Martin Lewis: 100 things to make the country better…

Something else I think would make a difference to people's lives and to their perception of what is fair would be to stop situations in which those who save have to pay for things those who haven't are given free. Whether that is care at home (as on another current thread), care in an institutional setting, free entry to venues or places on courses for those on benefits, breakfast clubs for some children and not others, or whatever, 'working people' are the ones who suffer.

If someone can afford those things without feeling the pinch they won't realise, which is why I think many politicians underestimate the frustration of people who get up every morning to go to work, pay out for childcare and commute, come home to clean the house and do all the things that have to be done in the evenings and weekends, and find themselves no better off than friends and neighbours who do none of that. If they then work towards a promotion with a pay rise, or save a bit of money and find that this has worked against them because the extra money is swallowed up and they are no better off than they would have been without it, then of course they are angry.

Most of those who need the help are not to blame. Everyone who works a full week should earn enough to pay their way. It is the system that is at fault, and removing poverty traps would go a long way to encouraging people to feel that life is fair and effort is rewarded.

Allira

A ban on artificial lawns!

Definitely! Bad for wildlife. Don’t biodegrade. Tacky.

I say it every day, many ,many times.

I am just waiting for someone to write "Whoever said life was fair?"

I agree with the sentiments about adult education.
It is very pertinent in our family at the moment with an Autistic (very) grandchild who is over 16, long story , but in year 11 at a Secondary school totally unsuitable for him, again another long story.
He is, and will continue, struggling to make sense of things and is almost guaranteed to come out with nothing at the end.
It is breaking our hearts.
So many children under CAHMS now and I feel a long hard search/ project is needed to find out why.
This should be a priority of the Government.

I would like to see some sort of standardisation in the way local councils charge council tax and how they spend it.

I know someone who lives in Inner London in a house that is worth 10 times more than mine but they pay less council tax.

They have weekly refuse collection of rubbish, recycling, garden and kitchen waste, all for no extra charge. I have to pay extra for garden waste collection. There is no kitchen waste collection. Refuse and recycling are collected on alternate weeks.

I am probably being naive about this and there are, no doubt, many reasons for this anomaly that I don't understand but it just strikes me as unfair.

Oh yes, litter!

Not so much why isn't it being picked up but what on earth is wrong with people that they just throw it from the cars, lorries etc!
🤬

Yes tougher stance on litter.

I think Euro Car Parks are one such firm. At one time you could pay for two hours but now it's one hour free then a fine if you're so much as a couple of minutes over the time for any reason at all. Obviously they make more £millions from fines than from charges.

ViceVersa

The road signs thing really annoys me - there are so many around here which are almost completely obscured by overgrown shrubs and trees. Also, roadside drains - almost every single one here is either choked full of dirt or weeds, so every time it rains heavily, the roads get flooded. To be honest, our whole county just looks scruffy and unkempt. We travel around a lot in our motorhome and I've noticed most other areas look a lot more 'looked after' than here. It's little things - but you do really notice them.

We travel a lot from the midlands to the north of England and try to look at the country as if we were tourists from abroad and we feel ashamed of the place. And didn’t get me started on roadside litter!

Allira

^He has said something that I have been saying a long time which is that the electorate have to actually see things improving under Labour, even if it’s just small things^

Yes, some positivity is what is required, things to improve the every day lives of ordinary people.

Labour bounced in with plans which upset a lot of people, whether these plans were justified or not and that caused a lot of negativity, making people look at other options for the future.

Rachel Reeves's speech might have been rousing for many but from what I heard, it was only aimed at working people. How many times did she use that phrase? A dozen?
We need to be brought together, not further divided.

There are many smaller ways in which they could bring about small but positive changes.
Road markings are one because in many areas they have disappeared, are confusing or non-existent. And the ever-persistent potholes.

Another one is road ssigns obscured by greenery.
Or road signs/place signs obscured by dirt, M0nica - I'm often tempted to carry a bucket of soapy water with me and a sponge!
As well as a pair of loppers.
I do believe more major roadworks would be a good idea - we cannot plan more and more housing without the infrastructure to go with it. If it's deliberate to stop people using the roads, it's not working and will not work. People may change to electric or hybrid vehicles anyway in the future.

Parking charges! I had an email from Which this morning. They want the Government to do something about the extortionists who own private car parks. An hour free then a huge fine? Why are we not allowed to pay now? That is not long enough for many people, the elderly, the disabled, to do their shopping.

When my partner was given a £100 fine for parking outside Boots for ten minutes because he didn’t read the obscured sign that said no parking before 8 am he did get the fine removed by Boots. Not only that but he emailed the Labour MP for that area and, even though he wasn’t his MP he got an instant reply from him saying that he was actively campaigning against rogue companies who fine people unfairly.

The road signs thing really annoys me - there are so many around here which are almost completely obscured by overgrown shrubs and trees. Also, roadside drains - almost every single one here is either choked full of dirt or weeds, so every time it rains heavily, the roads get flooded. To be honest, our whole county just looks scruffy and unkempt. We travel around a lot in our motorhome and I've noticed most other areas look a lot more 'looked after' than here. It's little things - but you do really notice them.

M0nica

Absolutely agree with road markings. I have been driivng around the country a bit recently and went into the wrong lane several times because the road msrkings were also invisible.

Another one is road ssigns obscured by greenery. This again is getting much worse. I do not use sat nav for every journey, and again, sat nav does not cover every thing you meet on route.

Yes, that’s my other bugbear, especially last year when my grandson was learning to drive and I was more aware of things that would make driving more difficult for him. I am planning to take photos of obscured road signs and show them to my I think no mow May just turned into a cost cutting exercise.

I'd like to see some sort of Life Skills courses compulsory in Education i.e Household bills, tax, mortgages, basic household maintenance, basic cooking and first aid etc

Doodledog

I would like to see Adult Education free to all who want it. I used to live near an FE college, and there were evening classes in everything from car maintenance or flower arranging to A level Maths, as well as full-time ones in secretarial studies and business. Some of them were clearly more social and others targeted at getting employment or promotion, but they were all well-attended and many led to recognised qualifications.

Later, I worked in FE (in the 80s) and there were many 'returners to learning' - often women preparing to go back to work, people leaving the forces or men who became unemployed when their industry was destroyed. The courses they took changed their lives in many cases. Other students were 16 year olds who didn't fit into school for whatever reason. They may have failed their GCSEs or just didn't like the regulated school environment, and college gave them a chance to take or retake the qualifications they need to kick start their lives.

These days more courses are at a very low level and there are fewer and fewer non-vocational classes on offer. People who leave education early have a struggle to get back into education by getting basic qualifications or to use time out of work to improve the ones they have.

The sector has been underfunded for decades, and I would love to see it restored to its former glory. The flower arranging and conversational French classes were good ways for people to meet new friends, and socially valuable, too, as were courses in things like Music and Drama, which are being dropped from many state school curriculums. They could be centralised in colleges so that people with talent in those areas don't have to drop them.

I know the PM mentioned FE in his speech yesterday, but there wasn't time for detail. I think this is something the government could very easily do, and it would be immediately noticeable, as well as changing lives and boosting the economy by getting more people into work. They could also offer EFL classes to immigrants, which would help with integration.

I loved Adult Education. Very reasonable costs and free to some who fitted the criteria. I got my A level Psychology and GCSE Maths in my 60's under this scheme. There is nothing like that now. The benefits that brought to so many people from all walks of life was huge as your post points out very well.

M0nica

Absolutely agree with road markings. I have been driivng around the country a bit recently and went into the wrong lane several times because the road msrkings were also invisible.

Another one is road ssigns obscured by greenery. This again is getting much worse. I do not use sat nav for every journey, and again, sat nav does not cover every thing you meet on route.

I am with you on road markings and signs. Our local councillors had a drop-in day recently. I asked one about road signs and how filthy they were, almost impossible to read in some cases. He waffled on about budget restraints so I asked him if this was a job that offenders on community orders could do. His answer was that was all stopped during Covid and they haven't managed to get it back up and running yet!! Why not and handing down community service as part of their punishment means absolutely nothing around here. Great deterrent.

I would like to see Adult Education free to all who want it. I used to live near an FE college, and there were evening classes in everything from car maintenance or flower arranging to A level Maths, as well as full-time ones in secretarial studies and business. Some of them were clearly more social and others targeted at getting employment or promotion, but they were all well-attended and many led to recognised qualifications.

Later, I worked in FE (in the 80s) and there were many 'returners to learning' - often women preparing to go back to work, people leaving the forces or men who became unemployed when their industry was destroyed. The courses they took changed their lives in many cases. Other students were 16 year olds who didn't fit into school for whatever reason. They may have failed their GCSEs or just didn't like the regulated school environment, and college gave them a chance to take or retake the qualifications they need to kick start their lives.

These days more courses are at a very low level and there are fewer and fewer non-vocational classes on offer. People who leave education early have a struggle to get back into education by getting basic qualifications or to use time out of work to improve the ones they have.

The sector has been underfunded for decades, and I would love to see it restored to its former glory. The flower arranging and conversational French classes were good ways for people to meet new friends, and socially valuable, too, as were courses in things like Music and Drama, which are being dropped from many state school curriculums. They could be centralised in colleges so that people with talent in those areas don't have to drop them.

I know the PM mentioned FE in his speech yesterday, but there wasn't time for detail. I think this is something the government could very easily do, and it would be immediately noticeable, as well as changing lives and boosting the economy by getting more people into work. They could also offer EFL classes to immigrants, which would help with integration.

A ban on artificial lawns!

It would be good if some were given a good wash because they get obscured by road dirt.

Snap! It took me ages to type my post so I didn't see yours first, MaizieD.

He has said something that I have been saying a long time which is that the electorate have to actually see things improving under Labour, even if it’s just small things

Yes, some positivity is what is required, things to improve the every day lives of ordinary people.

Labour bounced in with plans which upset a lot of people, whether these plans were justified or not and that caused a lot of negativity, making people look at other options for the future.

Rachel Reeves's speech might have been rousing for many but from what I heard, it was only aimed at working people. How many times did she use that phrase? A dozen?
We need to be brought together, not further divided.

There are many smaller ways in which they could bring about small but positive changes.
Road markings are one because in many areas they have disappeared, are confusing or non-existent. And the ever-persistent potholes.

Another one is road ssigns obscured by greenery.
Or road signs/place signs obscured by dirt, M0nica - I'm often tempted to carry a bucket of soapy water with me and a sponge!
As well as a pair of loppers.
I do believe more major roadworks would be a good idea - we cannot plan more and more housing without the infrastructure to go with it. If it's deliberate to stop people using the roads, it's not working and will not work. People may change to electric or hybrid vehicles anyway in the future.

Parking charges! I had an email from Which this morning. They want the Government to do something about the extortionists who own private car parks. An hour free then a huge fine? Why are we not allowed to pay now? That is not long enough for many people, the elderly, the disabled, to do their shopping.

On the subject of road marking, I would say, road signs that tell you which lane you need to be in as you approach roundabouts/junctions but are so close that when it’s busy it’s too late to get into the right lane and so some drivers assume you just want to squeeze your way in!

Trouble is, road markings (apart from om major routes, are the responsibility of the local authority. So, unless LAs get an increase in funding I can't see them improving on local roads.

In our semi rural area the roadside hedge trimming is done mechanically and it doesn't seem to be able cut away the greenery at road signs. so it just gets longer and grows over the signs. It would be good if some were given a good wash because they get obscured by road dirt.

I don't know if the recently announced funding for deprived areas (Labour's 'levelling up') will make a difference in that respect.

My gripe of the day is electricity prices. Why do we have some of the highest charges, especially in Scotland. Also why do I have to pay more to help out those who can't/won't pay (I got no help in the 70s when I was struggling).

I think the government need to sort out electricity companies.

Absolutely agree with road markings. I have been driivng around the country a bit recently and went into the wrong lane several times because the road msrkings were also invisible.

Another one is road ssigns obscured by greenery. This again is getting much worse. I do not use sat nav for every journey, and again, sat nav does not cover every thing you meet on route.