Falling birth rates

[Blaze]

Well put @DominicBest.
I also saw a documentary showing that many of the native Brits simply weren't up to the task of picking vegetables. They didn't have the speed and stamina of the immigrant workers, nor the experience. Nor did they have the same work ethic.
I wonder how many of those who complain of "furriners taking our jobs" are among the unskilled workers ...

People who retire early and have a non-state pension cannot claim the state pension until they're 67, so what's the problem ? Why shouldn't people have a choice when to retire ? Those who pay into a private pension and who haven't opted out of the state pension, will have to continue paying contributions to get the full amount.

[Blaze]

Doug - I don't think DB did that on purpose ! Nor any of the other misquotes. It's clear he is having a problem with highlighting
There's no point in everyone getting upset about DB's misquotes - anyone can see it's a mistake !
Well, at least, I can !

@DominicBest This is the easy way to quote from a computer but if you are using a phone or tablet, this may not work. If you want to quote someone, simply highlight the words you want to quote and you should get a little box come up saying "Insert quote in the quick reply form". Click on that little box and what you want to quote will come up in the reply box with the correct person that you want to quote.

[Blaze]

Please don't let these errors get blown up into something more than it is.
So DB has misquoted people - he's got it wrong and perhaps just needs to be told how to do it.

[Quiksilver]

I'm puzzled (nothing new there ). On my laptop, on the top right of each post, by the member's avatar is a little box with quote marks in it. If you click on that, the whole of that post is copied into a reply box. You type your reply under the box with the quote in and press 'submit'. Isn't that the simplest way?
If you want to get fancy, you can even edit the quoted post, but you have to make sure that your reply is outside of the original quote box.

[Hotrodder]

Swerving erratically back toward the topic................

Compare.jpeg

[Blaze]

[exile]

@Doug Certainly in France it's best to be salaried (I don't know about the UK). If you're self-employed the fisc assumes you must be on the fiddle ...

Ain't that the truth! And I agree about the UK system. My UK pension is much more generous (not quite the right word) than my French pension, despite having worked twice as long in France (mostly self-employed). As for immigrants filling posts, well, why not? Many of them are better educated and skilled than the average native Joe.

Is that the state pension Mad?

My experience with German versus UK state pension is that until UK inflation hit double digits and the triple lock kicked in based on that, my German state pension on the back of just under 10 years contributions gave pretty much the same as my UK state pension based on 29 years actual contributions plus 3 years credited contributions - depending on the exchange rate at the time.

[Char]

I'll have a go at sorting this thread out later, it would be a shame to lose it as it is mostly a grown up interesting discussion it's a shame that there are some unpleasant posts mixed in with it.
Can I please ask we remember to discuss the post made and not attack the person who has posted, not directed at all of you I think that's obvious.
If you happen to be misquoted a simple post saying 'char can you correct it' or dropping me a pm and I can correct the quote - that'll save some of the unpleasant responses when you point it out on the thread.

As an example -

I suggest you grow up and accept it’s a software bug. Do you really expect an apology? Really? Are you that insecure?

Not acceptable!

Many thanks

[MAD87]

@Doug Certainly in France it's best to be salaried (I don't know about the UK). If you're self-employed the fisc assumes you must be on the fiddle ...

Ain't that the truth! And I agree about the UK system. My UK pension is much more generous (not quite the right word) than my French pension, despite having worked twice as long in France (mostly self-employed). As for immigrants filling posts, well, why not? Many of them are better educated and skilled than the average native Joe.

Is that the state pension Mad?

Yes, in both cases. I haven't worked here for 40+ years, so I get a miserable pension, despite being led to believe that it's not bad if you work 25+ years. Wot they mean is, if you are salarié!

[Char]

I think I've managed to remove or edit the unpleasant posts - my apologies to those of you who were trying to calm the situation down if you have lost a post, but leaving them in situ would have meant that they wouldn't have made any sense.
Hopefully we won't have any more nastiness now.

If I've missed anything could you drop me a pm and I'll have another look at the thread.
Thanks Char

As an aside when reading through whilst editing, I had visions of Dad's army on the front line of a war - not sure that's a good idea.