Death & Taxes

In some places, Botley included, families have lived in the same house for generations. In future, people may have to move in order to pay rapacious Inheritance Tax on their property - assuming they haven't had to sell it beforehand, and paid Stamp Duty, to pay for a place in a care home. Or remortgaged it to afford care in the home; private medical operation; or private prescriptions for medicines denied to pensioners (in reality, for being too old) - and therefore expendable.

The above, of course, does not apply to the very wealthy (and that includes politicians milking the lecture circuit; flogging self-serving memoirs; ignoring dead servicemen; by showing the hard decisions they had to take). The Duke of Westminster's billion pound estate will pass to his heir virtually intact. As for the Royal Family, well ...

Those villagers, who worked all their lives, will have seen the value of their private pensions savagely cut as a result of the tax raid on pension funds by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Some will only have savings accrued, and taxed, during their lifetime as their company pension scheme folded sometime ago, leaving little or nothing. Remember the Maxwell saga, and all-party political support to ensure "it never happens again"? How hollow and empty the promises made. How many company pensions schemes have gone the same way since then? And how silent the politicians are now on the subject.

State pensions, of course, only increase by a derisory amount each year. Not to mention the prospect of compulsorily working onto 70 years of age or beyond. Better hope that B&Q radically grows to meet the demand for jobs from erstwhile pensioners.

How long before Government inspectors lever open coffins to ensure that any gold rings are seized, or the duty paid?

The Barons and Bishops who presented King John with the Magna Carta to sign at Runnymede on 10 June 1215 had far less to complain of than today's oppressed villagers approaching, or of, pensionable age.

The USA's War of Independence followed the imposition of an unfair tax on tea. The Boston Tea Party should serve as a fine example to those who believe in fighting injustice. And nothing is more unjust than depriving people of their own homes by stealth taxes, aimed at the most vulnerable section of society.

The assault on the Houses of Parliament by a massed gathering of zimmer frames will be scheduled for the next opening of Parliament.

Politicians, local and national, are meant to serve their constituents. The reality is that they serve themselves far better - just look at their expenses, pay, and pensions! Instead they are intent on foisting on us unwanted legislation and rules - who wants the Liberal Democrats proposed tax of 1% per annum of the value of their house? Who asked local authorities to electronically tag wheelie refuse bins, so householders could be fined for transgressing any diktat from the town hall?

Forget which, if any, political party you normally vote for, and turn every local and national seat into a marginal. The over 50s actually possess the numbers, and therefore the power, to do this - furthermore it is the most reliable age group for voting.

By potentially taking away the financial trough from politicians, the better the prospects of a decent standard of living in old age.