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Nice idea, it'd end up with everyone being a contract worker I suspect.

But it'd be nice to implement it properly.

Or everyone will just set up lots of different companies to perform different tasks with one umbrella.

TBH I don't think a minimum wage change would work, general living costs are just so high the the required hike in wages would ruin most small businesses.

If the government could bring retail & private rent down I think it could help more. And maybe just tell Tesco to fuck off, just to cover all the bases.

It's an interesting question with regards to the impact on inflation- depends on what margins are being made on goods and services provided in the UK.

Maybe comparing the same basket of items with a country that has a higher minimum wage would help here?

Hmm it wouldn't help to increase unemployment which is of course what "business leaders" would claim is why we can't up the wage.

Differential minimum for companies that are in x amount profit? Reduced minimum for small or start up businesses? Doesn't really fit the concept of a minimum wage..

Yeah, costs like rents are insane especially in London. I'd welcome some statutory change that makes it less economical to buy or get a mortgage if you aren't going to reside in that property (i.e. buy to let or property investment).

Not that I've done it yet, but the prospect of having to live on a UK Gub'mint pension is so terrifying that I'll have to get a buy-to-let soon enough in order not to starve to death when older.

One of the few hangovers from my ethnic background that I think is actually a good thing and should be copied into western culture is the basic assumption that if you get old and useless your kids/family take you in and look after you no questions asked as a matter of course.

I hate seeing older patients on the wards go months without a visit/concern and then you ask and find they've got umpteen relatives who live near enough but are just wrapped up in their own stupid lives and nuclear families...

(my nan for example has lived with us since I was about 5 and though she draws one has never once needed pensions or savings to get by)

^ or cut out the middleman and just make the minimum wage a survivable wage

A still more interesting idea: everyone gets given a liveable state grant regardless of their means or state of employment

Advantages:

• There's an incentive to earn money on top of this as it wouldn't stop you from receiving the grant. You get to keep what you earn. Therefore...
  
• Nobody has to lie to get their benefits.
  
• Since everyone gets the grant nobody has to feel debased in claiming it just to survive.
  
• Saves a lot of cash on the complex administration of (some) benefits
  
  

Disadvantages:

• Inflation?
  
• Immigration?
  
• Still have to do quite a lot of work administering other benefits (disability, child etc.)
  

Not that I've done it yet, but the prospect of having to live on a UK Gub'mint pension is so terrifying that I'll have to get a buy-to-let soon enough in order not to starve to death when older.

Sounds like a good reason to replace pensions with incapacity benefits. Makes sense to me that those who have benefited most from a national healthcare system should contribute longest.

So being old means you are incapacitated?

Age-as-disability?

If you're old but perfectly able, can our economy afford to grant you the luxury of idleness?

Age is just a number

If you're old but perfectly able, can our economy afford to grant you the luxury of idleness?

Of course it can. We're one of the richest countries in the world, and have managed to pay out state pensions for decades now with no apparent issues.

Yet the government and media demonise those who cannot find work that provides a living wage whilst an ever-healthier portion of society decide they can't be bothered being useful anymore and they'd rather spend their government pocketmoney and property bubble winnings on golf, cruises and bingo?

Pensions used to be a reward for surviving that long, now the ratio of pensioners to incometax payers is nowhere near as favourable and people are living 20, 30, 40 years beyond retirement.

In order to get a pension, either employer, private or state, you have to have worked and paid into it (and pay national insurance) throughout your working life. A pension is basically a form of deferred pay.

Well I personally support Emyr's desire to work right up until they hammer the lid on.

Crack on old boy, I'll be on my yacht.

There's a lot more of us than there is of them.

Don't you earn something like 150k Andy?

Yeah, something like that.

Don't you earn something like 150k Andy?

Yeah, something like that.

eat the rich

Andy is quite skinny, I'm not sure he'd go very far.

amuse bouche / hors d'oeuvre

That's good incentive for him to earn more. Then he could eat properly.

^^ When I have time I google the word and wiki will have the necessary bits added - copy and paste and voilà!