The interesting thing is that Boris has achieved exactly what his ideology requires: fuel prices - both in the primary energy sector (oil and gas), and in the refined products secondary sector (petrol and diesel) - are now determined exclusively by the international "market". And suddenly, they don't like it up 'em.

I'd love to see an in-depth analysis of the market - or rather those markets, since I suspect there are a multiplicity of them. In particular, in the domestic gas and electricity sector, we have a retail market - which is now regulated, and has a price cap in place - and a wholesale market, which is completely unregulated. The distribution and billing companies form the squeezed middle, and are rapidly going bust.

But the wholesale markets are the opaque ones. Who are the market makers? What parameters do they operate under? Is it right that the price of a sale is completely divorced from the cost of extraction or production?

And here's another one for Boris to think about.

Council tax rebate cheques cashed at pawnbrokers

People have been cashing in their £150 council tax rebate cheques at a pawnbrokers because they cannot afford to wait for the money.

A large queue formed outside the Cash Shop in Rotherham, which deducts a £15 fee for the service.

Some of those waiting in line said they couldn't afford to wait days for a cheque to clear through their bank.

That's very close to where a parliamentary by-election is to be held on June 23. The verdict of the electorate will be interesting.

And here's another one for Boris to think about.

Council tax rebate cheques cashed at pawnbrokers

People have been cashing in their £150 council tax rebate cheques at a pawnbrokers because they cannot afford to wait for the money.

A large queue formed outside the Cash Shop in Rotherham, which deducts a £15 fee for the service.

Some of those waiting in line said they couldn't afford to wait days for a cheque to clear through their bank.

That's very close to where a parliamentary by-election is to be held on June 23. The verdict of the electorate will be interesting.

What bank doesn't have a branch in Rotherham. I googled 'Rotherham banks' and all the major banks have a branch within 100m of the Cash Shop.

And can you really afford to drive if a monthly income of £1200 only pays for the car insurance and sons food.

Council tax payers who receive their rebate by cheque aren't paying by direct debit - they probably don't have a bank account that can handle cheques. So the presence of an old-fashioned "big four" bank branch close to them is completely useless.

Government level 'solutions' have to be universal.

A few years ago I met a senior being (life form?) in the DWP. He was really shocked to learn that not everyone, let alone every person of pensionable age, had a functional bank account. Such is the "intelligence" of those that run the government systems....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Council tax payers who receive their rebate by cheque aren't paying by direct debit - they probably don't have a bank account that can handle cheques. So the presence of an old-fashioned "big four" bank branch close to them is completely useless.

Government level 'solutions' have to be universal.

The third text line of your post quotes

Some of those waiting in line said they couldn't afford to wait days for a cheque to clear through their bank

Which leads me to suspect many of them do have bank accounts but choose not to pay by Direct Debit.
But I can see a reason for this for those on benefits, as they are paid on a weekly basis which doesn't fit in with the monthly Direct Debit system.

I have been asking my MP and social services why long term benefits, such as the state pension and life long incapacity benefits are not paid monthly to fit the direct debit system and the only excuse I get is " that it is too difficult to retrieve over payments" such as when the pensioner dies.

A few years ago I met a senior being (life form?) in the DWP. He was really shocked to learn that not everyone, let alone every person of pensionable age, had a functional bank account. Such is the "intelligence" of those that run the government systems....

Least it isn't like over here where they reason they don't have an account is because they are undocumented.

I have been asking my MP and social services why long term benefits, such as the state pension and life long incapacity benefits are not paid monthly to fit the direct debit system and the only excuse I get is " that it is too difficult to retrieve over payments" such as when the pensioner dies.

Some years ago, when I wound up my mother's affairs after her death, her DWP state pension was 8½ weeks in arrears - it had been paid quarterly. My pension is paid in arrears every four weeks: I didn't get offered a choice. So that excuse is baloney.

I had to make arrangements for the DWP to pay over a thousand pounds of arrears to the solicitor's client account, where the estate was being collected. I had to fill in the relevant sort code and account number by hand on a paper form, and post (fax?) it to Belfast. That's horribly insecure.

Thanks for confirming benefits like pensions are paid in arrears.
That makes the excuse I was given by social services redundant. And since my last I have been hunting for correspondence from the Minister for the Department for Work and Pensions I received years ago. I've found it in a locked PDF, where there is another excuse;

The current weekly payment regime for State Pension has been in place since 1948. I do understand that the opportunity of being paid calendar monthly would be more convenient for many. However, to make this choice available we would need to make significant changes to a large number of computer systems. I am afraid the costs of these changes would be too great.

Looking to the future, whilst there are no plans to introduce such payments, they remain an option as we look to digitalise the claims and payments process.

It goes on with some flim-flam about Universal Credit, which is paid monthly and if there is a significant change in circumstances. Neither of those apply to pensioners, so don't understand their inclusion.

A few years ago I met a senior being (life form?) in the DWP. He was really shocked to learn that not everyone, let alone every person of pensionable age, had a functional bank account. Such is the "intelligence" of those that run the government systems....

Least it isn't like over here where they reason they don't have an account is because they are undocumented.

The government should know that persons are frequently refused to be able to open a bank account because it is their agencies, the DWP and HMRC (UK's Tax man), that bring fraud charges for benefits fraud, 46,000 cases investigated in 2019/20, and tax avoidance, 76,000 cases investigated in 2016.

Back in March, I was concerned about my pension application. One could apply 1 month before it becomes due.
Those whose birth certificate is in portrait mode benefit from technology.
I don't as mine is in landscape mode & too long to be scanned in one shot. :-(
Having until May to resolve the problem, felt no rush.

I was surprised in April by receipt of a letter from the DWP regarding my pension.
It provided 2 options, apply by post or online & an invitation code was given.
To date, that has been the only time that I have found technology used by bureaucracy to actually work as intended.
I only had to enter the invitation code & confirm details - Job done.
The next surpise came in the middle of last month. Received a letter from DWP stating the amount & date it will commence (in arrears of course).
I only has one thought remaining - WTH is it coming from Belfast when to date, any National Insurance inquiries came from Newcastle?

Boris releases the Kraken
Watch repossessions & homelessness shoot through the roof.

Sidenote, all benefits have always been paid in arrears.

Opposite ends of the spectrum.
State pension: Shock figures reveal just ONE in 20 OAPs receive full weekly payment

ONLY one in 20 pensioners is receiving the full £185.15 a week state pension, a new analysis has revealed.
Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions obtained by the over-60s campaign group Silver Voices showed that around 87% of senior citizens are still on the old state pension rate of £141.85 a week or less.
The new state pension only applies to those who reached the state pension age after 5 April 2016.
Campaigners last night said the analysis showed the UK’s older citizens are far worse than generally understood.

‘Is it fair?’ Pensioner ‘millionaires’ rise to 3 million - triple lock increase questioned

THE NUMBER of pensioners who are now living in millionaire households has risen to three million, new statistics have shown, with some experts now questioning state pension increases as a result.
New analysis of Government data has shown the rising number of wealthy over 65s throughout the UK. In 2008/2010, there were 846,000 over 65s recorded as living in households with over £1million in housing and pension assets.
However, just a decade on, and this picture has drastically transformed.
Now, there are a total of 3,137,000 over 65s who live in millionaire households.

My point of view.
I have questioned why the new state pension doesn't apply to all pensioners. Many like me, who worked all their life from 15 to 65 paid in for 50 years when, IIRC, 30 or 35 years of payments were needed for the standard rate pension.
I paid in fully I want a full state pension.

But I have to admit I am probably near, if not in, the second group.
I need to do up to date property valuation and check how much is in my work and private pension pots, before I can confirm yeah or nay.

I'm in the same sort of position. There was a time, when I was approaching retirement age and working less, that I classed myself as "asset rich, income poor". The arrival of my state pension - just under the new maximum, because I was classed as two weeks short of the required number of full contribution years - balanced things out again.

Wow, £185.15 = $326.10au which is close to what someone on the dole here gets and almost $180au less than my pension. :-O

Wow, £185.15 = $326.10au which is close to what someone on the dole here gets and almost $180au less than my pension. :-O

But that's only for those that have retired recently.
Most, like me are on the old rates, which is £141.85 a week. Although mine was boosted by a thing called SERPs, and I get just over £160/week.
It just about covers my essential direct debits for utilities and the like. Thankfully I own my house outright and have no mortgage or rent to pay.
And therefore my other pensions allow me a comfortable living and I can afford things like a new car every few years, as needed soon because we are being forced towards electric cars.

IMV, the UK should let them go.
When they crawl back with their tails between their legs, say yes on 1 condition.
No devolution/Independence calls for a minimum of 100 years.
How fish head turned Scotland into a failed state

Meanwhile, at Wimbledon...

The hounds are certainly barking at Barking Boris' heels.

(Shame he's MP for Uxbridge and not Barking as "Barking Boris from Barking" has a certain ring to it.......)

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?