27 years ago the chancellor Gordon Brown introduced the winter fuel allowance for pensioners. This amounted to £200 for a person under 80 and £300 for those above 80.
Assumption is that many pensioners cant afford to pay their heating bills.
Our new government announced recently that this payment is going to be abolished and it’s causing a lot of controversy.
But I think a lot of people can’t afford to heat their homes to an ideal level
And who decides on that level? If you are over 70 it is recommended your home is heated to at least 18 C but there is no recommendation for the average person although it’s obvious that babies and young children will need warm bedrooms.
I think the right wing press are using this issue to attack the government an exaggerating the effect of the cut but on the other hand I’ve already said that I think it’s a mistake owing to a lack of imagination.
Even with this payment many pensioners will be afraid of the winter.
Food has gone a lot more expensive than it was before the pandemic. Brexit has probably influenced that
The mood in the country is poor many people feel very angry and unhappy.
So is it right that some people are paid very low wages waste is not possible to heat the home or eat the food that’s most desirable?
There are two main definitions of poverty in Britain. There is absolute poverty which means that you can’t eat properly buy suitable clothing and keep your home warm.
You may not have a home if you’re living in absolute poverty.
Then there is relative poverty. This means that you cannot afford things which are regarded as important by most people. You can only buy what’s essential and you may not be able to afford to buy your children a computer or a smartphone. You may not be able to dress in the way that you would like or the same applying to your children, I’m not sure where to place a problem of you can’t afford enough beds for your family so several children are sleeping in one bed or even sleeping on a chair, that sounds like absolute poverty but people in that position are not usually helped by the government or the local authority.
It’s been reported that school teachers are buying clothes for children or taking in food to give them breakfast and some teachers are providing laundry services for children’s school uniforms. This seems to happen when someone’s washing machine breaks down and they can’t afford to replace it
And taking a lot of close to the laundrette to wash is expensive. That is it’s expensive for the poor as the wealthy and the middle income people would be able to use a launderette if they wanted to.
So what indeed is essential. And what is a luxury?
I wonder whether anybody ever thinks about this in the government.
My grandfather was a coal miner for 50 years but I never heard him complain. I suppose his neighbours and relatives were in the same position and nobody had more heating than a coal fire in the living room. The rest of the house was not heated unless somebody was ill when possibly you might have a paraffin heater in the bedroom.
I can remember having a high temperature and lying in my mother’s bed with a Tilley lamp warming the room.
As I was delirious it seem to take on a threatening sound so I lay there frightened
I can’t remember whether the room felt warm.
So people didn’t expect much. no there is more knowledge and more awareness of what other people are earning and how they live. That makes it harder for the poor
How my heart sings 
I didn’t know there diffent types of poverty! I think I might be in relative poverty! Are there any other categories of poverty?
If anyone curves to invent them
If anyone would like to invent them but those are the most useful ones I think
Yes I share your views but I’m taking a back the way that some of the newspapers especially the more right wing ones are using this is a very heavy weapon to attack the government when it reality the state pension has gone up a lot in the last two years it went up 10% two years ago and I think about eight and eight percent last year so that’s quite a big increase compared to what some working people have got and so most of us should be able to afford to heat our homes. Except that people vary in what they think is appropriate. Some people move into a flat or a smaller house so they can afford to heat it and some of us like to stay were we are. So I suppose it will be unfair to expect the government to give more money to those living in bigger houses. It would be absolutely ridiculous.
Then again there are ways to adapt but I think its sad that they didn’t realise the kind of publicity bad publicity that this would getbecause people don’t want to
think
They want to pick up their newspaper and absorb the headlines and then express their rage or delight.
They’re even got an article in the Guardian about people living in the coldest village in England which is near Durham and there is no gas there so they have to use oil fired heating.
Now that is more expensive. But there’s never been any discussion about whether people in cold areas should get more money.
Our economy is not based on compassion I don’t suppose there is one in the world that’s based on compassion.
But I agree with you that we should give our new prime minister as much help as we can coming out of this dreadful era with the likes of Boris Johnson etc
Thank you very much for commenting on it
Janet
Good to know about the pension rises. I didn’t know that and really helps with knowing the full story.
It is indeed huge dilemma. Personally I like Kier Starmer a lot, and feel that we must give him and his government all the support we can. So many of the issues we are dealing with come from years of Tory government! I also think it’s important that we all re think the way we live and what and why are expectations are so out of whack with reality.
Yes, rethinking the way we live is a great idea 💡