RANDOM THOUGHTS AND SOME SNAPS FOR SUNDAY

Mark Coburn, who cycled from Rome to Scotland to raise money for the YES campaign arrived home last night. Munguin's intrepid reporter was on hand to catch a couple of photos of him. It's worth mentioning that he did the bike ride with a broken bone in his elbow and four cracked ribs.

Munguin's woman on the scene was none other than Arbroath to whom Munguin sends his sincere thanks for sharing the pictures. Expenses are paid, he reminds her, on the usual basis. (Anything over £500,000 is reimbursed fully.)

Mark, his bike and Arbroath's car!

Mark with Arbroath, her partner and a friend from YES.
More photos on Yes South Annandale Facebook page

The Euro part of the election results hasn't even been announced yet (counting can't begin till after the polls close in all countries... and even then Western Isles won't count on the Sabbath so we won't have the final results till tomorrow), but based on what, I'm sure UK politicians see as the more important elections (English local councils) the knives are out for all the party leaders.

It's been hilarious listening to them wriggle and squirm over the last few days.

The parties are turning on their leaders and factions are setting up. Conservatives like our old favourite Jacob Rees Mogg are urging a pact with UKIP; Labour MPs are calling Ed Miliband weird and there are widespread calls for Nick Clegg to stand down.

But fear not. None of them will go. It's far too near the UK elections and the Scottish referendum for that, so we will have all of them to laugh at for a while longer.

My favourite interview has been Gideot telling us he respects Nigel and the people who voted for him and that they/he must do more listening to and understanding "ordinary" people. (He'll have to meet some first.)

The phrase that keeps coming to mind is: "when thieves fall out, honest men come by their own".

Talking of which...

How useful this will be to the average person from Glasgow or Wick.
Will Londoners be helping to pay for new sewerage in Stornoway?
And isn't sewerage in England a matter from private companies?

How handy this train will be for people in Kirkcaldy, or  Keith.
Hop on and hop off.
Studies have shown that it has the potential to damage the economies of Eastern Scotland
and yet we will end up paying £& or £8 BILLION towards it.
Oh the benefits of the greatest union ever known to man or beast...

And, just a few months in they are starting to question whether
the will be able to sustain the universal delivery. Look out
fro massive price rises in all but the biggest cities in Scotland

It speaks for itself. Add in the BBC money taken from Scotland
to be spent in the UK. All the taxes from Tesco and its
 likes  that go to London. What a rip off.

This is what I just don't understand Labour.
What is their motivation?

Well, of course, there is this. Eh Robertson, ffoulkes, Martin,
Liddell, and Wee Jock (it's a kilt I tell ye) McConnell.
No daft Tory aristocratic titles in Scotland

Oh yeah... and that.
Doubt you'll do that in Edinburgh.
Actually, you have to travel every day. Tough!

Unless of course you like having the lowest pension
by comparison to average wage in the developed world, in
which case the UK is just superb.

In fact what you pay would buy a far far better set of public services

So, you read it in the Financial Times,
that well-known pro independence paper...?

They used our taxes to commission a report and when it didn't
 say what they wanted it to say they hid it.
Does that sound familiar?

Oh, I feel so safe with that big safety blanket of the UK's
broad shoulders and clout to keep me from harm.

CRUMB OF COMFORT FOR PENSIONERS

Good news for pensioners is that the pension will rise to over £100 a week in April next year.

Given that inflation is well above the target rate set by the government, it is reckoned that the pension will rise by £4.49 per week to £102.14, still the lowest in the EU by percentage of the average salary at around 30%.

This will be a crumb of comfort to pensioners faced with some of the most miserable weather in the EU, with the numbers in fuel poverty doubling in the last 5 years. Add to that that energy prices are not restrained in any way, and that it is rumoured that emergency cold weather payments are set to be cut from £25 to £8.50, and we are looking at misery for old folk who have little more than their pension to live on in a winter that is predicted to be very severe.

Of course those who were prudent and saved something for their old age are being rewarded with almost zero return on their money, with interest rates at record low, and inflation far above anything that any savings account pays.

Let’s home that if Mr Osborne is going to reduce the amount paid as a winter fuel bonus to pensioners, that he does it only for the very richest pensioners for whom the extra £250 is of negligible interest.

According to the Telegraph, this will be the last time state pension payments will be based on RPI. The government, they say, is to switch to Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation starting next year. This may mean lower increases in payments from April 2012 onwards. For instance, last month while RPI was 4.6%, CPI was 3.1%.

I’m confused. I thought that that was only for other benefits. I thought too that the retirement pension was to be linked (as it always should have been) to wage increases. Of course at the moment that would probably mean what Mr Brown would call an increase of -4%.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me...?