uniquely strained.
Much of this angst could have been avoided. Britain opposed Trump’s decision to quit the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the trigger for today’s crisis. It has watched with alarm as the Trump-Bolton policy of “maximum pressure”, involving punitive sanctions and an oil embargo, has radicalised the most moderate Iranians.
Yet even as Britain backed EU attempts to rescue the nuclear deal, Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt, foreign secretary, tried to have it both ways – to keep Trump sweet. They publicly supported Washington’s complaints about Iran’s “destabilizing” regional activities and missile program, and berated Iran when it bypassed agreed nuclear curbs.
Crucially, the government failed to significantly beef up protection for British-flagged vessels transiting the Gulf after attacks in May and June. This was partly because a depleted Royal Navy lacks capacity to mount adequate patrols. But it was also because officials feared that by raising its military profile, Britain could be sucked into armed conflict with Iran.
For Bolton, however, drawing Britain unambiguously in on America’s side was a desirable outcome. So when US spy satellites, tasked with helping block Iranian oil exports in line with Trump’s global embargo, began to track Grace I on its way, allegedly, to Syria, Bolton saw an opportunity.
The Spanish newspaper, El Pais, citing official sources, takes up the story: “The Grace 1, which flies a Panamanian flag, had been under surveillance by US satellites since April, when it was anchored off Iran. The supertanker, full to the brim with crude oil, was too big for the Suez Canal, and so it sailed around the Cape of Good Hope before heading for the Mediterranean.
“According to the US intelligence services, it was headed for the Syrian oil refinery of Banias. Washington advised Madrid of the arrival of the supertanker 48 hours ahead of time, and the Spanish navy followed its passage through the Strait of Gibraltar. It was expected to cross via international waters, as many Iranian vessels do without being stopped.”
Although Spanish officials, speaking after the event, said they would have intercepted the ship “if we had had the information and the opportunity”, Spain took no action at the time. But Bolton, in any case, was not relying on Madrid. The US had already tipped off Britain. On 4 July, after Grace I entered British-Gibraltar territorial waters, the fateful order was issued in London – it is not known by whom – and 30 marines stormed aboard.
Iran’s reaction was immediate and furious. It claimed Britain had acted illegally because the EU embargo on oil supplies to Syria, which Hunt claimed to be upholding, applied only to EU states and not to third countries such as Iran. In any case, Tehran said, the ship’s destination was not Syria.
Iran’s outrage was shared, to a lesser degree, by Josep Borrell, Spain’s socialist foreign minister. Borrell resented the British incursion into Gibraltar’s territorial waters, which Madrid does not recognize. He also appears to have been annoyed that Spain was drawn in – in Tehran, the Spanish ambassador had been summonsed by the foreign ministry to explain Madrid’s role. His reaction was to distance Spain from the affair. The Iranian tanker had been seized “following a request from the United States to the United Kingdom,” he said. And even though Britain was supposedly upholding EU regulations, the External Action Service, the EU’s foreign policy arm, has remained silent throughout.
Iran’s retaliation in snatching the Stena Impero has further exposed Britain’s diplomatic isolation and its military and economic vulnerability. The government has advised British ships to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, an admission it cannot protect them. But between 15 and 30 British-flagged tankers transit the strait each day. If trade is halted, the impact on energy prices may be severe.
Hunt’s appeal for international support for Britain has so far fallen on deaf ears, France and Germany excepted. China, Japan and other countries that rely on oil from the Gulf show no sign of helping. The US plan for a multinational coalition to protect Gulf shipping has few takers. Meanwhile, Trump’s promise to back Britain has scant practical value – and carries inherent dangers.
The Bolton gambit succeeded. Despite its misgivings, Britain has been co-opted on to the front line of Washington’s confrontation with Iran. The process of polarization, on both sides, is accelerating. The nuclear deal is closer to total collapse. And by threatening Iran with “serious consequences”, without knowing what that may entail, Britain blindly dances to the beat of Bolton’s war drums".

The sad fact is that Boris Johnson desperate , for a Trade Deal with Trump and as I said mindful of creating his own Falklands Factor will be only to happy to  obey a Racists US President and the manipulations  of its war mongering Secretary of State.

The Shit stirs the Shit.

It seems we saw a case pf  "The Shit stirring the Shit" this week when one  of Ukip's Assembly Members  Neil Hamilton  "A liar and a cheat". tweeted this.




Mr Hamilton's intentions seems to be clear in that he wishes to stir up trouble among Plaid Members and supporters over the row over allowing former Plaid AM back into the party.

Mr McEvoy seems to support Hamilton's story

Neil McEvoy AM

@neiljmcevoy

.

@Adamprice

I was really disappointed to have a #UKIP AM chosen before me for the Assembly Environment Committee.

@RhunapIorwerth

should have backed me over

@NeilUKIP

I wanted to raise matters on LDPs.

Though according to H

elen Mary Jones

Helen Mary Jones

@HelenMaryCymru

Replying to

@oakley8376

@ElinCeredigion

and 5 others

No. There were two places on Committees for AMs not members of Party Groups. One on Petitions, one on Environment. Neil McEvoy got Petitions, Hamilton got Environment. Neither objected at the time, or voted against when it came to the full Assembly for ratification. Non story

9:49 PM · Jul 19, 2019 · Twitter for iPhone

Now you can argue (and probably be right) that the Environment Committee is more prodigious than Petitions and Hamilton his a Climate Change Denier, but it seems that both Hamilton and McEvoy are creating a storm in a teacup.

Mr McEvoy made himself ridiculous this week by tweeting this

Neil McEvoy AM

@neiljmcevoy

·

Jul 19

Good for her. She should have been expelled from plaid cymru for this entrance.

Tom Hauser

@thauserkstp

· Jul 18

Congresswoman Omar just arrived back in the Twin Cities.

Comparing himself  to a courageous US congresswoman, who had been racially attacked by her President and his supporters is egotistical and crass, and he should apologise for doing so,