Reserve national insurance news and information.

Source News - State pension plans: Readers’ reaction article

Raising the state pension age is inevitable because people are living longer - but the government should also look at what else it is spending money on.

There are too many people who are not prepared to work, and it is not fair if they end up with the same pension as someone who has worked all their life.

I have a local government final-salary pension and I would like to think that by the time I reach 65 I will be able to look after myself, so the state pension will just be a bonus.

A national savings plan could be a good idea - but most people would be against it unless it could guarantee a return that was more than the amount invested.

People are fitter and healthier than they ever were, and a lot resent being forced to stop working and earning at 65.

The government also has to spend more money on the NHS because people are living longer.

Anyone who does want to retire at 65 should have put their own money away and should be aware they cannot rely on a state pension any more - those days are well and truly gone.

Anyone who can put money away - even if it is only a little - should be doing so. It is a safety net and it is crazy not to.

A national savings plan is a good idea as long as the investments are protected.

I would be prepared to contribute and it could be a preferable to a private scheme that offers less protection

The government should have seen the pensions crisis coming a long time ago, and it would not be fair to punish people for its mistakes.

I have an occupational pension - but people who are earning a lot less cannot afford pensions, and anyone planning on living off a state pension will be struggling.

The government would have a tough time getting people to transfer their stake-holder pensions to a national savings plan without offering better incentives like tax relief.

And investing in the stock market is always a gamble - no different from a fruit machine.

The government is realising they will lose revenue because people are living longer.

Raising the state pension age is an easy way for them to get in more revenue - but they should find other ways rather than bullying pensioners and cheating them out of what they have been paying.

As a council administrator, I have a final-salary pension, and I voted with my union, Unison, to reject plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65.

I had hoped to retire at the age of 55, as I may not be able to enjoy it by the time I am 67.

I would rather have less money at 65 than work until I am 67.

As for being automatically enrolled in a national savings plan, I pay out so much as it is in tax, National Insurance and rent - what do they expect you to live off?

I am a lone parent trying to make a decent life for my child and secure our future - but with the amount of money I am giving back I might as well say, ‘What is the point of working?’ and make the government pay for me.

The plan to raise the state pension age pretty well stinks because low-paid workers do not live as long as the upper crust. Labourers generally do not live much beyond 65.

We have paid out all our lives and should be entitled to a decent pension, and if the government was not spending all its money on illegal immigrants and free prescriptions there would be more for the pensioners who have always paid their way.

If you have a good salary you can afford it - but for low-paid workers, who are struggling anyway, enrolling in a national savings plan would be a real no-go.

It would be like a compulsory tax - what would they live on?

When I retire I will be dependent on the state pension of 82 a week - but as I am a single parent with children who could still be at university that is not enough, so I will have to keep working until I drop anyway.

I am also quite optimistic about my health, so I would not mind working until I am 67 - but raising the state pension age would mean people who may struggle to work for longer would suffer.

As a social worker, I could not afford to pay any money into a national savings plan.

I need the money I am getting today for my children and myself. I already spend 700 every month on council tax and housing and that is a lot of money for me. I do not have any left to pay into a savings plan.

I do not have an answer to the pensions shortfall - but it is not up to me to come up with an answer, it is up to the government.

I pay tax and national insurance and I take very little out of the NHS, so I should get what I am entitled to.

And some information of american national insurance company galveston texas.

A grandmother who spent four days and nights on a trolley while waiting for a bed has received an apology from hospital officials.

The 55-year-old woman was eventually admitted to a ward 96-and-a-half hours after being taken to Morriston Hospital in Swansea with pneumonia and heart problems.

A spokesman for Swansea NHS Trust said the wait was “an exception.”

The woman was discharged the following day after treatment.

Her husband, who did not want to be named, said: “This is the first time she has been in hospital. After paying national insurance all our lives we expected something better.”

My wife was extremely ill and then she was made extremely uncomfortable Patient’s husband

His wife was taken by ambulance to Morriston at 2100 GMT last Thursday and spent the next 16 hours on a trolley inside the accident and emergency unit.

‘Totally unacceptable’

She was then wheeled off on the same trolley to spend a further 80 and a half hours in a holding bay.

A bed finally became available at 2100 BST on Monday.

Her husband added: “My wife was extremely ill and then she was made extremely uncomfortable.”

Hospital managers say in the holding bay, the nurse-to- patient ratio is high and all patients were closely monitored.

Since 2002, the number of trolley waits at the hospital has gone up six fold, a statistic Swansea Community Health Council called “appalling.”

Sandra Owen, chief officer for the patients’ watchdog body, said, “As far as I am aware this is a record for the whole of the UK. It is totally unacceptable.”

Plaid Cymru AM and Swansea GP Dai Lloyd called for an inquiry.

“It’s a reflection of the fact of what I’ve been banging on about for years - that we meed more beds,” he said.

A trust spokesman said it had apologised and was reviewing the situation.

The trust handled 350 medical admissions, 320 surgical admissions and 2,000 accident and emergency attendances each week.

He said: “It is the exception for patients to wait over 12 hours in A&E or to remain in the temporary ward facilities.

“New arrangements for bed management are being introduced into the Trust with the aim of further reducing delays between assessment and admission..”

Source: News - Four day trolley wait apology
How do yo think, is it true about clarendon national insurance company?
And some information of national flood insurance program.

How do yo think, is it true about washington national insurance company?
Asia-Pacific leaders are to pledge to tackle a deadlock in global trade talks at a key regional summit in Vietnam.

In a draft statement circulated before the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum, the leaders say they will take the lead by making concessions.

World Trade Organization (WTO) talks collapsed in July after countries failed to reach agreement on subsidies.

President Bush has been holding talks with regional leaders to boost support for sanctions against North Korea.

Over a bilateral breakfast meeting, he urged South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to implement the sanctions and also support the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a voluntary programme designed to prevent the trafficking of material for weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Roh said he supported the principles of the PSI but left the level of Seoul’s compliance unclear, saying he would not take part in the “full scope” of the initiative.

In a lunchtime meeting between Mr Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two leaders agreed to pursue a ballistic missile defence programme against the threat from North Korea.

Mr Bush will see Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

‘Ambitious agreement’

Mr Bush may also use the summit to try to gather support for a free trade zone between the organisation’s 21 members.

History lessons on Hanoi’s streets for President Bush In pictures

Correspondents say the proposal is seen as an insurance policy in case efforts to revive world trade talks fail.

The global WTO talks were meant to boost free trade for the benefit of developing countries.

But an inability by the US and Europe to agree over how to reduce agricultural subsidies caused the talks to stall in the so-called Doha round.

According to the draft statement, the 21 Apec leaders will say: “We are ready to break the current deadlock - each of us is committed to move beyond our current positions in key areas of the Doha round.”

This will mean opening up agriculture markets and “making deeper reductions in trade-distorting farm support by major players”, it says.

The leaders will pledge to “remain personally involved” in pushing negotiations forward and trying to secure a breakthrough.

Apec’s trade and foreign ministers agreed to press their leaders to issue a statement on trade in the course of the two-day conference.

“Only an ambitious Doha agreement with real market access can achieve the economic growth and development goals that this world has set,” Mr Bush said in Singapore before heading to Hanoi.

Hostile regimes

The forum in the Vietnamese capital is also expected to focus on economic security threats.

Hanoi gets set for big day China challenges US at forum

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told business leaders on Friday that economic security must be on every country’s agenda.

This would ensure they could work together against such threats as terrorism, flu pandemics and natural disasters, he said.

Speaking after his arrival on Friday, Mr Bush said he felt amazed to be in Vietnam given the two countries’ difficult history.

Following talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Mr Bush said he would consult Australia over any repositioning of troops in Iraq.

The two leaders also discussed climate change. Mr Howard had promised to seek support for alternatives to the Kyoto Protocol.

Meanwhile New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark urged Apec leaders to include climate change on their agenda, warning of “dire” consequences if action was delayed.

Read source of it on the News - Apec summit to push trade talks site
See related site about national lloyds insurance.

Read more about national insurance company.
The National Trust plans to cut 250 jobs from offices across the country in a “shocking” move, a union has said.

In a statement the union, Prospect, blamed the move on “needless penny pinching” and denounced the proposed cuts as a “kneejerk reaction”.

The National Trust is the country’s largest non-government landowner and employs almost 4,000 full-time staff.

It said savings were needed to meet rising costs and hoped the cuts would be made by voluntary redundancy.

We have yet to see any evidence that these cuts are needed Helen Stevens Prospect

The Trust, a registered charity, owns more than 248,000 hectares (612,000 acres) of British countryside and almost 600 miles of coastline.

It also runs 200 historical houses and 49 monuments and mills.

Regional losses

Prospect said offices in London, Swindon, Cirencester, Devon and Cornwall, East England, East Midlands, Northern Ireland, the North West, South East, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East were at risk of redundancies.

It said the Trust was facing a short-term financial shortfall after conducting a review of its internal organisation, buying new information technology and funding its major projects.

The union’s negotiator, Helen Stevens, said: “This is a shocking decision. It is a major blow to the National Trust and will wipe out around 5% of its total workforce.

The Trust says all profits go back into the company

“Losses of this scale will make it almost impossible to avoid compulsory redundancies.

“We have yet to see any evidence that these cuts are needed or that it is more than a knee-jerk reaction by the Trust’s over-cautious trustees.”

She said the Trust could have made the necessary savings without culling jobs if it had waited for efficiency savings to start feeding through.

She added: “It makes no sense to lose the lifeblood of the Trust. This is more like selling the family than the silver.”

A Trust spokesman said the organisation was facing rising costs, increased National Insurance contributions and increased pension payments. It also wanted to increase its operational fund to 20 million. About 50 jobs have already been earmarked through voluntary redundancy and natural wastage, the spokesman added, insisting: “This is about safeguarding our conservation for the future.”

Read source of it on the http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4245089.stm site
liberty national life insurance company

Read more on Children Whose Parents Smoked Are Twice As Likely To Begin Smoking Between 13 And 21 site

Science Daily &