Author: anneethompson

The New Tax……

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101 Tax (Yuk)

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       Here is a first very simple guide to tax in the UK. Due to the proximity of the next election and the possibility of a new mansion tax, I will explain what that might mean.
However, please note that I am definitely NOT promoting any particular party. Tax is just one issue amongst many.

     At the moment, there are three main types of tax. This will possibly increase to four types if Labour win the election. No one enjoys paying tax but probably it is worth understanding the different types so you can have a view about which are essential and which are unfair.

Tax on Earnings
This is tax on anything that you earn, including your salary, capital gains (if you sell something and it makes a profit), interest on your savings.
In some ways it seems a fair tax. The amount you pay goes up depending on how much you earn and most people pay it.
However, it can be unfair because some people manage to avoid it, to cheat the system (which means the rest of us have to pay more, because those people still use the roads, NHS, police, etc.) If you are an employee, then you have no options at all, the tax is removed at source – in other words, your employer kindly (!) removes it from your pay packet before you are given your salary. So, someone who works in a shop will be given their monthly pay minus the income tax. Someone who is self employed has more opportunity to be clever and cheat the system. The nice old builder who says, “Pay me cash, it’ll be cheaper for you,” is possibly not declaring those earnings and therefore not paying tax on them. Wealthy people with clever accountants can also avoid paying by hiding their investments in offshore accounts. The government doesn’t see them and so does not remove tax from the interest.

Inheritance Tax
This is a one-off tax on everything you own at the time you die.
Again, this seems reasonably fair. If Bob works hard his whole life and is a jolly clever chap, why shouldn’t he enjoy a nice amount of cash? However, we might not feel that Bob’s son also deserves to have an easy life just because his Dad was talented, so the government can take a slice of the wealth and use it for the rest of us.
However, it does feel rather a personal tax, especially if you are the person who was related to dear old Bob. Plus, if Bob worked hard and wants to leave a valuable painting to his son, is it fair that the son has to sell it just so he can pay the inheritance tax? Should people be allowed to keep heirlooms within their family or should they be sold to pay tax? There is also the point that it does not seem to actually generate much cash for society. It certainly used to be the case that the admin costs involved in collecting inheritance tax were pretty much equal to the amount of tax collected. So actually, no one benefits. It is interesting that UKIP plan to abolish this tax if they come to power.

Consumption Tax
This is a tax on everything that you buy. It includes VAT (currently 17½%) and stamp duty (tax when you buy a house.)
This seems quite a good tax. Everyone pays (apart from a few dodgy builders who tell you there is no VAT if you pay cash) and no one can cheat. It is easy to collect and everyone pays.
The unfairness comes in when you consider that everyone pays the same amount. So the poor old lady and Bob the millionaire, both pay the same amount of VAT when they buy a washing machine.

     So, there we have the three main types of tax that are currently in use. The are a pain to pay but are mostly fair. We all hate paying them but we all know that if we want roads, police, schools, health service, etc, the money has to come from somewhere. Now we come to the new tax that Labour are proposing:

Mansion Tax
This is a tax on an asset, something you already own. The proposal is that every year, if you own a house above a certain value, you will have to pay an extra tax on it. You will still pay the normal taxes when you buy it and when you sell it, this is a tax for just owning it.
Firstly, this will probably be popular. It will initially only affect very rich people (who we are all a bit jealous of) and most of us will only benefit from the extra revenue.

      However, is it fair? It only targets one type of asset:houses. You can be wealthy and own other things, like jewelry, paintings, land, even pensions (I’ll come back to that one) and you will not have to pay the tax. There are other assets which cannot possibly be taxed, like being beautiful or healthy or living in a fantastic location and unless they generate income, you will not be taxed on them.

      Let’s come back to pensions. (If you haven’t read my article on pensions, read it now.) Now, government workers all receive defined benefit pensions. This is a HUGE asset. When they start to receive the pension they will pay income tax, just like when someone sells their mansion they will pay tax, but in the meantime it is a highly valuable asset which they own. Just like a house. Strangely, no politicians are suggesting that anyone should be taxed just for owning this hugely valuable asset of a valuable pension. Even though some other people (those not on defined benefits pensions) have invested in their home, expecting that when they are older they will sell it and use the money as part of their pension.

     The new tax will cause house prices to be distorted (because who will want to buy a house that is just inside the amount where they have to start paying the tax? Remember, it is every year, not when the house is purchased.)
It is also unfair. No one is suggesting that other assets should be taxed, that if you own a valuable painting you should have to pay tax every year while you own it. Sometimes, things that are unfair are worth fighting against, even if we are not affected.

      Once the new tax has been introduced, it will not be difficult for governments to lower the threshold when they do the budget. At the moment, the house price they are suggesting is huge, way above what most of us could afford. However, what will stop that from creeping downwards? How long before most people in senior positions, our doctors, head teachers, managers, who have worked hard and invested their savings in a house, will start to lose those savings? It is called a ‘mansion tax’ but if someone lives in London it might actually be an ‘apartment’ tax.
We do not know if there will be a cap on the tax or if someone who lives for many years in these houses could eventually end up owing more than the house is actually worth.

       Personally, I am very unlikely to ever be able to afford a house that will be charged the mansion tax. However, I do not like the thought that a tax could be introduced which is blatantly unfair. It is just not very British……

Easter?

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Easter?

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by Anne E Thompson

The festival was for Eastre,
Goddess of fertility
But they swept it away
With a cross of humility.
They took over the sunrise
Coloured eggs were hidden,
They introduced religion
And pagans were forbidden.

Then the bunnies
Hopped back,
With the chicks
And the eggs.
Spring flowers
In bright posies
Feast times with friends
And fun with families.

But beneath it all
Well hidden within,
Was a story of death
And the blackness of sin.
The anguish of God
Turning his back.
A story of tears
When the world went black.
That tragic tale,
Which wont go away,
Has a promise of peace
That we long for today.
And the torture and pain
And despair of that day,
Is why God turns and listens
When we kneel and pray.

I wanted to show that originally at this time of year, there was a pagan festival for Eastre (sometimes spelt with an ‘O’) who was the goddess of fertility. That is where the sunrise, eggs, bunnies and chicks come from. Then the Christians arrived and took over the festival to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. But all those pagan symbols still keep coming back! However, under it all, the message of what happened in the Bible story still remains true.

An Easter Story

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The Sword Pierced Soul

by Anne E Thompson

     “I watched my son die today. My beautiful boy, beaten, battered and left to die. And my heart broke. I held my cloak close and I remembered the weight of him as a babe, like a boulder on my hip, wriggling to be free, to run and jump and climb. Those legs will run no more.
Those limbs, I was so proud when they grew. I remember when he grew as tall as me, then taller even than Joseph. I remember watching him, stretched out as he ate, those long limbs seemed to go on forever. “I grew him,” I used to think with pride. Those limbs will not sprawl relaxed in my home ever again.
I watched his hands, the hands that used to pat me cheekily on the head when he’d grown tall. Those strong hands which laboured with wood, which helped me carry heavy loads, which lifted young children playfully. They are no longer strong. I saw them bang nails through the flesh, felt that I heard the sound of bone shattering over the thump of the hammer, heard his ragged breath as they forced the cross upright. And I wondered if I too might die. But I watched. I am his mother and I would not leave him alone. When they tried to take me home, when they told me to shield my eyes, avert my gaze, I did not. For he was my son. I would never leave him alone, not at such an anguished hour of need.
Others watched. Some women were there, terrified and hanging back. Not me, I am his mother. I stood with John, where he could see me. What could they do to me that was worse than this?
Some watched who hated him. They mocked and spat and called abuse. It could not hurt him now, I thought, let them shout.
“He trusts in God,” they called, “Let God save him now,” and they laughed, even as he died they laughed.
Yet even God deserted him by the end and that was hardest to bear. He called out with a loud shout, asking why God had turned from him.
“My God,” he called in anguish, “why have you forsaken me?”
But I was there. I did not leave. I saw them crucify him, naked upon a cross. No mother wants to see her grown son naked, but still I did not look away. I was there at the beginning, I would stay with him until the end.
The soldiers took his clothes, for fabric is costly and even that of a criminal should not go to waste. Most they tore and shared between them but not his tunic. They cast lots for that, not wanting to spoil something precious. Yet my son was precious and they destroyed him.

        It began last night. They woke me from my sleep and warned me there was trouble. He had been arrested, taken from a meal with his friends and questioned by the temple authorities. They feared the invaders, so he was then referred to a court of Godless law, a place that feared no God.
They told me that he was scourged, beaten with whips that removed chunks of flesh as they struck. He was mocked and abused, then brought to this place.
I came, stumbling through streets full of people, full of noise and smells and fear and hatred. I came to this place, this Godforsaken hill beyond the city wall and I saw my son, my boy, diminished, shrunken somehow. I saw that what they had told me was true, smelt the repugnant stink of excrement mingle with the metallic stench of blood. I heard the shouts of abuse, the curses of the guards, the screams from the prisoners, the wails from friends. And him, like an oasis of calm amidst the turmoil, suffering but at peace.
And he saw me. Those dark eyes that as a baby had watched me intently when he fed. Those eyes that twinkled merrily when he teased me and became serious when he wanted to explain something important. Those eyes, red rimmed with exhaustion now, turned to me. Even hanging there, with parched mouth and dried lips, he spoke to me. His voice was hoarse, for he had refused the wine they offered, but I heard him well. A mother knows her child’s voice. I stood with John and my son told me that this was to be my son now and he was to care for me as a mother. Even in his torment he cared for me, fulfilled his duty as my son.
Still I would not leave. Then it ended. The sky had turned as black as my world and he drew his last breath. It was finished.
Those who had mocked became silent, some cried, some beat their breasts in despair. The blackness of the sky frightened them and many fled, wondering at what they had done.
Then I left, I let them lead me away. My soul was broken and my heart beat even though I bid it stop. My boy was gone, my firstborn, special baby, was no more. I carried that knowledge like a rock within me, I would have rather died in his place. How can I live, continue with my life knowing he is gone? There would be no more sunshine or laughter, nothing matters now. The core of me was gone. I could not even cry.
Afterwards, I could not rest and I heard strange stories. They said the soldiers pierced his side, to check there was no life in him. His blood had separated so they took him down, a solid corpse that had no life. A man came and took the body, they said they followed and knew where he lay, in a tomb that was guarded. They told me of strange things, of the temple curtain torn in two, of dead men walking and boulders breaking open. I do not know. I only know my boy is gone. That is all that matters.
It should not have been like this. It was so recently that people praised his name, sang and danced before him, treated him like a king. It should not have ended like this.
And yet, I recall a song, it comes persistently to mind, sung often in the synagogue. It speaks of one forsaken by God in his time of need, scorned by many. He belonged to God from before he was born, then suffered at the hands of many. They sung of bones poured out like water, a heart of melted wax, that is how my boy would have felt. They sung of hands and feet pierced like his and enemies gloating over him. They sang of lots being cast for clothing and of God’s ultimate victory. They sung of remembering him for ever, not just now but families of every nation, even those presently unborn. For he has done it.
Is this my son’s song? Were the words written for him?
He spoke of his death often, he tried to warn me that he would die. But not like this, not before my own time has come. No mother should bury her child, it goes against what is natural and right. Though, he showed no fear, he knew what his end would be. And he told me there was more.
As I turn now to sleep, I wonder at his words. Will he truly return somehow and will I know? Has he finished what he was sent to do?”

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        If Mary was a young teenager when she learned she was pregnant (which would fit with the age girl’s became betrothed in those days) then when Jesus died aged thirty-three, she would have been about forty-seven. How does a woman of that age cope with the things she was forced to witness and how much would she have understood at the time?
        I am about her age, I have sons, contemplating their dying is too horrible for words. I am sure she loved her boy as much as we love ours.

           Crucifixion was a ghastly way to die. We learn in the Bible that Jesus, who never sinned, who never did anything wrong, died to save the world. What does that mean? You can learn more at:https://anneethompson.com/how-to/378-2/

           However, many people were crucified, some probably unjustly accused. So is it the death that was important or was it that God became separate? I think that this is the key issue here, the part of Jesus that was God left him. That was more terrible than crucifixion. That is what each of us deserves and what we do not have to suffer if we choose to come to God. If we want to know God, we can, even if that means changing our minds. You may not believe in God but God believes in you.

       The song which Mary recalled in the story was Psalm 22. It has some striking similarities to the account of Jesus’ crucifixion. It was written about one thousand years before the event. (wow)
       It begins: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
       It finishes: “…..future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn- for he has done it.”

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 More stories, articles and poems at: http://www.anneethompson.com

The Mysteries of Insurance

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PPI and the Mysteries of Insurance

     I was recently in a mobile phone shop. In front of me in the queue was a teenaged boy, about the same age as my sons. He had just chosen a very smart new phone and was in the process of paying. It was too hot in the shop and I was bored and wanting to leave, daydreaming and not really concentrating. Then I heard the salesman offer him insurance and I began to tune in. The salesman had a great patter, all about how annoying it would be if the boy lost his phone, how he was spending £200 on a new phone and if it was stolen on his way home, that was it, no phone, no £200. However, for a small amount each month, he would only need to pay the first £50 and then the shop would replace his phone, with a brand new one, for free. Was he prepared to risk having nothing, or would he like to take out insurance and be sure that his phone would be replaced?

     “No,” I shouted, “Don’t do it! The amount you will pay over two years plus the £50 excess is more than enough to buy a much better phone. And how likely is it to be stolen anyway? Quick, run away.”
Actually, I didn’t. Not out loud anyway. My children have spent many years teaching me what is socially acceptable and even I knew it would be inappropriate to shout at a complete stranger. However, in my head I was. Hence the purpose of this article.

      Do you understand insurance? Now, in the UK, ripping off teenagers is not illegal, as long as you explain everything to them first. Even if they are slightly dim, even if your patter is exceptionally impressive and biased, that is not against the law. We have a basic principle in our law that states “buyer beware“. That means, the responsibility for checking and understanding is with the buyer. Anyone can sell you anything and if they correctly explain (even very briefly or with a strong bias) what is involved, that is not against the law. It is up to the buyer to be wise.
When someone tries to sell you insurance, listen carefully. Use the calculator on your mobile if necessary or tell them you will think about it and come back tomorrow. Be sure that financially, it will actually benefit you. Do not trust them. Especially on mobile phones.
There is a rumour that mobile phone companies make more profit on selling insurance than they do on selling phones. Is it your money they are taking?

     In the last five years however, the government has subtly changed this for banks. For big banks, the principle seems to be “seller beware”. This means, the responsibility for being sure the correct product is being sold, that it really will benefit the customer, is now increasingly with the bank, not the person buying.
So, if you recently bought a product at a bank, like an ISA or insurance and you now feel that actually, it was not the best product for you, go back. If the bank does not refund your money, you can write to the ombudsman and they probably will. The government has not changed the law (which is still “buyer beware”) but it has forced banks to behave differently. This is due mostly to PPI.

     PPI has been huge. It has caused those annoying phone calls that always arrive when you are in a rush or in the bathroom. It is why we get those irritating texts when you think someone must love you after all but no, it is an irritating claims management company (read “shark”) hassling you. It has also had a huge impact in the last five years on the car industry because of all the reclaimed money increasing their new car sales! So what exactly is it?

     PPI was Payment Protection Insurance. It was always a rubbish product. If you had a loan, you could take out an insurance so that if you lost your job and couldn’t manage your monthly repayments, the insurance would pay them for you. But it only paid for a short time and the insurance itself was quite expensive. Banks did things like add it onto the end of the loan, so you paid them back for longer but you didn’t really notice. Banks were also bad because they sold it to everyone. Even little old ladies or unemployed people who did not have a job to lose were sold PPI (boo, hiss, we all hate the banks….) They did what the mobile phone shops do, they explained it quickly and with bias so people agreed to pay without really thinking about whether it was good for them.
The government decided that banks should pay out. They wanted this for three reasons:
Firstly, banks had been bad so they needed to put it right. A punishment really.
Secondly, people like being given money. It makes them feel happy. People vote for governments they like….. or perhaps I am just being cynical.
Thirdly, the government wanted to shift the responsibility for selling the right products to the banks, away from the buyer.

      So the regulator (this is the bank police) have made new rules. Some of these were even back dated, so banks could be blamed for not doing things before the regulations were even written.If one of those annoying claims persons (aka shark) persuades you to write to your bank and say you were wrongly sold PPI, the rules are so tough that it is easier for the banks to just pay out without doing proper checks. Even people who never bought PPI in the first place are making claims. Which actually, is stealing. The claims management companies know this and decided that they want a share too (imagine sharks circling.)

      Okay, so PPI was a bad product and banks behaved badly when they sold it to little old ladies. But what do you think about what has happened since? One of the greatest things about the UK is the fairness of our legal system. Compared to most of the rest of the world, our legal system is fair and we trust it. It makes the UK a good place to live and do business with. Is it okay for them to be unfair to banks and ignore other companies? Do we want our banks to go bust?

     Should the same rules be applied everywhere? What this unfairness has done is make banks be “seller beware.” This safeguards people like us, who perhaps don’t really understand the financial products we are buying. Maybe the same principle should extend to mobile phone companies………

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Every week a current financial issue is explained clearly at: http://www.anneethompson.com under “mystery of money”

Mummy Secrets

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Mummy Secrets

       These have been learned over time and are the result of much experience in the mummy department. I now impart them to all young mother’s in the hope it will enable you to have a slightly easier time.

1.Boys (of all ages) never look in the back of drawers. This is true. They open the drawer about half way, have a quick look and then tell you that what they are seeking is not in there. This can be used to your advantage if, as in my house, they frequently a) misplace their own scissors and b) borrow yours and don’t replace them. Seriously, I have pairs of scissors with death threats written in permanent marker pen on the handles (slightly embarrassing when I took them to use for church sunday school, but I got over it.) It made no difference, they would still use my scissors and not return them. However, if I keep them at the back of the drawer, even the drawer where they have always been kept, then they don’t find them. Things at the back are safe. Worth remembering.

2.When they ask which child you love best, pick one. I spent years trying to explain that I loved them all equally, that I could never choose which one I loved best, etc etc – they just kept asking. So one day I picked one and gave an outrageous reason:”Rebecca, because girls are better than boys,” “James because he’s the nicest,” “Mark, because he’s clever,” They still asked occasionally (and I did try to switch which one I chose) but it put them off for a long time and always ended the conversation pretty fast. Maybe they just needed to be the one that was chosen.

3.When your children argue with their siblings, always be the most unreasonable. I always wanted my children to be friends with each other, not least because one day I wont be here to care for them and I want them to look out for each other. All children argue with their siblings, that cannot be avoided. However, when there was no clear reason for the dispute, I would try to be much more unreasonable than any of them. Comments like, “Right, that is no television ever again” or “I am banning all chocolate” would so outrage my children that they would mutter darkly about me – together – and forget all about whatever they had been arguing about. After an hour or so they would ‘persuade’ me to modify my punishment to a more sensible one.

4.Forcing your child to eat something will not make them less fussy eaters. I am an adult now, all grown up, but I still feel sick when I smell rhubarb or gooseberries cooking and I am sure it is because I was forced to eat them as a child. I did initially try the same parenting technique with my own children (most of us copy our parents to some extent) but I abandoned it when I found peas thrown out of the window and half a piece of steak blocking the toilet. If my children did not like something, they were not forced to eat it. They did have to taste it every so often, in case their tastebuds had changed, but they were happy to do that because they knew they could choose not eat it if they didn’t want to. They are all adults now and they all have a varied diet. One of them was very fussy and I do believe he could taste things that I could not taste as he was even picky over treats like chocolate or vanilla ice cream. He still dislikes a lot of food but he will eat a whole variety of food and if under pressure (like at his girlfriend’s parents house) he can force himself to eat pretty much anything. You do of course need to ensure that they have a balanced diet. However, if your child does not eat vegetables, fruit is just as healthy.

I would like to have a short rant here. I am increasingly concerned by how fat some children are in today’s society. Please have an honest look at your child. If they are over weight, you are not doing them any favours by allowing them to over eat. It is not cute. Sugar is not an essential part of life. It will not kill your child if they tell you they are hungry sometimes – offer them a baked potato or some toast – if they are not hungry enough for that, then they can wait until the next meal. They will not get enough exercise at school – that is your responsibility as a mother, not the teachers. If they are not having enough exercise, drop them off further from the school so they have to walk for a few minutes everyday. Exercise does not need to be expensive or time consuming. Also, occasionally check the ingredients of what your child is eating. If the list is full of stuff you are more likely to find in a chemistry lab than a supermarket, do you really want to feed it to your child?

5.You cannot reason with an angry boy. When girls are angry, the adrenaline stimulates the speech part of their brain and they want to talk. Sometimes for many hours non stop. The opposite happens with a boy. When they are angry, the speech part of their brain shuts down and they are more likely to hit out than discuss. Something to do with testosterone. I don’t understand the biology but I do know that it is true because I have seen it many many times with my sons and my pupils. So, if a boy is angry, do not bother explaining anything until he has calmed down. If he is small, pick him up and put him somewhere safe. If he is big, put yourself somewhere safe (the washroom is a good place. Even an angry boy will not want to risk seeing his mother using the toilet and there is usually a lock on the door.) When he is calm, then you can explain to him why he was wrong, why you behaved as you did, what is an appropriate punishment, etc.

6.You cannot raise a child on your own. We all need help, mothers especially. In an ideal world, a child is raised by two parents and four grandparents and a whole world of friends, teachers, neighbours. Ours is not an ideal world, but whatever your situation, recognise that you have limitations and get help when you need it. Lots has been written about this, about “it takes a whole village to raise a child”, or even films like “About a Boy”. It is true. When you get to the absolute limit of what you can cope with, get help. I am a sometimes praised for how nice my children are and was a successful teacher, but sometimes I couldn’t cope. I recall one evening when I phoned my brother and told him I could not cope with my teenage son. He talked to him for a while (I think they just agreed that women can be very irrational at times! But it didn’t matter, it broke a cycle that I wasn’t coping with.) Don’t let things get beyond what you can cope with, that’s when horrible things happen. If you need help, get help. It is the wise thing to do.

7.When they bring home a crap picture, tell them its crap. If you always praise them they will a) never trust you to be honest and b) always feel the need to do brilliantly. I firmly believe that if you teach your children how to fail well, then they will do well in life. One of my proudest parenting moments was when my daughter lost a race in the school sports event. She was last by a considerable margin and ran the last lap with the hugest grin to huge cheers from the crowd. She was not a sporty child, she knew she was not good at running and that was fine. In other areas she excelled and she knew that my praise was genuine. If I say something is good, they can trust that it is.

8.Treat your children differently. You can treat them equally without having to do exactly the same thing for each child. For example, I can never understand the parents who buy a gift for the other child on a siblings birthday. Letting someone else have a turn at the treat is a good learning point, this is life, they will not always be the one who gets the promotion/job/top mark etc. This is relatively easy if they are different genders – when they complain that one is allowed to go to a party or something you can explain that they are all different but equal and offer to treat them equally – if your son wants a pink tutu, to learn ballet, grow hair long enough for ribbons, etc, that would be fine with you. They will soon see the logic in being treated differently. This is the same when choosing a school, clubs etc – see them as individuals especially if they have different talents.

9.Don’t be fooled when your child tells you that you are either the best or the worst mother in the world. You are not. When they are about five and they tell you that you are the best mummy ever, that is very nice. Write it down and hold on to that memory. It wont be too long before they tell you that “all the other mother’s let their children do/have/go whatever” and they will reliably inform you that you are the worst mother ever. Brace yourself and ride the storm, taking regular peeks at the diary entry when they told you how wonderful you are and remembering that ALL good mothers are told this at some point. You are their mother, not their friend. They don’t have to like you all the time. You have to make decisions for what is best for them, not what they will necessarily want. Be brave, it is not easy. But you are the best mother that they have, so they will have to get over it. I regularly told my children, “I am not like other mothers.”

10.Do go with your gut feeling and monitor how long your child plays computer games or watches television. They can stunt creativity and the ability to communicate and keep track of real life. It wont kill your child to be bored sometimes. Or even (horrors) read a book. Decide what works for you. I found that most games, whilst addictive, also needed a certain amount of time for them to be played satisfactorily. So in our house we had ‘computer weeks’. For one week, they could play computer games for as long as they liked (not including homework times, meal times and bed times, which were rigid unless they were ill.) Then, the next week, there was no computer at all. After a couple of days, they adjusted to the lack of life support and actually managed to enjoy something like cooking or reading or playing in the garden.

11.When your child is a teenager, have difficult discussions in public. This was one of the best things that I discovered. So, if I wanted to discuss with my fifteen year old his bed time, the amount of time spent on homework or any other ‘tricky issue’ I would take him out for lunch or even a to nice coffee shop. Somewhere public. Somewhere that having a meltdown would be embarrassing for him. The social pressure helped him keep a lid on whatever anger he would like to vent and we managed to have a few very sane conversations. It was well worth the price tag.

     It should perhaps be noted, that when I began writing this article I asked my daughter if she could remember any of my parenting strategies. She informed me that:
I regularly told her she was adopted and suggested she could go and find her real parents (she looks EXACTLY like me, so this was never a problem for her.)
If something hurt, I told her it would probably fall off.
I wanted to burn down her primary school.
I made her move traffic cones that were blocking the road when I wanted to drive down it.
I also always told them that even if they did things that were rubbish, I would love them anyway (they liked that one.)

       On reflection, I may have been a slightly rubbish mother. However, all my children have grown up to be happy sane and good company. Maybe being rubbish doesn’t matter too much. God chose you to raise your child, He has confidence that you can do it. I remember reading once, you don’t have to be a perfect mother, you only have to be good enough. There is hope for us all…….

The Mystery of Pensions

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The Mystery of Pensions

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      Okay, so this week the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osbourne, announced in his new budget that when you retire, you now have more choices about taking out some money from your pension pot as a lump sum. There was then some discussion on chat shows and daytime TV (the sort of programmes that you deny to friends ever watching) about being able to buy that sports car or luxury boat you have always wanted with money from your pension pot. Hmmmm. This needs some further thought. Here follows a simple guide to pensions.

     First, we need to know that there are two different kinds of pension. The first kind is called “Defined Benefit”. This guarantees that when you retire you will receive a certain percentage of your final salary. For life. So, if you been a teacher your whole working life and retire earning say £30,000, you might receive £15,000 every year for the rest of your life plus a £45,000 lump sum at the beginning. It will be index linked (which means if inflation goes up, so will your pension.) When you die, your spouse will get half of that. If you are lucky enough to have one of these pensions (and most companies do not now offer these, so really only government workers have them) then you are very fortunate. My advice is do not leave your job!

     However, most of us mere mortals will have what is called a “Defined Contribution” pension. (Yes, I know, very similar name. That is because financial people like to muddle us normal people. It makes them look clever. Really, they should be called “final salary pension” and “cross your fingers or pray hard pension.” That would be more accurate.) In this instance, when you retire, all the money you have paid in (plus any interest etc) is used to buy an annuity. An annuity is a financial product – you give in a lump sum, they then pay out an amount every month for the rest of your life. Some are index linked (goes up if inflation goes up), some are not.

     So, if you worked your whole life earning the same as a teacher, paying diligently into a pension fund, I estimate that you will retire with a pension pot worth £245,000. This would buy you an annuity (index linked and half for spouse on death) of £6,400 per year, with no lump sum. Pause for a moment. You have paid about £200 every month into a pension fund. That is a lot of money. You will receive about £6,000 a year to live on. That is not a lot of money. It will not allow for many ice-creams. Or even much bread.

     Now, the amount of money in your pension pot, the amount you have to buy an annuity, might have gone up or down depending on how the pension company has invested it. You need to keep an eye on it from time to time. Do not just trust it will “be enough”.

      The new rules that were announced in the budget apply to defined contribution pensions. These are what this article will be discussing.

     My first point is that if, when you retire, you take out a quarter of your pension as a lump sum, then your pension (what you receive each year for the rest of your life) will be a quarter less. This is not difficult maths! So, before you buy that yacht/ferrari/cruise/conservatory, check that when you are eighty you will still have enough money for food and heating.

     Secondly, do not over estimate how much you will receive. Pension companies are run by people who like numbers. They may wear glasses and polo shirts but they are not necessarily bad nor do they wave magic wands at things. You might work for forty years and pay (what feels like a lot) into a pension pot. You may then be retired for thirty years or more. The amount you have paid in, when spread over those retirement years may be a lot less than you think. You need to check now, before you retire and think about the numbers (brace yourself. This is your income for a long time. Force yourself to check.)You might want some chocolate when you have retired. You might even want electricity or some new clothes.

     Thirdly, when you retire, choose your next pension company – the one who will pay the annuity – carefully. It might be the same company who you have been saving with but it doesn’t have to be. Look at how much you have saved and then ‘shop around’, ask how much different companies will offer you each year that you are retired.

     Finally, think about how pension companies work. As I said before, they are maths people. When they are deciding what annuities to offer they consider things like life expectancy, stock market predictions and interest rates. Interest rates are very important. At the moment, March 2015, interest rates are at an all time low. This means annuities (remember, thats the amount you actually receive to live on) are also at an all time low. However, everyone who knows about these things, expects them to go up again. So, (big point, get ready) people about to retire should consider delaying buying their annuity. Got it? If you can work a couple of extra years or leave your pension in it’s pot for a while and not start the annuity, you might be a lot better off. Your income might be significantly higher for your whole retirement if you can wait until interest rates go up a bit.

     Some of these issues are uncomfortable to think about and if you do not enjoy numbers then they are a bit of an effort. However, think about how much you would like to receive every month when you have retired and then check how much you are likely to receive. Do not wait until it’s too late. Everyone needs chocolate, it’s a basic human right…..

More articles, stories and poems at: http://www.anneethompson.com

How to Hatch an Egg

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How to Hatch an Egg

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by Anne E Thompson

To hatch an egg, first you need a fertilised egg (which the eggs you buy in the supermarket might be but probably are not). To obtain a fertilised egg, you either need one of these:

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(a male of the species you hope to hatch!)

 

 

 

or you can buy them.

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I buy them from ebay and they are posted to me in clever polystyrene boxes. When you have your eggs, you either have to begin growing it at once, or keep it somewhere cool (like a garage) and turn it once a day. Fresh eggs have much the best chance of survival. However, I did once want to fill a half-empty incubator and used an egg that had been in the fridge for two weeks. It hatched into a perfectly healthy duckling which we named ‘Cupcake’.

 

In the wild, the mother bird will lay one egg per day in the nest and leave them until she has enough to sit on. Ducks will sit on about twenty. So, should you find a nest in the wild with cold eggs in, do not assume they have been abandoned, it could be that the hen has not yet finished laying.

When you start warming the eggs, the embryo will begin to develop. Once this has begun, you must keep them warm all the time or they will die. To warm them you need one of these:

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(An incubator)

 

 

 

Or a female who is broody.IMG_1715

To encourage a hen to become broody, give her a nest of eggs to sit on. This can be annoying if it’s not intentional and you have just not collected them for a few days, as a broody hen will stop laying and refuse to budge from the nest except to eat and swim (if she is a duck. Chickens are not keen swimmers.) If you have bought eggs, put them right next to the hen. She will see them, assume they are hers and push them into the nest. A broody hen will adopt pretty much anything. Not sure about other species, but certainly ducks will hatch chickens and vice versa.

The temperature and timing depends on the bird to be hatched. A chicken takes 3 weeks to grow and a duck takes 4 weeks. At first a chicken egg needs to be kept at 37℃ for 19 days and a duck egg for 25 days. It also needs to be kept humid. In an incubator you can add water. A duck will go for regular swims. Presumably chickens sweat a lot. A chicken egg needs to be kept at 45% humidity for the 19 days. The eggs also need to be turned, roughly every hour. This stops them sticking to the side of the egg and being deformed. Most incubators do this for you. I have no idea how how a hen knows all this, pretty amazing really.

As the embryo develops, it ‘eats’ the egg yolk, which it is attached to by an umbilical cord. Yes, ducklings and chicks do have tummy buttons! The yolk does not (as many people think) turn into the chick, it is just food. You can check on how the egg is developing after a week. If you shine a very bright torch onto the shell, you should be able to see lots of tiny blood vessels spreading out from a black dot. In the olden days they used candles but when I tried that I burnt my fingers and dropped the egg. I felt like a murderer. Any eggs that have not developed are probably not fertile and should be thrown away or they might go bad and the fumes will kill the other eggs. I check the eggs every few days after the first week. The black dot gets bigger until it is the only thing you can see other than the air space. But, if the air space starts to get bigger or the gunge inside the egg looks like it has separated, throw the egg away. It means the chick has died.

After 19 days, stop turning the eggs. They should hatch in 3 days. The temperature needs to be 37℃ and the humidity should be 60% . The eggs may begin to shake or even crack any time now. The bird inside is moving around, first into the air space inside the egg and then uses the little bump on its beak to begin to crack the egg. Sometimes you can hear them cheeping from inside the egg, which is very exciting! I have found that ducklings often begin to hatch fairly soon after after you stop turning the eggs and chicks do not really start until the end of the three days.

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If you are a sensible person, you will do nothing during this period. You will not remove the lid of the incubator or help a hatchling that has got stuck. Any bird that is too weak to hatch is probably not very strong and is likely to die within a few days of hatching.

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However, if like me, you are not particularly sensible and are more ‘mummy’ than ‘farmer’, then it is possible to help. The two things to remember are that the hatchling needs air and that it must absorb the remaining yolk. Sometimes a chick is too weak to crack the shell. If, after two days of watching an egg shake and hearing it cheep, it still has not made a hole, I tend to help it (with a skewer or sweetcorn fork!) Make a tiny hole in the air space of the egg (use a torch to check the chick is not in that bit.) I then, very slowly remove pieces of shell, about 3㎟ every five minutes, letting the chick rest in between. Do not ever remove the chick completely, just the shell around the head which will be folded over but will straighten as you remove shell. The yolk needs to stay moist, so when the chick’s head is free, I sometimes add warm water to the remaining half of shell (nowhere near the head or it might drown) so the yolk does not dry out. Then I leave it. Sometimes a chick will sit in a half hatched state for over a day. If it is warm, has air and the yolk remains moist, it will be fine.

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Once it has got enough strength (from absorbing the yolk) it will hatch the rest of the way itself. Obviously this is rather time consuming, so do not begin to ‘help’ (or interfere as my children put it) unless you have alot of time and do not mind a bit of gore (there are a lot of capillaries around the shell and yolk, so expect a bit of blood. It does not seem to come from the bird, which is usually fine, but it looks a bit unpleasant.) When the bird has fully hatched, leave it in the incubator for about 12 hours. It will rest (and look like it has died) for a few hours, then will dry out and start bouncing around.

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When it is fully mobile, move it to the next stage. This will either be a brooder – a box with a heat lamp, or a mother hen. I have read that it is difficult to introduce new hens to an established flock (because they fight, unlike ducks, who will welcome anyone.) It is therefore much better to give the new hatchlings to your broody hen to raise. I simply carry them outside and put them next to her nesting box. She will look extremely surprised for a few minutes, then when no one else claims the chick, she will push it underneath her and you can relax!

If I am raising the chicks or ducklings, I put them into a large plastic crate lined with hay. They need a heat lamp, water and food. I experiment with the height of the heat lamp – if they are huddled directly underneath it is too high, if they are in a far corner, it is too low. The water needs to be in a very shallow container so they can not drown (they are cute but stupid.) I feed them chick crumb. Some people give chicks medicated chick crumb because chicks are prone to infections (It’s not unusual for an apparently healthy chick to suddenly die.) However, I think it is better not to introduce antibiotics unless an animal is actually ill and I would prefer to risk the odd bird by giving them a more natural chick crumb. You cannot feed medicated chick crumb to ducklings or they will die.

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In an emergency, if you have no chick crumb, you can feed egg yolk to the hatchling.

I keep the hatchlings very clean. I throw away the hay as soon as it is dirty or damp and keep their food and water fresh. However, outside raised chicks are constantly muddy, the mother hen will put grubs and corn on the ground for them to eat and will kick dirt into all the food. They seem to survive.

A duckling can swim the same day that it hatches. It is kept waterproof by the oils that transfer from the mother when they sit under her. If they are raised in a brooder, they can still swim but after a few minutes will become water logged and should be returned to the lamp to dry out. They love water and try to splash in any water that they see, so it can be hard to keep their drinking water clean unless you buy a special drinking dispenser.

Chicks do not like water! If you hatch ducklings and chicks together, the chicks will follow the ducklings to the water bowl and then look very cross when they get splashed. However, within a week, chicks have grown wing feathers and are beginning to flutter out of the box (so it needs a lid or to be in a dog cage.) You should then add a perch to the container and encourage them to roost at night (by removing the hay so the ground is not so comfortable.) When they are a few weeks old they will always roost on a perch. As most of their poop arrives when they are asleep, it makes keeping the cage clean much easier and if they are free range they are safer if they sleep on a perch.

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After about seven months, you will need to provide a hay box so the females can lay their eggs. Then it all starts again…

IMG_1604 From this to this IMG_0499in 4 weeks – enough evidence for me that there is a God!

 

 

 

 

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害怕

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这是一首诗词。我希望你喜欢。请你看看一下，因为我是英国人，如果我写错了，请你告诉我。谢谢。

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害怕
全当都消耗，
移除的能耐派生
甚至小小的声息。
是以在沈黙了
他杀她，
一再杀她。
你可以死许多部分
在三十秒。
他离别的时候，
因为继续他的生命
她找到一个微小的点儿
生命在她之内
她伸伸点儿
贴她的形念 以前她是一样的。
因为形相一样，
没有人注意过她过去。
所以她养，易碎的遗体，
给正常生活和日常工作，
然后慢慢开始生长
而且添补她的形相更自然，
不过她从来知道，
它可能扯破再一次，
躯壳
没有灵魂的。

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Fear
When all consuming
Saps all mobility from limbs
Removes the ability to make
Even the softest sound.
So it was in silence
That he killed her
Repeatedly killed her.
You can die many times
In thirty seconds.
When he left
To continue with his living
She found a tiny shred
Of life within her.
She stretched it out
Thin and taut
To fit the shape
Of who she had been.
Because the shape was the same
No one noticed she had gone.
So she fed the brittle remains
With normality and routine,
And the remnant began to grow,
To fill her shape more naturally
To fit her life more comfortably.
But she always knew
That it might tear again
And leave the shell
Without a soul.