Michael Edwards for South Derbyshire

A Pension Credit change kicks in on Monday, helping pensioners with modest savings.

"I'm pleased Labour is able to do more to help older people who've built up modest savings."

When Alistair Darling announced the change in April, he said over half a million pensioners on modest incomes,  will gain by an average of £4 per week; between 700 and 900 people in South Derbyshire.

To help pensioner households with savings of less than £10,000, Alistair Darling announced in April's budget that it was time to increase the capital disregard on Pension Credit from £6,000 to £10,000 from November 2009.

The move will benefit over half a million pensioners on modest incomes, who will gain by an average of £4 per week.   (Notes follow)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2499/4057930756_e9f3fe82fc_b.jpg 

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Capital changes for people who have reached qualifying age for State Pension Credit from 2 November 2009

... maybe. 

I mean, I don't know who all the candidates are yet.  Indeed, the post doesn't exist yet. 

But Newsnight got itself into a right froth over it Monday evening. 

An expert - yeah, right - came on to tell us that countries across Europe were already deciding to not support Tony Blair cos the Tories would take it as a personal insult.  Hmmmm.  

And we know what impact the Tories in Europe have, right?  Unable to work with mainstream parties of the right in Europe, they run off to lead the formation of a new group with extreme right-wingers from Poland and Latvia, only to find that their recommendations for their leader of such a group were then ignored. 

And of course, the Tories have been working to try and stop the Lisbon Treaty being agreed at all.  The post might only exist cos that effort is failing. 

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"Miliband, who said at the weekend that the EU needed a president who would stop the traffic in world capitals,"

Now I'm sure David Miliband is trying to be helpful, but surely our aim is to keep traffic moving. 

Anyway, David Miliband  does highlight the reason Tony Blair may not succeed - Tony Blair would actually try to do something with such a post. 

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And why should the Tories want to block Tony Blair?  Last time, I saw David Cameron debating Blair, he led a standing ovation for him. 

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Now that's an idea.  Let me be the first person to call for a televised debate including all the candidates.  I could have my name running across  the bottom of Sky News TV for weeks.

George Osborne's announcement on Bankers' Bonuses was a bit rich - http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3524/4046590348_3c994e7193_b.jpg   . 

Meanwhile, the assertion he was making tough choices on public expenditure, was then followed by a list of plans to spend more, including the creation of new schools if parents wanted them. 

Tory conference and a new Tory euphemism for the unemployed appears. 

Talking about people losing their jobs at LDV in her constituency, Caroline Spelman MP chooses to describe the unemployed as an endless supply of entrepreneurs. 

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Even weirder was the right wing think tank pundit on BBC Newsnight.  Talking about reducing the state's role and its spend by 10%, that's £30bn, blasé about the consequences. 

It was hard to make some of it out, not least cos the pundit started with a contrived explanation of the "boiled frog syndrome", that the presenter had to ask her to explain again.   Very strange, cos the right in Britain and America love that story.  (The story of the frog being boiled is an urban myth.    http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/frogboil.asp  The truth is frogs will jump out of water that gets too hot.  Or, as Al Gore said in his climate change movie, you rescue the frog.)  

I hope that pundit plays a big role in future Tory party presentations. 

Cos what was significant is that the need of a 10% reduction was placed outside of the context of paying off debt.  This was an ideological commitment to the size of the state, paying no regard to how the state has had to underwrite the banking private sector in its latest failure, or the range of services that the public enjoy or expect.   

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Amazing still that the Tories don't get the point on their tax break on inheritance tax. 

Put simply, it doesn't matter if they found they've found distinctive sources to pay for such a change, with the money they say they've found, there are a lot more people who need the help more than millionaires. 

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Now, I had a bit of a spelling problem with an earlier edition of this blog entry.  So I won't make too much of a letter from the Tory candidate for mid-Derbyshire who says in a mailing to voters

"Conservaies [sic] believe that the next generation deserve better than this ..."

A fan of Mrs. T missing out the "t". 

No, the main lesson here is, that every time I want to publish, I will try to find a speel-checker first. 

Tory conference and a new euphanism appears - for the unemployed. 

Talking about people losing their jobs at LDV in her constituency, Caroline Spelman chooses to describe the unemployed as an endless supply of entrepreneurs. 

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Even weirder was the right wing think tank pundit on BBC Newsnight.  Talking with ease at reducing the state's role and its spend by 10%, that's £30bn. 

It's was hard to make some of it out, not least cos the pundit started with a contrived explanation of the "boiled frog syndrome", that the presenter had to ask her to explain again. 

The story of the frog being boiled is an urban myth.  http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/frogboil.asp  The truth is frogs will jump out of water that gets too hot.  Or, as Al Gore said in his climate change movie, you rescue the frog.  

I hope that pundit plays a big role in Tory party presentations. 

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Amazing still that the Tories don't get the point on their tax break on inheritance tax. 

Put simply, it doesn't matter if they found they've found distinctive sources to pay for such a change, with the money they've found, there are a lot more people who need the help more than millionaires. 

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Social Care for the Elderly, the finalpart of my coverage of Gordon Brown's speech. 

This was warmly welcomed at conference.  By chance I was sat next to Phil Hope MP, the Minister of State for Care Services, as he received news that the announcement was to be made in the Leader's speech. 

NHS, the fifth part of my coverage of Gordon Brown's speech. 

There is some astonishment at conference, given the numbers of extra doctors and nurses employed under Labour, the huge fall in waiting times for operations and the biggest ever hospital building programme, that David Cameron claims that the Tories can now call themselves the party of the NHS. 

This of course has been undermined by Tory MPs going to the USA to call the NHS a sixty year mistake. 

New responsibilities - the fourth part of my coverage of Goprdon Brown's speech. 

Economy and Enterprise - this is the third part of my coverage of Gordon Brown's speech.