STICKS AND STONES....

If you weren't able to see my Pensioners Platform column in the July-August 2014 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is. Do you remember your parents telling you "sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never hurt you"? So do I.

 

THROUGHOUT my schooldays in the 1950s and early 1960s, I was always very tall for my age and that appeared to others to contradict my surname of Lowe. Needless to say, my class mates took full advantage of this anomaly and dubbed me with a number of nicknames that I didn’t much care for. The least tormenting of them was “Chinaman” … lowe-high, high-lowe. Get it? I shall resist the temptation of revealing the other, rather more spiteful, alternatives. However, whenever I complained to my parents about the name-calling, their stock answer was always, “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can never hurt you”.

1957 ~ middle row fourth from right, towering above most of my class mates

With the benefit of hindsight, I can see how true that old maxim was … and still is. However, today’s obsession with political correctness seems to take a dim view of name-calling and, in doing so, I believe it is undermining a fundamental principle of democracy. That principle is freedom of speech, not to mention the harmless humour that sometimes accompanies it.

As a result, we seem to be losing the ability to laugh at ourselves: something the English people are renowned for. So, in an effort to reverse that trend, I’m going to demonstrate how easy it is to laugh at oneself, by way a very recent example. You may have heard about my tussle with the PC thought police after I featured the original 1932 recording by Ambrose & His Orchestra of ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’ on my April 27 Sunday evening BBC radio show. Unbeknown to me, and despite having heard that song many hundreds of times over the years, the lyrics in that particular recording include the N-word.

Yes, it was a silly mistake for me to make but, then, infallibility has never been one of my strong points. That said, there’s a funny side to this story, and I’m going to share it with you here. When I began to produce the play list for that April 27 programme, I came across a request from a lady in Cornwall who asked me to include a recording for her husband’s 80^th birthday, and she specified a 1930s track by Frank Crumit entitled ‘Abdul Abulbul Amir’. Apparently, the lady’s husband remembers singing that song with his school chums during the 1930s.

Indeed, I was familiar with the Frank Crumit recording in question, as I’d featured it on-air before, but – given today’s politically correct climate – I felt a little uncomfortable with the title. After all, a couple of years ago, I was forbidden to play George Formby’s recording of ‘Mister Wu’s a Window Cleaner Now’. So, with that George Formby experience in mind, I decided to look-up the lyrics of ‘Abdul Abulbul Amir’ on the internet. Sure enough, there were a couple of lines that looked a bit dodgy to me. I, therefore, referred the matter up to my BBC boss and he agreed with my concerns. “Don’t play it,” he replied. “Find an alternative.”

So, there I was, sat in my study at home, thinking out loud, “Okay, I need to find a humorous 1930s recording that the gentleman in Cornwall may also have sung with his classmates way back then. I know! I’ll settle for safety and play ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’ instead. Sorted!” I exclaimed triumphantly. How wrong I was.

 A gift made by a listener "The Sun Has Got His Hat On"

Looking back, I can see the funny side of the episode, and I laugh at myself each time the recollection pops into my head. And here’s why: by feeling uncomfortable with ‘Abdul Abulbul Amir’ I managed to identify and steer clear of what I perceived to be a potential politically incorrect trap, only to fall into an even bigger politically incorrect trap of my own making by deciding, instead, to feature ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’. A senior moment par excellence you might say. True, but it also had its amusing angle, and I’m happy to join-in the resulting laughter at my own expense.

Talking of which, I’m going to finish-off this month’s column with some more self-deprecating seniors humour. “I have a wonderful make-up crew. They’re the same people who are restoring the Statue of Liberty” (Bob Hope). “Old age is not for sissies” (Bette Davis). “Inside every 70 year old, is a 35 year old asking ‘What happened?’” (Ann Landers). And finally, “You’re over the hill when your back goes out more than you do” (anonymous).

 

BEWARE PENSION POT COLD CALLERS

If you weren't able to read my Pensioners Platform column in the June-July 2014 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is:-

THE CITY regulator has warned that the over-55s are being targeted by cold callers who are falsely claiming to offer “new, free, government-backed retirement guidance.” If you receive a call or email, or see an advertisement that makes such a claim: ignore it. If you don’t you could be conned and end up putting your pension savings into risky investments and losing the lot!

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has alerted consumers to beware of phone calls, emails, text messages and online adverts offering them a “free pension review” which encourages them to move their pension to “get better returns”. The regulator said it had heard evidence that some telephone cold callers were claiming to represent the government after the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced plans in the recent Budget to offer impartial face-to-face guidance on the range of options people had available for their pension pots.

In reality, that guidance has not yet been launched. Instead, it will coincide with plans from April 2015 to give people aged over 55 the freedom to take their pension pot however they see fit.

The FCA alert added that, as the new guidance initiative was still at the developmental stage, any claims of a link to it are highly unlikely to be true.  The regulator went-on to explain these “reviews” were designed to persuade you to move your money out of your existing personal or occupational pension into a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) or a small self-administered scheme (SSAS).

From there, the pension pot is likely to be invested in unregulated investments such as overseas property developments, forestry or storage units. Unregulated investments can be very high-risk with returns that are potentially unreliable. Indeed, the FCA stressed that, for most individual investors, putting pension money into unregulated investments is unlikely to be in their best interests. Moreover, such investments are also often very difficult to sell.

Most of the companies making these offers are not authorised by the FCA. Nevertheless, the regulator pointed-out that the companies concerned often falsely claimed they are acting on its behalf. This is not true! The FCA also warned that people investing in this way are likely to find they have no safety net to fall back on if something goes wrong. This would include no right to complain to the financial ombudsman, and no right to claim money back from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Indeed, the regulator said it was unlikely that the ombudsman or the FSCS would be able to help someone who loses money as a result of dealing with an adviser who was not FCA-authorised.

Even more importantly, the FCA pointed out that authorised financial advisers who had their clients’ best interests at heart were very unlikely to be offering such a service, because professional advice on pensions is not free.

Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA said, “People should be very wary if they are contacted out of the blue by someone offering a ‘free pension review’. Most of the companies offering this ‘service’ are not authorised by us, and we’re concerned that the reviews often end-up with pension pots placed in higher-risk, unregulated investments. If you see or receive an offer of a ‘free pension review’, just ignore it. If you are called out of the blue to discuss your pension, just hang up. Your pension is far too important to be put in the hands of a cold caller.”

The FCA said people who were considering reviewing their pension arrangements should consider getting independent advice from an authorised financial adviser. Consumers can check if the adviser is authorised by the FCA and, therefore, allowed to give pensions advice by going on-line to www.fca.org.uk/firms/systems-reporting/register.

You can also ask firms for their “firm reference number” plus contact details and then call the firm back on its switchboard number shown on the register, rather than call on a suggested direct line. If there are no contact details on the register or the firm claims they are out of date, you can contact the FCA’s consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768.

Footnote: If you have already moved your pension pot and have concerns, you should firstly take the matter up with any authorised firms that were involved. The ombudsman might be able to help if you cannot get the matter resolved with an authorised firm.

 

TRAITORS IN OUR MIDST?

 If you weren't able to read my Pensioners Platform column in the May-June 2014 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is:- 

 

Vince Cable MP ~ photo: courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

WELL, I guess I’ve heard it all now. On April 14, I watched a TV programme called The Agenda on which the ITV’s political editor Tom Bradby hosted a discussion on the topics of that week. One of the discussion points lined-up for the programme was, as Tom Bradby pointed-out in his introduction, “Are the older generation under-valued?”

Approximately two-thirds of the way through the show I came close to heaving the nearest heavy object through my TV screen. Why? Well, first I heard seventy year old author Michael Morpurgo (of War Horse fame) say, “We had it really very good post war. The Fifties were a good time … optimism … a new National Health Service”. Moments later, the politician Vince Cable (71) agreed when he chipped-in with, “Our generation did have it good … easier to buy a house, salaried jobs, and so on.”

Clearly, both of these talking heads lived on a different planet to most of the rest of us during the 1950s. After all, neither of them mentioned rationing, or grossly overcrowded classrooms, smog, the menacing events in Korea, Suez and Budapest, and the almost constant threat of a four minute warning, followed by total nuclear annihilation. However, those are things I and I dare say the majority of us, remember living with, while growing-up in England during the Fifties.

Indeed, my own experience was a cramped but cosy London County Council prefab until it was demolished with the rest of the estate in 1960. After that, my parents and I were moved to a GLC flat seven miles away, so I had to change secondary schools at the age of fourteen. My education never recovered because, due to an appalling GLC administrative error, I lost a whole academic year that was never recouped. Needless to say I failed all five of the GCE “O” Levels I took.

Before then, in the 1950s, my play grounds were often World War II bomb sites. As for easy mortgages: if it hadn’t been for the fact my father died at the ridiculously young age of 54, I would never have been able to afford the deposit on a house. Why did my Dad die so young? Answer: he served his King and country throughout World War II and, along the way, his health suffered. He left the Royal Artillery at Christmas 1945 with the princely sum of £99 cash, a demob suit and a peptic ulcer. The latter eventually turned to stomach cancer, and that spread to his liver. He died in June 1971.

As for Michael Morpurgo and Vince Cable: they were born in St Albans and York respectively: hardly war-torn areas compared to London, Coventry, Exeter and Plymouth methinks. Furthermore, they both came from reasonably affluent families, and they both attended grammar schools before going-on to university: Vince Cable to Cambridge and Michael Morpurgo to the University of London.

So, with all due respect to Messrs Morpurgo and Cable, they are in no position to wax lyrical about how good the 1950s were, because their experiences are far from the norm. The 1950s were not “a good time” as claimed by Mr Morpurgo, they were tough ... very tough, for most of us. They were austere too, and the majority of us, as children, just had to get-on with it and battle through the hard times as best we could. To suggest the 1950s were anything other than a struggle is just plain wrong. It’s misleading too, because it sends-out the wrong signals to younger generations who are already blaming the post-World War II Baby Boomers for the mess we’re all in today. But, in truth, we Baby Boomers, and our War Baby elders are NOT responsible for today’s problems. The blame, instead, must be laid at the feet of incompetent and sometimes corrupt politicians the world over, not to mention global big business in all its forms.

Anyone of pensionable age suggesting otherwise not only betrays his or her own generation, but also provides yet more hurtful and damaging ammunition to the OAP bashers in the media and elsewhere. The war babies and baby boomers should be used as object lessons, not soft targets. We made it through some perilously difficult times, and gave our children a much better start than we had. The fact that it has all gone belly-up is not our fault, but the fault of endemic greed and corruption among ALL generations.

 Michael Morpurgo ~ photo: courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

RED BUTTON BLUES

This article is a duplicate of my Pensioners Platform column for the March-April 2014 edition of the Torbay Times. It is also an update of my November 2013 OAP-UK Blog article on the same subject:-

HEARING LOSS can strike at any age, but it’s especially common among the retired and elderly. Indeed, after a lifetime of ‘ear troubles’ I now wear hearing aids, but I still resort to sub-titles as a back-up when I watch the television. Similarly, I enjoy reading the interactive news on the BBC red button first thing in the morning, while keeping half an eye on the muted video news content. This may be a bit of a personal ritual, but it helps me to wake-up. In fact, I used to start my day on Sky News interactive, after which – and simply for a news balance – I’d switch to the BBC News text service. Not anymore though.

A little over one year ago, in a sly and cynical move, Sky News removed its on-screen red button icon. However, not to be outdone, I found I could still access the Sky News text service by pressing the red button on my remote control anyway. Then, towards then end of last year, I noticed a Sky News announcement stating that the text news service was being discontinued but an on-demand video choice would remain.

Consequently, on 1^st November, I e-mailed Sky News as follows: “Dear News at Sky: I suffer from severe hearing loss, and I’m appalled at the apparent scrapping of your text news on the red button, which I’ve been using for quite a few years. If my suspicions are correct, I believe your actions are a clear case of discrimination against those of us with hearing issues. I have therefore copied-in Maria Miller MP, the Secretary of State for Media and Equalities, on this e-mail’s circulation. Yours faithfully”

Guess what? I didn’t receive a reply from either Sky News or the Secretary of State: just computer generated acknowledgements of receipt. So, on 26^th November, I copied the above e-mail to our local MP Adrian Sanders, who immediately contacted Ofcom. At the end of January, Mr Sanders wrote to me to confirm he’d been in-touch with Ofcom, and they, in turn, had made contact with Sky. In response to the Ofcom approach, Sky apparently said it had withdrawn the red button service, because “it was duplicating information already shown on its website.”

Excuse me? Duplicating information already shown on the Sky website? Forgive me for asking this question but, who at Sky News made the misguided assumption that EVERYONE viewing its TV ‘red button’ facility owns a PC, tablet, laptop, smart phone or smart TV?

Yet again, we appear to be witnessing, here, the all too familiar narrow-mindedness of today’s corporate world. And, once again, the perpetrators are likely to be otherwise bright but not-so-young things with all kinds of diplomas and degrees, yet possessing little, if any, sense of community or consideration for others. These people are being entrusted with decision-making that clearly discriminates against a significant proportion of the population. Yet their bosses don’t get it!

By its very nature, the now defunct Sky News red button text service was a useful tool for all of us suffering hearing loss: young and elderly alike. However, in its wisdom, Sky News assumed we ALL have internet access. But they were wrong. While it’s true to say we UK pensioners are only just beginning to wake-up to the advantages of being internet savvy, we nevertheless represent a huge sector of the UK population. So, whoever made that decision to drop the Sky News red button text service not only did us a disservice, but he or she also demonstrated a distinct lack of social awareness. Shame on you Sky News!

As a footnote to the above, I regret to report I have received an e-mail from the Equalities & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) telling me that enquiries such as this are now handled by the Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS). The e-mail then goes-on to say, “The EHRC is unable to provide you with any advice or support in relation to the matters raised in your original request.  We have not forwarded your request to the EASS in order to protect your privacy and confidentiality.”

I wonder why the words “fobbed-off” and “pillar to post” spring to mind?