Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

Eric wrote:
On 2013-06-24, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 23:22:45 on Sun, 23 Jun
2013, Mizter T remarked:
I wouldn't call myself wealthy, just that I have enough to generate
enough dividend income to live on comfortably.

Others might well call you wealthy though.

Yes, a lot of people would; but "independently wealthy" isn't a value
judgement, it's a statement of fact. Someone who has no salary, no
pensions, and still manages to live off their savings/investments, is
"independent" of those forms of financial support.

Yes, they have "independent means", but are not necessarily wealthy by
any definition whatsoever. And living comfortably is incredibly
subjective, so it need not imply wealth.

Exactly. Independent means does not imply wealth.

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

On 24/06/2013 18:59, Eric wrote:
On 2013-06-24, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 19:32:06 on Sun, 23
Jun 2013, Eric remarked:

if a retiree does not live next door to their doctor's surgery,
adequate shops and any other support they may need then they have made
a "lifestyle" choice. What absolute rubbish!

Of course it's a "lifestyle choice". As is deciding to live either near
a bus route or indeed anywhere there are buses at all (more than once a
week on market day).

Sorry, you are talking about people who are reasonably well off. Where a
retiree lives is determined by parts of their life history, available
funds and available housing, as well as issues like where the rest of
the family is. None of this is lifestyle.

Of course it is. Few people were forced into a specific job, at least
this side of 1807 and they are all dead. People in Britain have been
free to move around the country since more or less forever (in contrast
to some other countries). And people didn't even plan for home-country
wide free bus travel, as it is a relatively new thing.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

On 2013-06-24, Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 24/06/2013 18:59, Eric wrote:
On 2013-06-24, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 19:32:06 on Sun, 23
Jun 2013, Eric remarked:

if a retiree does not live next door to their doctor's surgery,
adequate shops and any other support they may need then they have made
a "lifestyle" choice. What absolute rubbish!

Of course it's a "lifestyle choice". As is deciding to live either near
a bus route or indeed anywhere there are buses at all (more than once a
week on market day).

Sorry, you are talking about people who are reasonably well off. Where a
retiree lives is determined by parts of their life history, available
funds and available housing, as well as issues like where the rest of
the family is. None of this is lifestyle.

Of course it is. Few people were forced into a specific job, at least
this side of 1807 and they are all dead. People in Britain have been
free to move around the country since more or less forever (in contrast
to some other countries). And people didn't even plan for home-country
wide free bus travel, as it is a relatively new thing.

Another piece of irrelevance from the self-avowed village idiot. It's
not even funny. Perhaps you should find another village.

Eric
--
ms fnd in a lbry

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 19:32:06 on Sun,
23 Jun 2013, Eric remarked:

if a retiree does not live next door to their doctor's surgery,
adequate shops and any other support they may need then they have made
a "lifestyle" choice. What absolute rubbish!

Of course it's a "lifestyle choice". As is deciding to live either
near a bus route or indeed anywhere there are buses at all (more than
once a week on market day).

People in London really have no idea what it's like in the provinces,
when it comes to being provided with transport.

You really do have a totally unreal perception of the choices available to
people less well off that you, Roland.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 23:22:45 on Sun, 23 Jun
2013, Mizter T remarked:
I wouldn't call myself wealthy, just that I have enough to generate
enough dividend income to live on comfortably.

Others might well call you wealthy though.

Yes, a lot of people would; but "independently wealthy" isn't a value
judgement, it's a statement of fact. Someone who has no salary, no
pensions, and still manages to live off their savings/investments, is
"independent" of those forms of financial support.

But not necessarily wealthy!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

On 24/06/2013 20:46, Eric wrote:
On 2013-06-24, Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 24/06/2013 18:59, Eric wrote:
On 2013-06-24, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 19:32:06 on Sun, 23
Jun 2013, Eric remarked:

if a retiree does not live next door to their doctor's surgery,
adequate shops and any other support they may need then they have made
a "lifestyle" choice. What absolute rubbish!

Of course it's a "lifestyle choice". As is deciding to live either near
a bus route or indeed anywhere there are buses at all (more than once a
week on market day).

Sorry, you are talking about people who are reasonably well off. Where a
retiree lives is determined by parts of their life history, available
funds and available housing, as well as issues like where the rest of
the family is. None of this is lifestyle.

Of course it is. Few people were forced into a specific job, at least
this side of 1807 and they are all dead. People in Britain have been
free to move around the country since more or less forever (in contrast
to some other countries). And people didn't even plan for home-country
wide free bus travel, as it is a relatively new thing.

Another piece of irrelevance from the self-avowed village idiot. It's
not even funny. Perhaps you should find another village.

You are free to leave and find somewhere down at your level if the
discussion here is too difficult for you.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

In article ,
(JNugent) wrote:

On 23/06/2013 18:02, wrote:
In article ,
(Roland Perry) wrote:

In message , at
09:22:19 on Sun, 23 Jun 2013, remarked:
You don't have to be wealthy not to qualify for benefits. The maximum
you can earn that is disregarded is the same £5 per week that it was
forty years ago.

But wouldn't earning £6 a week just taper your benefits, rather than
cancelling them altogether?

Yes, but the taper is steep enough for a couple of hundred a month to
lose JSA.

Earn £6, have £5 disrgearded and lose all your JSA?

You'd have to have been have been entitled to £1 a week or less for
that to happen.

Hardly earth-shattering, is it?

Not my point which was that allowing £5 in 1972 and £5 now have very
different effects.

I mentioned a couple of hundred a month in councillor allowances

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

In message , at 18:59:00 on Mon, 24
Jun 2013, Eric remarked:

if a retiree does not live next door to their doctor's surgery,
adequate shops and any other support they may need then they have made
a "lifestyle" choice. What absolute rubbish!

Of course it's a "lifestyle choice". As is deciding to live either near
a bus route or indeed anywhere there are buses at all (more than once a
week on market day).

Sorry, you are talking about people who are reasonably well off.

No. You can make the same decisions while living on benefits.

Where a retiree lives is determined by parts of their life history,
available funds and available housing, as well as issues like where the
rest of the family is. None of this is lifestyle.

While I agree that you can't live somewhere with no housing, deciding
you want to live near the "rest of your family" (or these days it's more
likely to be "near a small subset of the family") is a lifestyle choice.

Sometimes it leads to decisions involving available transport,

I think transport should always be one of the factors taken into
account.

sometimes not. Always a balancing act between needs, desires and what
is actually possible.

Needs and desires are the "lifestyle you want".

For many many people any "lifestyle" stuff is more than outweighed by
the rest. They can't afford to get it "right" and even those who can
may find that they have made the wrong choice.


People in London really have no idea what it's like in the provinces,
when it comes to being provided with transport.

I live in London. I have also lived in the provinces (well, one of them)
and I know what transport is like, including once-a-week or no buses.
You should really stop making sweeping statements about categories of
people,

"People in London" is an expression that means "most people in London",
not "all people in London". I've lived in London, and also in five
different places in the provinces [if we only count those I've stayed
more than a year].

My most common lifestyle choice is not to live in a house in the very
town centre (they'd be too expensive), nor to live in a large modern
house on a soul-less bus-less estate two miles from the centre of town,
nor in a picturesque one bus every two hours village five miles out in
the countryside, but to find a house that fits my budget[1] that's
between half a mile and a mile from the "High Street", and preferably on
the side of the town with a railway station.

Transport, and "getting around" the area was a very high priority in my
choice. As a result the car sits on my drive most of the time, only
going out about once a month.

[1] Which is below the national average, and the average price of houses
in most of my street is £160k (and most recently sold £121k), which is
quite low for the Southeast. Versus £290k for the town as a whole
[figures from Zoopla].
--
Roland Perry

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 12:07:41 on
Sun, 23 Jun 2013, Recliner remarked:
I'm still confused by your definition of "genuine retirees". You
seemed to suggest that it could be defined as people not receiving
taxable income -- would you have an age limit as well? Or would you
only include people not receiving "income from employment"? So you'd
not allow a 70-year old part-time worker to get a twirly pass?

The normal reason for proposing such restrictions is to avoid a person
with a twirly card using it was a subsidised means to "commute to work".

the way the rest of the country avoids this is by (still) having the before
9:30 (or similar) restriction

wouldn't that be a better way

tim

Freedom Pass - eligibility?
 

In message , at 16:20:51
on Mon, 24 Jun 2013, remarked:
You really do have a totally unreal perception of the choices available to
people less well off that you, Roland.

Having spent the last couple of months finding somewhere (in the private
sector) for my daughter to live while she studies in London has topped
up my already quite comprehensive perception of such things.

In the last ten years I've lived in rental accommodation (on a very
tight budget) at four separate locations. Each time it was a balance
between numerous competing 'lifestyle' choices.
--
Roland Perry