Latest news with #communitycohesion
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
If boomers don't want wealth taxes they can give their time and skills
If we can't have your money, baby boomers, we want your time. And more specifically, those who qualify as fit and healthy should be asked to serve in a new national service, offering some free days to a nationwide programme, designed locally, to boost the economy. When a wealth tax is ruled out and council tax reform too difficult, leaving boomer incomes intact, No 10 should consider such a scheme, especially when it could help to mend a society splintered by almost two decades of austerity; not as a punishment for being the lucky generation, but to reuse and repurpose valuable skills, tackle loneliness and build community cohesion. Young people are often the target of those who believe in national service, and that too could be an important initiative when there are about 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds neither in work, education or training. But in 2025, asking boomers to put their shoulder to the wheel (one more time) matters because there could be more than half of the UK's 12 million retirees, many of them after taking early retirement, with good health, few outgoings and decent pots of money who could be part of a national programme tapping into their skills and benefiting local services. This would be a voluntary scheme and there should be some obvious grounds for exemption. Anyone who can show they regularly look after grandchildren, work in a community organisation or for a charity can opt out. Poor health would also provide a reason to withdraw. This is not Rishi Sunak's militaristic vision of national service. Army uniforms will be kept in the warehouse. There would be a range of options that pensioners – anyone who wants to give something back, or give more back after a lifetime of public service – should find enticing and want to join. The only element of coercion would be the need to actively opt out by attending a government office and saying no, thank you. Plenty of people will tick an opt-out box without a second's thought. But plenty of people might sign up if they could join a scheme where they could enjoy the company of others and were properly managed. It won't be easy to set up or to run. Ask National Trust staff about how they handle the many volunteers who turn up to garden or show visitors around the charity's many properties and they will say it's a challenge. Many of the jobs that need doing are in services that councils can no longer afford to provide. And before anyone says these should be paid jobs for young people, in most cases council funds will always be too stretched. Pensioners often complain that they are the target of intergenerational fairness campaigners who fail to understand how long they have worked and how diligently they have saved. It's true that the British pension system is unfair and was made much worse when it was largely privatised in the 1980s. Pensioner inequality is worse than the inequality we see in the working population. And there is the way the state pension age fails to acknowledge when people started work, unlike Spain's, which gives credit to those who started paying national insurance at 16 or 18. Poverty and inequality is a subject to be addressed by the new Pensions Commission. National service is more about achieving outcomes for the community by bringing people together as part of a government-supported programme. Lots of older people who report being lonely are also suffering from physical and mental health problems. A national service of support workers could help them to recover some joy in later life. In Japan, older people are encouraged to look after their peers in their community who are not so fit and healthy. It is a recognition that feeling well and being active in your 60s, while partly a result of good lifestyle choices, is mainly the outcome of good genes. Likewise, healthy pension pots are a matter of good luck: luck that you were born in an era when employers promised generous occupational retirement schemes or when stock markets soared, usually from the sheer weight of baby boomer cash deployed in equity investments. Many have enjoyed tax relief at 40% when building their pensions and pay tax at 20% in retirement, while poor pension savers have the same tax on the way in and on the way out of the pension system. Luck is not something many boomers like to admit is the reason for their comfortable financial situation. They prefer to pat themselves on the back for all their good decisions. They shouldn't. Better-off boomers will be wary of proposals for a wealth tax. They will vote against council tax reform, which would clobber them for living in large, high-value properties. So if they are not donating their money, let's encourage them to devote some of their time. An ageing population means that the very notion of retirement needs to be reconsidered. Raising the retirement age is one approach. A national service could be a more palatable alternative.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
If boomers don't want wealth taxes they can give their time and skills
If we can't have your money, baby boomers, we want your time. And more specifically, those who qualify as fit and healthy should be asked to serve in a new national service, offering some free days to a nationwide programme, designed locally, to boost the economy. When a wealth tax is ruled out and council tax reform too difficult, leaving boomer incomes intact, No 10 should consider such a scheme, especially when it could help to mend a society splintered by almost two decades of austerity; not as a punishment for being the lucky generation, but to reuse and repurpose valuable skills, tackle loneliness and build community cohesion. Young people are often the target of those who believe in national service, and that too could be an important initiative when there are about 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds neither in work, education or training. But in 2025, asking boomers to put their shoulder to the wheel (one more time) matters because there could be more than half of the UK's 12 million retirees, many of them after taking early retirement, with good health, few outgoings and decent pots of money who could be part of a national programme tapping into their skills and benefiting local services. This would be a voluntary scheme and there should be some obvious grounds for exemption. Anyone who can show they regularly look after grandchildren, work in a community organisation or for a charity can opt out. Poor health would also provide a reason to withdraw. This is not Rishi Sunak's militaristic vision of national service. Army uniforms will be kept in the warehouse. There would be a range of options that pensioners – anyone who wants to give something back, or give more back after a lifetime of public service – should find enticing and want to join. The only element of coercion would be the need to actively opt out by attending a government office and saying no, thank you. Plenty of people will tick an opt-out box without a second's thought. But plenty of people might sign up if they could join a scheme where they could enjoy the company of others and were properly managed. It won't be easy to set up or to run. Ask National Trust staff about how they handle the many volunteers who turn up to garden or show visitors around the charity's many properties and they will say it's a challenge. Many of the jobs that need doing are in services that councils can no longer afford to provide. And before anyone says these should be paid jobs for young people, in most cases council funds will always be too stretched. Pensioners often complain that they are the target of intergenerational fairness campaigners who fail to understand how long they have worked and how diligently they have saved. It's true that the British pension system is unfair and was made much worse when it was largely privatised in the 1980s. Pensioner inequality is worse than the inequality we see in the working population. And there is the way the state pension age fails to acknowledge when people started work, unlike Spain's, which gives credit to those who started paying national insurance at 16 or 18. Poverty and inequality is a subject to be addressed by the new Pensions Commission. National service is more about achieving outcomes for the community by bringing people together as part of a government-supported programme. Lots of older people who report being lonely are also suffering from physical and mental health problems. A national service of support workers could help them to recover some joy in later life. In Japan, older people are encouraged to look after their peers in their community who are not so fit and healthy. It is a recognition that feeling well and being active in your 60s, while partly a result of good lifestyle choices, is mainly the outcome of good genes. Likewise, healthy pension pots are a matter of good luck: luck that you were born in an era when employers promised generous occupational retirement schemes or when stock markets soared, usually from the sheer weight of baby boomer cash deployed in equity investments. Many have enjoyed tax relief at 40% when building their pensions and pay tax at 20% in retirement, while poor pension savers have the same tax on the way in and on the way out of the pension system. Luck is not something many boomers like to admit is the reason for their comfortable financial situation. They prefer to pat themselves on the back for all their good decisions. They shouldn't. Better-off boomers will be wary of proposals for a wealth tax. They will vote against council tax reform, which would clobber them for living in large, high-value properties. So if they are not donating their money, let's encourage them to devote some of their time. An ageing population means that the very notion of retirement needs to be reconsidered. Raising the retirement age is one approach. A national service could be a more palatable alternative.
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Small boats crisis risking community cohesion, Kemi Badenoch claims
The failure to stop migrants crossing the Channel in small boats is putting community cohesion at risk, Kemi Badenoch has claimed. The Conservative leader also hit out at the deal the Government has struck with France to return migrants across the English Channel and insisted the Tories could not be held accountable for continued backlogs in the asylum system. The 'one-in, one out' agreement, which will begin operating on Wednesday, will see migrants ineligible to stay in the UK sent back to France, in exchange for taking those who have links to Britain. As she visited a farm in her Saffron Walden constituency on Tuesday, Mrs Badenoch was asked whether she believed descriptions of the small boats crisis as a 'tinderbox' were an appropriate part of the public debate around migration. The Conservative leader told the PA news agency: 'If you were to speak to the mothers who were protesting outside the hotel in Epping, they will tell you that a crime had been committed and that's what they're protesting.' Ministers should not be clamping down on those 'expressing legitimate concerns', she suggested, adding: 'We need to make sure that we address those concerns and what we're not seeing from the Government is any kind of addressing of those concerns. 'We need to stop the boats. It is not affordable, it is not good for community cohesion, it is not good for crime, it is costing us a lot of money. We need to get a grip on this issue as quickly as possible.' Asked whether the Conservatives were partly to blame for the immigration and asylum situation, Mrs Badenoch told reporters: 'No I don't accept that at all, because what Labour are doing is just rubber-stamping all of the applications and saying they're processing.' Labour scrapped 'the only deterrent that this country had, which was the Rwanda plan', she added. The agreement with France is 'not going to make any difference whatsoever', Mrs Badenoch said, adding: '50, at best, migrants being swapped with France is not going to stop the boats.' Earlier, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the deal with France will not stop the crossings on their own, but marked an important change of principle as migrants will be sent back across the Channel for the first time. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Cooper said: 'We never claimed that there is a single silver bullet on this. So, this goes alongside the 28% increase in returns of failed asylum seekers that we have brought in. 'It goes alongside the change to those French maritime rules that I referred to which means France taking action in French waters to prevent boat crossings in the first place, and the much stronger law enforcement that we announced earlier this week with the additional National Crime Agency investigators and police to be able to go after the criminal gangs. We have to do all of these things.' Ms Cooper said the Government does not want to put a number on the amount of Channel migrants that will be returned to France as she believed it could aid criminal gangs. It has been reported that about 50 a week could be sent to France. This would be a stark contrast to the more than 800 people every week who on average have arrived in the UK via small boat this year. She added: 'We will provide regular updates, people will be able to see how many people are being detained, how many people are being returned, and it is right that we should be transparent around that.' Bruno Retailleau, France's interior minister, said the agreement 'establishes an experimental mechanism whose goal is clear: to smash the gangs'. The initial agreement will be in place until June 2026. Mr Retailleau added it marked the 'first stage' of efforts by the whole of the European Union, sparked by the UK-EU summit in London in May.
Telegraph
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Police take pro-migrant protesters to asylum hotel
Police have admitted escorting pro-migrant protesters to an asylum hotel at the centre of days of volatile demonstrations. Essex Police initially denied that it had brought activists from the group Stand up to Racism to the Bell Hotel amid claims by anti-migrant protesters that the arrival of counter-demonstrators sparked the violence on July 17. However, the force backtracked after being shown footage of the protesters being escorted by officers from a nearby station to the hotel. On Wednesday, Essex Police will hold a press conference, at which is expected to explain its policing of the demonstrations. It came as Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, admitted that mass migration is threatening community cohesion, amid growing fears over another summer of riots. In total, six people have been charged with offences related to the disorder in Epping, following further clashes between demonstrators and police on Sunday. Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hooper said: 'We have a reasonable duty to protect people who want to exercise their rights. 'In terms of bringing people to the hotel, the police have a duty to facilitate free assembly. We would only ever take people away from protest if we felt there was an immediate threat to people or property, to free up police resources, to protect others, or to prevent additional violence. 'In Epping, officers took all three of those into account before making their decisions.' Residents said the decision to escort counter-protesters, some of whom were masked, towards the hotel had made violence inevitable. Footage shared on social media suggested the confrontation escalated shortly after the arrival of the counter-demonstrators, with objects reportedly thrown and minor injuries sustained. Orla Minihane, a leader of the anti-migrant protests and a Reform UK council candidate, said that locals – many of whom said they were there because they wanted women and girls to be safe going out alone – felt police were almost forcing a 'confrontation' between the two groups. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said: 'I didn't want to believe this had happened and then I saw the video. It's an absolute disgrace, and the police's priorities need urgently looking at.' The row follows numerous accusations of two-tier justice levelled against police in recent months. Allison Pearson, The Telegraph journalist, was investigated by Essex Police after she posted an allegedly racist tweet online. The force later dropped the investigation. Thursday's demonstration was one of a series of protests outside the Bell Hotel after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a 38-year-old asylum seeker, was charged with sexual assault. The migrant, who denies the charges, is alleged to have attempted to kiss a 14-year-old girl. On Monday, anti-migrant protests spread to Norfolk after plans to house single male asylum seekers at a hotel were revealed. Hundreds of demonstrators waved flags, chanted 'we want our country back' and clashed with counter-protesters outside the Park Hotel in Diss on Monday evening. There were no violent clashes, but ugly scenes unfolded as protesters tried to take down the other group's signs and shouted in each other's faces. The hotel in Diss has housed asylum seekers since 2023, but they have mostly been vulnerable women and children. They will now be replaced by single men. South Norfolk council and Norfolk Constabulary have both raised concerns about the proposed change. From around 5.30pm, protesters arrived at the back entrance of the hotel and stood in a long, narrow line on the pavement of Park Road. Several were dressed in St George's Cross bucket hats, while others carried Union Flags. They shouted 'send them home' and 'stop prioritising migrants over our population'. Across the road, a group of about 30 counter-protesters stood by the hotel gates with signs that read 'refugees welcome/stop the far Right'. They tried to drown out the larger group with chants of 'say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here'. After trading chants and insults for about 30 minutes, anti-migrant demonstrators crossed the road and a line of police officers had to step in to keep the groups apart. Vastly outnumbered, the counter-protesters left shortly after 6pm. Norfolk Constabulary said no arrests were made. The force has previously expressed concerns about the potential strain on resources that single adult males instead of families being housed at the hotel would have. The council has also written to the Home Office asking it to halt the plans. Daniel Elmer, the authority's Conservative leader, said: 'We are really disappointed by the decision made by the Home Office to remove families from the Park Hotel and to replace them with single male asylum seekers. 'South Norfolk, and especially Diss, has a long history of welcoming refugees and those in need of help and offering a safe place to stay. 'The families have been with us for two years, and it has been a success. They have integrated well into the local community, with the children going to local schools and the mothers welcomed by local community groups. This success has made the decision by the Home Office that much more difficult to understand.' The Home Office was contacted for comment. Meanwhile, migrant hotel protests spread to London on Tuesday night after claims that asylum seekers housed in Epping were being moved to a four-star hotel in Canary Wharf. The Home Office denied the claims.
BBC News
18-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
South Norfolk Council urges government to stop asylum hotel plan
A council has written to the Home Office asking it to halt plans to replace asylum-seeking families in a hotel with single adult Norfolk Council said it opposed the move, which it learned of in a brief email from Whitehall last authority's Conservative leader Daniel Elmer said the hotel's residents - and the town, which had helped families integrate in the community - would be BBC has asked the Home Office for comment. As reported by BBC News in June, 32,000 asylum seekers are living in hotels across the said: "We feel the decision and intended timeframe poses significant risks and concerns to both community cohesion and the vulnerable single males who would be residing at the hotel."The community impact of this change cannot be overstated."In the letter to the Home Office, Elmer said the authority "remains fully committed to supporting asylum seekers". It added: "When the hotel was first opened for asylum accommodation, there was considerable unease among local residents."The current use of the hotel for families has helped to show that there was no basis for the concerns expressed. "Thanks to the hard work of the council and our partners the hotel currently exists comfortably as part of the community reflecting the current use."A sudden shift to a SAM [single adult males] hotel risks reigniting those tensions, especially in the absence of any community engagement or mitigation strategy from the Home Office."It said the council feared unrest similar to that already seen in other authority said the switch to single adult males instead of families would combine with homelessness issues and stretch local resources, including police services. Norfolk Constabulary said of the hotel in South Norfolk: "Due to the modest policing presence, owing to its size and locality, the potential increase in demand would be difficult to manage reflecting the distance from other police resources."We are engaging with the local council and continue to support our partners and the local community."The force said it was also aware of a planned protest at another location and continued to monitor the statement added: "Officers are engaging with organisers, as well as the local community and will provide a proportionate policing response whilst respecting the right to peaceful protest and maintaining the safety of the local community." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
