When I were a lad, I used to get my university chewition and me board an'
lodgin' paid for wi' taxpayers' munneh, and me mam an dad didn't use to
gerrup in the mornin' before theh'd went to bed and lick t'road clean wi' t'
tongue tu pay for it. neether did ah have to sell mesell into indentures
servitude for tu pay off no students' loan.
And yeh tell that to young people these days, and they just don't believe
yeh.
Now my question is this, how are we going to expect that the generation
which didn't get all the benefits we had, who had their O levels turned into
goodness knows what, their country turned into an asylum for the spivs of
the world, their chances to own reasonable homes placed out of their reach
by ludicrous housing policies: how are we gonna expect that these kids are
gonna wanna pay our pensions?
They're gonna tell us to sling our hooks, and rightly so.
Which leaves us with the private pensions companies.
Well I started off with three, the Equitable Life, the most highly
recommended as a safe bet - that one went down the tubes. Then I had one
with a Company that joined Arthur Andersens, need I say more? So that was
the first ten years of my pension saving gone, and I'm just waiting for the
samw sort of thing to happen to the later plans I had. Well, I don't put in
to them any more. I make my own real estate investments with the money. I
trust myself to provide for my old age more than these silly idiots in last
year's Marks and Spencer ties and suits, who don't even give you a coffee if
you go to their office.
And I don't begrudge grants to students who have brains, I think we should
pay, as we were paid for before. As for the moronic polytechnics that think
they are universities, let them be the ones to struggle for funds, if anyone
has to, and give the future lights of this country the chance to emerge and
give us some hope.
Uncle Davey
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