Some Hae Meat (07/01/14)
As we approach Burns' Night (25 January 2014) I thought I'd publish a previous post from the blog site archive, the words of the Selkirk Grace or 'Some Hae Meat' - which is a one of my favourite poems as it is short, easy to remember and has an important social message.
John Prescott was unsuccessful, by the way, in his efforts to become a highly paid Police and Crime Commissioner.
As the poem says, 'let the Lord be thankit'.
Some Hae Meat (15 November 2012)
I've always been fond of the words contained in The Selkirk Grace written by Robert Burns - which is reproduced below:
The Selkirk Grace
“Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.”
For me this is the stuff of life and politics - the fact that some people have so much more than they can possibly ever need - to live a comfortable existence.
While others struggle day-by-day - just to get by.
Today voters go to the polls to elect new Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales - in 41 areas outside of London.
One of the Labour candidates will be Lord John 'Two Jags' Prescott - who was an MP across four decades and retired at the last election - after a 'colourful career' is probably a charitable way of putting things.
Now I don't know for certain the details of John Prescott's pension arrangements - but I would be astonished if these were not based on his 'final salary' as Deputy Prime Minister.
In which case his pension must be worth well over £60,000 a year - plus a tax free lump sum worth three times his pension which would work out at around £200,000.
Serious money in other words - and that's on top of generous MPs' expenses over many years including a second home housing allowance - and a 'grace and favour' apartment for the exclusive use of the Deputy PM while on official duties in London.
Yet the old sea dog and committed socialist still didn't retire into obscurity - or write his memoirs.
No, not a bit of it - because soon after leaving the House of Commons plain old John Prescott was duly elevated to the House of Lords - where he became a 'noble lord' and eligible to claim a tax free attendance allowance of £300 per day.
Even now Lord Prescott (74) wants to add another string to his bow - by standing for elected office again as a Police Commissioner for the Humberside Region.
If successful he will be paid another public salary of £75,000 a year though I suspect he will be ineligible for more pension payments or entitlements - because of his age.
But the point of this post is not to say that John Prescott should be prevented from standing again for public office - the point is to ask serious question which is:.
'Why is Lord Prescott paid large sums of taxpayers money to retire early and leave the workforce - only to re-enter the workforce a short time later?'
To my mind this is a ridiculous way to use public funds - especially when times are so hard.
The fair solution would be to change the rules to reflect the circumstances we live in today - so that if Lord John (and thousands like him) want to retire early and claim their pensions - then fair enough.
But if they re-enter the workforce - public or private - I would suspend payment of their pensions until they do retire for real - and stop taking up positions that other people could fill.
Because the fair (or socialist) way to look at the issue is that people like John Prescott shouldn't be able to eat their fill of the cake - and yet still hold onto it at the same time.
The Selkirk Grace
“Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.”
For me this is the stuff of life and politics - the fact that some people have so much more than they can possibly ever need - to live a comfortable existence.
While others struggle day-by-day - just to get by.
Today voters go to the polls to elect new Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales - in 41 areas outside of London.
One of the Labour candidates will be Lord John 'Two Jags' Prescott - who was an MP across four decades and retired at the last election - after a 'colourful career' is probably a charitable way of putting things.
Now I don't know for certain the details of John Prescott's pension arrangements - but I would be astonished if these were not based on his 'final salary' as Deputy Prime Minister.
In which case his pension must be worth well over £60,000 a year - plus a tax free lump sum worth three times his pension which would work out at around £200,000.
Serious money in other words - and that's on top of generous MPs' expenses over many years including a second home housing allowance - and a 'grace and favour' apartment for the exclusive use of the Deputy PM while on official duties in London.
Yet the old sea dog and committed socialist still didn't retire into obscurity - or write his memoirs.
No, not a bit of it - because soon after leaving the House of Commons plain old John Prescott was duly elevated to the House of Lords - where he became a 'noble lord' and eligible to claim a tax free attendance allowance of £300 per day.
Even now Lord Prescott (74) wants to add another string to his bow - by standing for elected office again as a Police Commissioner for the Humberside Region.
If successful he will be paid another public salary of £75,000 a year though I suspect he will be ineligible for more pension payments or entitlements - because of his age.
But the point of this post is not to say that John Prescott should be prevented from standing again for public office - the point is to ask serious question which is:.
'Why is Lord Prescott paid large sums of taxpayers money to retire early and leave the workforce - only to re-enter the workforce a short time later?'
To my mind this is a ridiculous way to use public funds - especially when times are so hard.
The fair solution would be to change the rules to reflect the circumstances we live in today - so that if Lord John (and thousands like him) want to retire early and claim their pensions - then fair enough.
But if they re-enter the workforce - public or private - I would suspend payment of their pensions until they do retire for real - and stop taking up positions that other people could fill.
Because the fair (or socialist) way to look at the issue is that people like John Prescott shouldn't be able to eat their fill of the cake - and yet still hold onto it at the same time.
