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I have been diagnosed with Stomach Cancer [3rd stage]

I have two options, 1] let them operate, to try to remove as much as possible, major op, and will take at least 6 months to get over it. The statistics say I would have a 1 in 6 chance of surviving 2 years. Or 2] go for limited Chemo, Radiology treatment, less invasive, but with similar survival rate.

Or 3] not bother and just let nature take its course and enjoy what life i have left, before the cancer really starts to affect my life?

Although technically the state pension is not a form of saving, is it fair that many very hard working people who will contribute throughout their working lives towards other peoples’ state pension will receive little or no benefit for themselves?

Living in the Black Country with light and heavy industry on every corner, men and women who work all their lives in these industries are quite physically worn out by the time they retire. All many of them can look forward to, is tending the garden for a few years before an early death.

Not for them gradually winding down, shortening their hours, enjoying the fruits of a life well-lived; they can either do the job as well as a younger, stronger person, or leave.Workers who are on light duties may be able to carry on past their mid-sixties, not needing much physical strength but many men and women in manual work, on retirement, can hardly walk due to hip and/or knee arthritis after standing for endless hours, over endless years on concrete floors at work. Bricklayers who could have been champions at laying up to 1,000 bricks a day, in later life may be hardly able to lift a full glass due to arthritic hands. The bricklayer’s labourer could have had it even worse, carrying 1,000 bricks a day in a hod on his shoulders up ladders on to scaffolding.

For women with smaller, less powerful muscles, hard physical work is equally wearing. They work in factories too. Or heavy domestic work, kneeling, scrubbing, juggling several part-time jobs in addition to housework and child –care, with maybe the travails of pregnancy on top.

It is documented that professional and managerial classes live longer than manual workers and this is why. Physical strength naturally begins to wane from a person’s early fifties. As an example, a care-worker in a nursing home may find it impossible to do such heavy, difficult work after the age of even 60, let alone 65 and could be quite worn out by retirement age. It is common to witness staff struggling to carry on after 65 in heavy care-work, needing to but not being able to afford to retire. It is still taken into account within some occupations, for instance nursing, where staff are sometimes allowed to take early retirement at 55, acknowledging that they are probably knackered by that age anyway. At the moment, rumours are circulating that early retirement is about to be withdrawn by government.

No-one in management cares whether people are still physically capable or not – they are merely working units so if they cannot do the job they just have to leave. No gentle winding down or light duties for them. This talk of ‘winding down’ jobs, speaks of office workers in high positions, not bricklayers, blacksmiths, nursing assistants, factory piece-workers, machine-minders and others. There are currently no easy late-age jobs in these fields, for if you cannot do the work you will have to try to do something else. If you can find a job, that is.

I am convinced that Government only has knowledge of its own special class –regarding aged MPs and Lords and Ladies as an example of what is possible for those working beyond the age of 65. It has little knowledge of how life is lived down in the swampy lowlands of Britain. If, in the future, Govt. requires all workers to serve extra years taking retirement age to 70, women will have had an extra 10 years added to theirs. If in addition, benefits are cut to the minimum we will be seeing many more of the elderly in financial straits.

In the future it would be fair if the wear and tear of labouring jobs could be recognised when deciding retirement age, in order that the descent into quiet poverty for many manual workers will cease to be so abrupt. Otherwise could this bring back the sight of the ‘ploughman homeward plodding his weary way ’ fearful that the farmer may notice and replace him with a faster, fitter man?

Could it then be back to tending the garden for a couple of years and an early death?

We should have moved on forever from working people into decrepitude until they drop.

Our elected leaders are in a bit of a state over this Alternative Voting System.

LidDems propose it, hasn’t power gone to their heads.

Labour oppose it, it will reduce the No of MP’s by 10%, also make constituencies to big. Hello: don’t they use E=mails, phones etc. It’s 2010. Not 1910.

Conservatives oppose it, the electorate will find it too complicated?

Here’s a simple proposal. It’s called Democracy:

Most people don’t bother to vote [the majority] because most seats have MP’s in them who are put there by the Party because they are safe seats. There as been numerous times when a local Councillor has not been selected, in preference to candidate nominated by the central party. No local accountability!

Now for my idea, fixed term of four years, with 50% re-elected every 2 years. As per the US, and some EU states. Heaven forbid we could even have a referendum on important issues at little extra cost.

Here’s the sting. As a lot of our MP’s only get elected by less then 40% of the vote, meaning, the majority of electors didn’t vote for him/her. Not very democratic? How do we alter this? Easy, but it would frighten our elected leaders.

If no candidate gets 51% of the vote, the election is voided and none of the candidates on the ballot paper are allowed to contest that seat. Clearly none of the candidates carries a popular mandate. Within 3 months a fresh election is called, two new candidates are put forward from the two parties with the largest votes. That way we have a majority vote, for our MP.

This system could even be used at Local, and European levels. Maybe even for an elected upper chamber? Maybe that’s going too far.

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