Fri 27 Jan 2012

Glasgow considers banning peak time bus pass use

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CHEAP rail fares for pensioners in and around Scotland’s biggest city are to be scrapped during evening rush hour.

The elderly and disabled are currently entitled to concessionary fares across the old Strathclyde network at any time after 9am.

Today councillors responsible for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) will be asked to ban such travel from 4.30pm to 6pm.

The move should bring the west of Scotland into line with the rest of the country, where such restrictions are already in place.

The SNP has sought to pin blame for the proposed cutback on the Labour councillors who run SPT.

SNP councillor Graeme Hendry said: “I have little doubt that many Glasgow pensioners will be badly affected by this proposal from SPT so I would urge Labour not to try and further reduce access to concessionary travel.”

The decision has to be made by SPT’s concession scheme committee, which brings together councillors from across the west of Scotland.

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Fri 27 Jan 2012

Chinese pensioners enjoy a home from home in Birmingham Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/01/26/chinese-pensioners-enjoy-a-home-from-home-in-birmingham-97319-30200717/#ixzz1kfj0GZsf

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RESIDENTS at the country’s only Chinese sheltered housing complex celebrated New Year with the same diplomats who launched the project 21 years ago.

The Chinese Embassy officials visited Connaught Gardens, in Balsall Heath, as part of the Year of the Dragon festivities. They launched the unique scheme in 1991 by planting a tree.

Connuaght House is one of two Chinese-only sheltered projects, run by the Trident Reach the People Charity.

The other, Cherish House, in Digbeth, opened in 1999 and was the setting for a party involving 60 residents.

The scheme was launched to accommodate Birmingham’s expanding elderly Chinese population. The age group ranges from 50 to 90, with one resident set to celebrate her 100th birthday in May.

Read more in Birmingham Mail

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Fri 27 Jan 2012

Mooning pensioner gets day of reckoning

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A pensioner convicted of mooning at a neighbour has been labelled a “vexatious litigant” in the High Court following a long-running dispute with his other neighbours.

Harry Singer and his wife, June, regularly clashed with fellow residents over charges imposed by a management company at the block of flats which is home to dozens of Jewish pensioners.

The case escalated so substantially after dozens of hearings that the Attorney General applied for the order.

The verdict bars the couple from bringing civil or criminal proceedings against fellow residents without the permission of the High Court.

The 28-flat Hartsbourne Park development in Bushey, Hertfordshire, is populated entirely by Jewish pensioners. The Royal Courts of Justice heard on Tuesday that Mr Singer first disputed the management charges on his wife’s behalf in 2003.

The arguments spiralled out of control, with Mr Singer taking more than 30 unsuccessful actions against neighbours and the management company. Cases have appeared at criminal and civil courts and in tribunals. On one occasion Mr Singer failed in an attempt to sue a police officer for unlawful arrest.
Read more in The Jewish Chronicle

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Fri 27 Jan 2012

Council U-turn as threatened bus services spared from axe

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Threatened bus services in Cornwall have been offered a two-year reprieve after councillors backed plans to pump £2.4 million into protecting vital rural routes which had been facing the axe.

But proposals to ask pensioners and disabled people currently using free bus passes to pay a flat rate fare of 50 pence a journey, raising almost £3 million in extra cash to “underpin the future” of public transport in the county, have proved contentious.

Cornwall Council will ask the Government whether it can pilot the new charging scheme on concessionary passengers to help prop up threatened routes.

At a meeting of the council’s cabinet yesterday, Councillor Graeme Hicks, portfolio holder for transportation and highways, hailed the arrangements as “the best deal for Cornwall”. But he conceded that bus fares might increase and there was no guarantee that operators would continue to run all routes.

Read more in This is Cornwall

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Fri 27 Jan 2012

Transport bosses urge MPs to reject bus pass means test for pensioners

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Transport chiefs in Greater Manchester will write to MPs calling on them to oppose plans to means test pensioners before giving them free bus passes. It comes after deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said better-off elderly people should make a ‘sacrifice’ to help the government balance its books. A new report drawn up for the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee warns that means testing would discourage over-60s from using buses and increase social exclusion. The report says it would also increase the local cost of administering the national concessionary passes. It adds: “Another effect may be to further stigmatise bus travel as transport solely for the poor.”

Read more at Manchester Evening News:

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Thu 26 Jan 2012

Pensioners Party Joins Coalition

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Alas folks, not in the UK (yet)

Slovenia will probably get a new premier-designate after the Pensioners’ Party agreed to join a coalition headed by former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, ending weeks of political uncertainty in the euro-region nation.

“We’re joining the coalition,” the party’s president, Karl Erjavec, said today in an interview with TV Slovenija, citing the need to end address the country’s economic “crisis.” The party has 6 seats in the 90-member legislature, bringing Jansa’s support to 50 lawmakers.

Jansa, whose party came second in the snap vote last month, needs 46 votes to be confirmed as premier at a parliamentary session on Jan. 28. His Cabinet would probably be confirmed two weeks after that. Zoran Jankovic, a former mayor of Ljubljana whose party won the Dec. 4 vote, failed to be confirmed as premier-designate on Jan. 12.

Read more in businessweek.com

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Thu 26 Jan 2012

GPs told to quiz elderly with serious health problems about ‘how they want to die’

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GPs must ask the elderly with serious health problems if they want ‘do not resuscitate’ orders put in their files, according to senior doctors.

They should also find out if patients want to die at home and whether they would rather refuse certain drugs or treatment in their final hours.

Doctors who carried out a study found discussions about death helped prevent thousands of elderly patients being admitted to hospital against their will.

There are concerns frail patients are being forced to remain on wards until they die and are given medical treatment that only prolongs their agony.

But many doctors are reluctant to talk to their patients as death is seen as a taboo subject.

Read more in The Daily Mail

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Wed 25 Jan 2012

Half of pensioners surveyed by Age UK have turned heating down when they are not warm enough in attempt to save money

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A growing number of UK pensioners are falling into fuel poverty as a result of high gas and electricity prices, according to a new study from Age UK.

An ICM survey conducted on behalf of the charity found that nearly half of the 1,000 pensioners polled said they turned their heating down when not warm enough in an effort to save money.

The study also revealed that 2 million pensioners around the country are regularly going to bed when they are not tired just to keep warm.

Mervyn Kohler from Age UK was quoted in the Guardian as saying, ‘The figures are stark and show that people have been shaken rigid by the enormous rise in prices we saw in the second half of last year, and for individuals living on fairly straitened incomes, that hike in one of the two essential areas – the other being food – has really put the frighteners on our older population,’

Read more on Totally Money

and in The Guardian

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Tue 24 Jan 2012

Revealed: the secret to an enduring sex life – cups of tea

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Making love with a long-term partner is less about sex toys and snatched passion and more about sharing time, intimate moments – and cups of tea, says the marital therapist Andrew G Marshall. He explains how couples can keep the spark alive

Sex life a bit lacking? Take heart: the answer lies not in scary-sounding toys or tantric techniques, but a nice cup of tea. That’s the comforting view of leading marital therapist Andrew G Marshall. He explains how it works: “If you stop in the middle of love-making to have tea and talk to each other, it shows how desire comes and goes – that sex isn’t just a race to the end. It allows you time to be intimate with each other. Sex which used to last 15 minutes suddenly lasts an hour and a half. Sex doesn’t have to involve going out of your comfort zone – although challenging yourself is good.”
Read more in The Independent

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Sun 22 Jan 2012

Cambridge park and ride ‘monopoly’ to end and save council £600,000

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New management of five Cambridge park and ride sites plus open competition for bus operators could save £600,000 per year, the county council says.

The Conservative-led council currently runs the sites itself and the service is operated by Stagecoach.

A council spokesman said it was not recouping its running costs from the operator’s contract and encouraging competition was in the public interest.

Stagecoach confirmed it would bid to both manage and operate the service.

Councillor Steve Criswell, cabinet member for community infrastructure, said changes to the city’s park and ride operation were necessary to reduce the annual deficit.
Read more on BBC News website

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