Rt Hon Prof Lord Andrew GCVO KHP FRCS FTSE MSCI

@mary_baker70334 @ITVNewsPolitics Do you know what COBRA means Princess?

@ITVNewsPolitics While the Tories sit on their hands, Starmer is actually convening COBRA to mitigate economic fallout. That’s what leadership looks like.

Starmer to chair Cobra meeting today on the economic impact of Iran war 'Most people are very concerned,' he said 'I want to make sure that when it comes to the cost of living, we're doing everything we possibly can at a very difficult period like this'

In 1995, 77.1% of global primary energy was provided by fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil). As of 2024, 76.4% still comes from fossil fuels. That's a 0.7 percentage point drop in 30 years. World governments have spent TRILLIONS of dollars on “green” energy projects, and it has barely made a dent in the energy mix (note, these figures are based on the substitution method for fair comparison, so it slightly lowers fossil fuel figures). The fact is that renewable energy sources, like them or not, are largely add-ons to existing energy sources (primarily fossil fuel and nuclear power) that provide us transient savings in optimal conditions. That may change in the future with battery backup as they become cheaper, but that still won't address the fact that oil is STILL going to be needed for lubricants, plastics, fertilizers, etc. Oil is the backbone of modern society, so even if it were to no longer to be used as fuel, it will be used in another capacity and wars will be fought over it.

The government has broken the contract multiple times. You were suckered, the UK state pension is one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in the world. NI is just a tax, you’re insured against nothing. The State pension has no savings or assets, your contributions have been wanked away ~ it’s just a fraud.

@PrivateIncome @DeborahMeaden Just because the Tories changed the system to rename state pension as a benefit doesn't change the fact that the government made a contract with it's citizens, just like with the waspi women. It is wrong to change the t&c without both sides agreeing

Anyone on a pension needs to worry about the Welfare bashing… the fake narratives… it is included in the Welfare numbers being bandied around and I am pretty sure you consider it your right having paid in all those years..

@markml @nickrob85 @justpaul777 @DeborahMeaden The government has already changed the rules multiple times.

@PrivateIncome @nickrob85 @justpaul777 @DeborahMeaden People have contributed based on rules. Government should not change the rules at the end. There are many ways to fund it

@markml @QuestionerMoney @DeborahMeaden It’s a “promise” that’s already been defaulted on.

@PrivateIncome @QuestionerMoney @DeborahMeaden It’s a government promise. Why does it need a fund?

Why are they on low wages? Is it because they have minimal skills? What’s stopping them becoming wealthy? Your whining about 'wealthy clueless people' misses the point: the state pension has always been pay-as-you-go (a benefit, per the 2014 Act), not your personal pot. Demographics (fewer workers, more retirees, longer lives) make it unsustainable without reform or personal saving. Auto-enrolment helps bridge that for everyone. Expecting the next generation of low earners to fund it all isn't fair either.

@PrivateIncome @nickrob85 @justpaul777 @DeborahMeaden What’s vile is wealthy people who have no clue about the hardships faced by those who have worked hard all their lives on low wages.

@Osgoodnb1 Don’t let your biases get in the way of who’s actually costing you money.

Mr Trump my daughter a nurse here in the UK a single parent of twins would like to thank you for putting an extra £15 on filling her car up with diesel yesterday . £15 which could have gone on more food for her children maybe paid for other things her family her need. Cheers mate

@Pupsyinuk @atGoldenValley @DeborahMeaden Set up a Limited company and pay yourself just enough to trigger the qualifying amount, but stay below the NI threshold.

@PrivateIncome @atGoldenValley @DeborahMeaden Not sure how you do that .. any years I haven't worked show no entitlement..🤔

Truth often sounds extreme when the lie has been sold for decades. The state pension is legally a welfare benefit (not a funded pot from your NI 'contributions' — that's just tax). With demographics collapsing the worker-to-retiree ratio, the OBR says costs are heading for serious trouble. Better to face the Ponzi reality now than let it bury the next generation. Bold policies built better systems than timid ones ever did. Why would I “stand for public office”? I’d rather not become yet another parasite sucking greedily at the taxpayer’s teat.

@PrivateIncome @QuestionerMoney @DeborahMeaden Wow. That’s quite the statement. Immaybe you should stand for public office on this.

@JasonBrookes8 @QuestionerMoney @DeborahMeaden If you’re relying on the state pension Ponzi scheme having had an entire lifetime to prepare for your retirement you deserve to die cold and hungry.

@PrivateIncome @QuestionerMoney @DeborahMeaden Ok - and for the people who won’t then survive or make ends meat, what would they do/get?

@d_peter17473 @Oldergit @DeborahMeaden “Paid out of current income”. You’ve just defined it as a Ponzi scheme. I’m decent enough not to expect someone else to pay for my retirement.

NI 'contributions' have always primarily funded the pensions of people retiring *at the time* (pay-as-you-go), not a personal pot for your own retirement. That's why the 2014 Act calls it a 'benefit'. Workplace auto-enrolment gives employer match + tax relief to help where possible. Facing up to the maths on demographics isn't vile — it's necessary. What’s vile is expecting someone else to fund your retirement.

@PrivateIncome @justpaul777 @DeborahMeaden Really, do you think low income workers can afford a private pension? What a vile comment.

It's taxed as income because successive governments have always treated state pensions (and other earnings-replacement benefits) the same as wages or private pensions for “fairness”. Paid gross by DWP — no tax deducted at source — but factored into your total via PAYE on any occupational pension. Most people with *just* the state pension pay £0 anyway (it's currently ~£11.5k/year, below the £12,570 personal allowance). The 'benefit' label in the 2014 Act is just legal honesty: it's pay-as-you-go from today's NI/taxpayers, not a personal pot you 'paid into' for yourself.

@PrivateIncome @DeborahMeaden So, as a “benefit”… why is it taxed?

@Robertamessin14 @Telegraph @Nigel_Farage “Shit-sniffers, Sir….

@Telegraph @Nigel_Farage After eating from sunset until dawn, instead of working, they clean the square on their knees.

✍️ 'Our public squares should remain neutral spaces for all citizens, not venues for any one faith to assert dominance' | Writes @Nigel_Farage Read the full column below 👇 telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/2…

@LizaRosen0000 Good. Let’s make it harder. Then they’ll self-deport.

What is your response to him?

@paullewismoney National insurance isn’t a hypothecated tax. It gets wanked away like all other taxes.

The other huge error in what he says is that it ignores the national insurance receipts of £204bn which are in fact used to pay state pensions and a small number of other benefits. So the cost of much ‘welfare’ spending does come out of the £331.4bn income tax receipts.

@PatrioticMuzzy @darrengrimes Admirable CV. Shame it doesn't fix the group's stats — double the unemployment, welfare drain, and street domination despite 150+ mosques. Your daddy's lessons clearly didn't reach the whole community. My daddy wasn’t my cousin.

@PrivateIncome @darrengrimes Unlike your daddy whom you clearly didn't inherit half a brain cell from

30,000 Muslims in Birmingham dominate a public space again for prayers, once again men and women are segregated. It was wrong on Trafalgar Square and it’s wrong again here. There are 150+ mosques in Birmingham, why can’t they go there? It’s a domination tactic again.

@heavenlyit @kokeshimum @FreeNationTalk Again, spending far more than they extracted in tax revenue is not austerity.

@PrivateIncome @kokeshimum @FreeNationTalk Brown put us through extreme austerity first 2 years of labour in 1997.

Absolutely no one with any sense believes that drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea will make our bills cheaper. No one. So why are Reform and the Tories still trying to push this. It’s absurd. It is a lie. So stop fucking lying.

@justpaul777 @DeborahMeaden If you’re relying on the state pension Ponzi scheme having had an entire lifetime to prepare for your retirement then you deserve to die cold and hungry.

@PrivateIncome @DeborahMeaden I was going to type but it wa a long way to lean. So. Computer. Please create a meme with the title text being humans won't need a pension in the future as we will be living in abundance and use your imagination from there.

Fair point on industry failing to modernise, but the post-war settlement itself was the culprit: nationalisation, militant unions and expanding welfare crushed innovation and competitiveness. By the North Sea oil era, those revenues were frittered on day-to-day spending rather than a sovereign fund like Norway (although I hate the idea of a sovereign wealth fund, I prefer to have my own wealth. Empire was a fading memory.

@PrivateIncome @mikegalsworthy The post war settlement was frittered away on delusions of a disappearing Empire whilst Industry failed to modernise

I do think it’s Thatcher that you should be blaming… We could have had our own domestic oil and a £1 trillion fund by now.