Crystal ball gazing

+The BBC’s decision to give free TV licences only to the over-75s on pension credit is of course a decision forced on them by the Tories, not that you would learn that from the Tory press. The government says when the BBC agreed to take on free TV licenses the corporation thought it was the ‘best deal at the time’, to which the Beeb probably would add ‘in the circumstances.’
 
But pensioners do not need much of a crystal ball to foresee how the lying, conniving Tories will seek to recoup some of the money spent on dealing with the pandemic, and the BBC model paves the way. The winter fuel allowance could be funded by the energy companies, could it not? And soon enough it would be just for pension credit claimants. And bus companies will be pressed into the same approach with free bus passes. This whole process will be camouflaged by a newly reheated debate about whether the triple lock on state pension increases should remain. That decision may be delayed a little while whilst the government ‘consults’ but if the ending of the furlough scheme later this year gives an artificial boost to average earnings, the government will be furnished with an excuse to have at least a temporary pretext to suspend the triple lock next year. We will no doubt soon see the resuscitation of the hoary old argument that pensioners have been getting better off at the expense of the young. If all this comes to pass, one could say it will be poetic justice. Oldies voted Tory. They voted for Brexit.
 
+Jonathan Freedland smeared Clare Short in the Guardian recently, asserting that she had blamed Israel for climate change. She has had a letter published setting the record straight. I have written to the paper asking when we might expect to see his apology.