A government safeguarding minister - Rachel Maclean - has suggested that people struggling with the cost of living should "work more hours, or get a better job".

That just shows how out of touch this government is!! 🤬

Also how are we pensioners supposed to increase our income? I have said on many occasions that the proposed benefits to ease the burden are either pure fiction, or only of benefit to the workers.

Proposal 1: Car MOT tests to be once every two years - this will only help drivers, and c£45 saving over a year - that's of little help, especially when, in an effort to recoup some of the loss, garages will stop discounting the cost of a tast and start charging the recommended fee (c£50?).

Proposal 2: Prescription charges frozen, once again of no help whatsoever to pensioners and people on certain benefits.

I can't get my breath!! 🤬

Despite several other councils having already sent this money to householders, Chesterfield Borough Council are still saying that they are waiting for the necessary software to be installed on their systems.
In an article in the Derbyshire Times, they're hoping to start in first two weeks of May. This article was published this week and we're now at the end of that period - and we haven't received it.
I appreciate that it's a huge job to get it sorted, but how come other councils (including Bolsover) have managed it? I'm sure the council wouldn't be this lenient/patient if we made a similar excuse in the payment of our council tax.
Apparently Boris has given all councils a deadline of September this year to have completed the task. This isn't helping the people that are in desperate need on this payment.
Here's (hopefully) a link to the article:

https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/politics/update-given-on-chesterfield-ps150-council-tax-energy-rebate-as-it-system-changes-needed-3693806

We ripped all our border paper off a few years ago. Had wallpaper we can paint put on and just pop some pictures on the walls.
Apart from the two bathrooms and one small bedroom we have blinds fitted - just thinking of our old age !!

Now should I have the lawn concreted 

TWO bathrooms - we still use an outside loo!! 😂😂😂

S40 2EE - Derby Road area is a winner today

I really need a reliable painter and decorator fairly quickly as the lad we had the last time has let us down.
I don't usually just pick people out of the classifieds or Yellow pages I like to get a tried and trusted tradesman usually by recommendation.

So if anyone can point me in the right direction, basically having used them yourselves, and are happy with the result please let me know,

Thanks.......

Obviously not used him since start of Covid, but I always used this chap. Decent prices and does a good job: Kev Slater 01246 558826.

S44 6DR (Bolsover) is a winner today.

There's an article in the DT saying that some customers have paid a (large) deposit on furniture that hadn't even been ordered from the suppliers, and are now left out of pocket.

Seems to me that the closure has been on the cards for quite some time, and refurbishment was just a sham.

How's it all going to end, your guess is as good as mine, but however it pans out Putin is now the worlds pariah and hopefully the Russian people won't let him forget it.

The problem there, is that the Russian media is so heavily censored, that normal people don't realise that the information they're getting is what Putin wants the people to believe, and is not necessarily anything even near approaching the truth.