Interesting trail from Ian Cheshire of the Pensions Commission at @standardlifeuk.bsky.social event The commission will publish modelling based on BOTH the state pension with a triple lock AND a less generous future state pension (even though triple lock not formally in scope)

we go live to Heard Island:

On the plus side, as it's his 66th birthday today, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will have qualified for his state pension...

Can't help feeling that pensions stories won't be dominating the front pages tomorrow morning....

At this very moment both the BBC News and Sky News channels are yet again showing a live speech by Nigel Farage. When will they start showing every speech by @zackpolanski.bsky.social and @eddavey.libdems.org.uk live as well?

This Monday marked 10 years of doing a weekly column for This is Money, answering reader questions on pensions. Little did we realise the impact it would have, including forcing the Govt. to refund over £900m in underpaid state pensions as well as helping lots of individuals - very rewarding!

Just going to leave this here

Today's column. On the abyss. www.thetimes.com/article/c7f8...

I’m guessing there will have been some raised eyebrows when this popped up in the DWP ministerial press cuttings this morning….

Column in which I ask the important question: has Torsten Bell ever killed a man? economist.com/britain/2026...

I’d started wishing Man Utd well under Carrick who seems decent … now I’ll have to go back to hoping they lose ….

My new column for Money Marketing on why the forthcoming pensions dashboard could have a bigger impact than people think - and why financial advisers could have a key role to make sure that it succeeds: www.moneymarketing.co.uk/opinion/stev...

BRB, just googling “what happens if you get rid of your lightning rod and there is more lightning?”

and no I haven't put the Mandelson-Epstein-Reinaldo scoop on twitter we journalists *can* make Bluesky the place to break news

As expected, the Government has 're-taken' the WASPI compensation decision, but has come to exactly the same conclusion - no compensation. Just announced in the House of Commons.

Thanks to @stevewebb1.bsky.social (and colleagues at LCP) for this very interesting report: lcpuk.foleon.com/gender-ethni...

Many people assume their will determines where their money goes after they die. But with pensions it's not quite that simple. This week I reply to a reader who wants her pension pot to go to her daughter with everything else to her husband and discuss who decides what goes to whom! #pensions

Anyone else having trouble telling the News and The Traitors apart tonight?

Kemi discovering after 15 months that Robert Jenrick has been plotting in "secret"

'Another Warrington has hit the North-West'.

One of the few things that might actually get some kind of reaction from Musk would be the government and all MPs simply leaving X. This doesn't require regulatory or legal action. There are no barriers. They could *and should* just do it.

My weekly column for This is Money is up. This week I respond to a reader who is paying into a personal pension (aside from a workplace pension) whilst on UC. The pension contribs should be deducted from income, but too many DWP frontline staff don't seem to know the rules!

There are always Trumps. And so that is why the United States constitution has checks and balances for the misuse of presidential power. The real story of Trump’s presidency is not only what he has done, but also what Congress and the Supreme Court have not done.

Excellent to see @marymcd.bsky.social with a full page pensions piece in today’s FT. Politics and pensions mix badly.

On which note: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Former pensions minister calls for change as frozen tax thresholds mean even those whose only income is their state pension are getting dreaded brown letters from HMRC

New Year's resolution to post more on here! So, here's our new FOI-based story on the surge in people getting self-assessment tax demands, now that the tax threshold has been repeatedly frozen. Govt's 2027 'fix' for (some) pensioners won't make much difference: www.thesun.co.uk/money/378170...

Lots of parallels between #Ashes defeat and what Labour voters in 2024 are feeling about the govt right now.. "its the hope that kills you". "It was supposed to be different this time". you wait 15 years for a win in Australia/regain power and then it all falls to pieces super quickly

It's four days away, that's not much of a prediction.

Inflation can be the Chancellor's friend. 'Fiscal drag' measures such as freezing tax thresholds raise more money when inflation is high. So today's drop in inflation is not unalloyed good news for CX (Though if it paves the way for lower interest rates on the national debt it might be!)

Money Box Live next week is looking at the finances of blended families. If you have a story, comment or a question then please get in touch with me - it’s [email protected]

Person who actually deserves a trophy is the artist who made the FIFA peace prize trophy look like everyone in the entire world holding their head in their hands out of secondhand embarrassment

Really enjoying the latest series of ‘the Naked Week’ on Radio 4 @andrewhunterm.bsky.social - last week’s ’News in Haikus’ was a classic!

Red Book says that the £2k cap on salary sacrifice: "shields 74% of basic rate taxpayers using salary sacrifice". But if 5 million basic rate taxpayers use it, then that's over 1 million 'ordinary workers' losing?

Incredible that the OBR just leaked the Budget!

Today @stevewebb1.bsky.social and I released a report setting out our views on where State Pension Age (SPA) needs to go. We submitted to this to the Government SPA review last month. We recommend sharp increases to SPA, but with a guaranteed payout of 5 years. 🧵 www.lcp.com/en/insights/...

Paul Johnson would actually like the economy to work better for all, to see incomes grow and social mobility expand. He supports effective pro-growth policies. He is less keen on posturing politicians who pretend they have simple solutions and whose policies would damage all the above.

Farage: epic grifter

Everything you ever wanted to know about pensions (but were afraid to ask)... My colleague (and former Pensions Minister) @stevewebb1.bsky.social now has his own YouTube channel - a free searchable library of 3-minute explainer videos on pension topics. www.youtube.com/@stevewebbexplains

People who have come to the United Kingdom legally, played by the rules and made it their home do not need to “go home”. This is their home. I've written to Kemi Badenoch to give her the chance to reject these divisive calls from her frontbencher Katie Lam.

If the Chancellor were to cap or scrap tax-free lump sums from your pension, could she literally do it 'over night' on Budget Day? This is a reader question to which I reply in my column this week. I'm pretty sceptical that this will happen, but people are obviously concerned. #pensions

Man United fans asking Starmer to intervene and prevent them from going to matches

“When you take over the world, remember how polite I was”. A fellow train passengers justifies her position on saying “please” and “thank you” whilst using #ChatGPT

The reason the Right are so invested in the myth that the arts have no value isn’t because the arts don’t generate wealth (they do); it’s that studying the arts teaches people to imagine better ways of judging the value of an idea than by counting how much money it makes…

@joxley.jmoxley.co.uk is always good, but this - on post-literate political communication - is really, really good. www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/playing-po...

Lib Dem Tim Farron MP: "I'm a proud patriot, but I am no nationalist...You can tell the difference. "Patriots love their country. Nationalists hate their neighbours. I am a patriot." He says he's ashamed racists have tried to steal the flag. Farron hits out at the "poison of nationalism".

Very much agree with this - defections in themselves don’t change a lot, but they are a strong signal of the relative health of the ‘ceding’ party and the ‘receiving party’!

Reminds me of this gag-

Average earnings up 4.7% in latest ONS figures - this is likely to drive the 'triple lock' increase next April. New state pension will be less than £1 per week under the income tax threshold in 2026, and will exceed it in 2027.