It was found that the DWP failed to adequately inform thousands of women that the state pension age had changed (photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)
In today’s MetroTalk, readers are talking about the WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) fight for compensation.
These women, born in the 1950s, were affected by changes to the pension age without being told by the Department of Work and Pensions – many died pensionless, what readers are saying is another miscarriage of justice in a string of others in recent years? What do you think?
Meanwhile, readers discuss the gender pay gap, Putin’s blame game and one reader clears up what he meant when he said he hates handling cash.
Share what you think about these topics and more in the comments
An estimated 270,000 Waspi women have died so far
Parliament has been asked to hold the Department for Work and Pensions to account over the matter (photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)
Though the Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women number more than three million, I doubt they have much political leverage in our first-past-the-post political system, being spread out all over the country.
They’ve no voting bloc to affect a result in any individual constituency.
This is a key problem for all such ‘minorities’ that have been thrown under a bus by this Tory government, which applies a low-cost airline business model to its governance. Namely, run the country on the cheap, maximise personal profits, and to hell with anyone who gets in the way.
Meanwhile – as with the deported Windrush victims, the postmasters, the contaminated blood survivors or the elderly in care homes – give it time and they’ll die of stress, suicide or old age, so the government won’t have to pay a bean.
An estimated 270,000 Waspi women have died so far. Are the rest of us meant to feel grateful for such cost-cutting? Or should we be ashamed? Clive Morris, Epsom
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Regarding Waspis, Fred (MetroTalk, Mon) asks what compensation will men receive for working five years longer than women. He’d have a fair point if it were not for the fact men born in the 1950s have already had their compensation – in the form of higher salaries.
For the first five years of my working life, I did exactly the same job as the males in the office but was paid two-thirds of the salary they were.
Even new entrants, if male, were far more highly paid than the women, despite having no experience and often having fewer academic qualifications than them.
I’d be more than happy to receive a cheque for the total underpayment over those five years. Maureen Fahe, Via Email
Some Waspi women, such as myself, have worked for more than the extra five years. If one waits for the government to think about sorting this matter, then think again! Lorraine, Barking
Do we need a minister for scandals?
A string of scandals has occurred, or not been properly addressed, under the watch of the Tory government. The list includes the Windrush, Grenfell cladding, Post Office, contaminated blood and Waspi scandals.
One wonders just how many more are there, waiting to be uncovered. The government needs to appoint someone to deal with this: a minister for Tory scandals and maladministration! Scott, West London
Is Putin just looking for an excuse to intensify military operations in Ukraine?
Why blame anyone but the Islamic State? (Sergey Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
Will the terror attack on the Moscow concert hall (Metro, Mon) that killed 139 people give Vladimir Putin the excuse he needs to increase the conscription to intensify military operations in Ukraine, for which he has little public support? Mike, Tyneside
Russia has blamed the UK, US and Ukraine for the terror attack, but since when have they backed the Islamic State? Either Putin is ill, or he has drunk too much wine, like Bacchus the Roman god of wine. Or does he think he’s Bellona the goddess of war?
How can he blame the US knowing it will never forget 9/11? He and his spokespeople should hang their heads in shame.
America knows more than most what the Islamic State is capable of. Putin is just desperate to win a war he started.
Perhaps the Russian people forget that, or do they live in cloud cuckoo land?Harry John, Cambridgeshire
This isn’t the first flag redesign the public hated
Maybe if England wins, all will be forgiven (Credits: stuart manley)
In claiming nobody complained about the blue flag design for the Team GB kit at the 2012 Olympics, Reece from Buckinghamshire (MetroTalk, Wed) is wrong. Stella McCartney’s designs generated a storm of protest at the time, but she said in response she had stayed true to the flag while modernising it. The kits were not well received, but all was forgiven when Team GB went on to win a vast haul of medals. HG, Maidstone
Dirty money? Excuse my hyperbole
He knows they don’t actually touch your groin (Credits: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Three days of letters replying to my letter on what I thought was an obvious exaggeration of how I thought money was a bit grimy. It seems as though readers took it quite literally.
I expected the mention of bums and groins and snorting substances to be a giveaway of that, and not someone with an irrational fear.
But if you allow me to respond, please recall that I wasn’t campaigning for the banning of cash, I was replying with my preference as a consumer and a business worker handling cash in reply to a previous writer encouraging a boycott of businesses that don’t take cash, with my point being that some businesses don’t do so because it’s more costly handling it.
I had bank branches close near my business and faced a two-hour round trip to get to a bank, including waiting. I couldn’t close up shop to do that, I sell to trade and not consumers, so mainly company cards, but even the lesser amount of cash made it more uneconomical to handle it – losing hours of trade to pay in a small amount of cash. When readers say that small businesses prefer it, I’m just offering an alternative view as the owner of one. Joe, London
Posh people in tatty robes, the role of Lords and brick heritage
So the British people gave £14billion to charities last year (Metro, Mon). You can also give money to charities by buying something in charity shops.
I used to feel too embarrassed to enter a charity shop because I thought other people would think I was poor. Now I just think of it as buying things to help charities. You just need to change your attitude.
Another thing I’ve seen is that, when at home, real posh people actually come down for breakfast wearing their tatty dressing gowns, even in the presence of their guests. When they’re really posh, they just don’t care! Dan, Brum
James, oh James (MetroTalk, Wed)! You need a crash course in constitutional law – or perhaps just a quick look at Wikipedia – to understand the role and function of the House of Lords.
I, for one, am fed up with the so-called elected chamber doing just what they want, when they want and how they want. Also, to Karen of Doncaster who is suspicious of people taking payment in cash: no, it’s not just you! Agatha, Surrey
I was petrified to see that you called Lego a ‘Norwegian toy firm’ (Metro, Tue).
All my life, my boss was sure to remind me that Lego is Danish, as was she.
If she had read Metro on Tuesday, she would have been rather unhappy.
Please clarify this, as I am at a crossroads here with my favourite toy blocks. (Your boss was right, of course, our mistake, Ed). SuperTed, Bounds Green
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