curleytops

The wind's absolutely howling outside here this morning, winds over 50 mph at moment calling for up to 70. BBC news just announced a short while ago some place up in Scotland clocked in at 106 mph. I'm glad I don't have to go out!

dunroving

I know that at least three of the four roads into the village are blocked by downed trees. We're stranded! (and I get to work from home - sweet).

My neighbour's garden fence has blown down, such shoddy workmanship.

Lorac05

It's howling here in the Midlands as well - I can hear the house creaking. Luckily I am working from home today so I don't have to go out either

I just saw on the news that many flights are being cancelled - I wonder if Lestergirl will get out today?

dunroving

Network Rail have just confirmed that all services have been cancelled in Scotland ... must be the wrong kind of leaves on the track.

dunroving

Did I imagine it, or did George Osbourne announce in the autumn statement that people who will fall into the new flat pension will be given additional opportunities to top up their NICs? I don't see anything about this in the summaries I have seen so far.

curleytops

The sun's shining here now but still very windy. York to Newcastle trains weren't running last I heard and nothing north of Carlisle until after 2pm. I think a nice big mug of hot chocolate & marshmallows is on the cards for me this afternoon

sallysimmons

Crazy winds up here last night and today. Reminds me of my very favourite poem, which was written about this area.

Wind - Ted Hughes

This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet

Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.

At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as
The coal-house door. Once I looked up -
Through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope,

The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap;
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house

Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought,

Or each other. We watch the fire blazing,
And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on,
Seeing the window tremble to come in,
Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.

Mummy in the foothills

Howling winds here as well. The Christmas lights are all down, hanging across the living room window. Dd got a lift to school with the neighbor as she had room, so saved us walking through the sideways rain.
Wish this storm would just be over already.

between two worlds

Wonderful poem, Sally--thank you.

Englishmum

Wow!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...XTY-YEARS.html


My husband's eldest brother lives in Lowestoft (Suffolk coast) which is in one of the affected areas, although he doesn't live on the seafront.

dunroving

Just found this in a summary on the Moneysavingsexpert site:

"From October 2015, for a limited time only, current pensioners and those who reach pension age before the introduction of the new single tier pension on 6 April 2016 (see the Government outlines flatline state pension MSE News story) will be able to make extra national insurance contributions (NICs) to boost their additional state pension.

The Government says it will legislate to introduce the scheme and a new class of NICs "as soon as possible", and further details will be announced closer to when it comes into effect."

cheers

Stay calm and carry on

dontheturner

Yes, he did. Perhaps it will be more fully explained in The Guardian. Tomorrow

rebs

Glad you found that - I was going to suggest looking over there to see what they might be saying....

I have been trying to wrap my head around how the new 'flat rate pension' is likely to be affected by me having been 'contracted out' during pretty much all my working life. I found this thread which has a post in it (no 17) which makes what looks like a pretty good stab at assessing that impact.

not2old

watching this one

Based on those who currently get the full state pension of £110.15 per week. there will be three yearly increases before the new flat rate pension kicks in. Since the government has a promise to increase the state pension 2.5% each year, then those who currently collect it will be getting ~£119.48 per week at the time of the flat rate pension which is a shortfall of £24.52 to those that have 35 years that end up with the new flat rate pension of £144 per week.

Under the current rules of 30 NIC years to full state pension, the government says a year of NIC gets you ~3% of state pension. Since the difference of the new pension is off by £24.52 & based on the proposal to allow further top up, I'm figuring current pensioner will need to either

a) top up 5 years of NIC to the new 35 NIC years of NIC rules for full pension

B) an amount unknown but likely to be somewhere between 5 - 8 years of NIC's

If its a top up of 5 years of NIC at class 5 x £750/yr = £3750, divided by the additional £24.52/wk, the payback is ~153 weeks or approx 3 years.

I'm wondering if it all comes about whether the government will contact current pensioners or keep them in the dark about the option to get an increased state pension by additional NIC top up?

Wait & see, but it looks interesting