sandyf

There was a time when it was 44 years of contributions. A friend of mine who had been made redundant had made his up with voluntary contributions and when they suddenly dropped it to 30 years he wrote and asked for a refund. Doesn't take much to guess the reply.

The governments main argument is that it has been that way for over 70 years. In that same 70 years there has been numerous instances of legislation being overturned, but then it is all about public opinion and how many votes can be generated. I hope Keir Starmer was paying attention at the time. "The Labour Party have today formally announced that they will support the APPG in its efforts to annul the Social Security Benefit Up-rating Regulations." https://frozenbritishpensions.org/jeremy-corbyn-gives-labours-backing-pension-unfreezing/

That is a distorted perspective. The UK state pension is a "pay as you go" scheme where the workers of today make contributions to pay the pensioners of today. When you become a pensioner that still applies. Government revenue from workers contributions is by default index linked so all pension entitlement arising from workers contributions should be indexed linked, selective index linking is pure discrimination. Brexit brought the legal requirement to pay uprated pensions in the EU to an end. The government didn't like the thought of the backlash from so many close to home so they manipulated the legislation to suit. In 2019 Therese Coffey made this statement, which was then withdrawn. Fairly obvious she thought pensioners elsewhere didn't need peace of mind. "The government is sending out letters outlining that even if we leave without a deal, pensions for those in the EU will be uprated for a further 3 years –an increase of at least 2.5% annually for the duration of this Parliament,worth up to £200 a year per person. And pensioners will be told they do not need to do anything to continue receiving their State Pension. During the 3-year period, the UK government plans to negotiate a new arrangement with the EU to ensure that uprating continues. Work and Pensions Secretary Dr Thérèse Coffey said: Pensioners in Europe who have paid into the system for years deserve peace of mind over their future finances. Not only are we providing much-needed reassurance for hundreds of thousands of retirees, we’re ensuring we are fully prepared for leaving the EU on 31 October. No matter the circumstances of Brexit, we’ve made sure that pensionersdo not need to take any action to continue receiving their hard-earnedState Pension.” A new dedicated call centre team based in Newcastle has also beenestablished in order to answer any questions from those affected. The uprating will also affect those living in the EEA states and Switzerland. The letters will be sent next week."

Quite the opposite, as you said it came about at the outset because at the time there was significant emigration such as the assisted passage scheme to Australia. Successive government have deliberately misinterpreted the intention to suit their own agenda and the subsequent reciprocal agreements created legalised discrimination. There is a significant difference between people heading off at an early age for a new life in the colonies and people going into retirement having paid full NI throughout their working life.

1948

Each to their own whichever suits, was last time for me, pushing up daisies by time it's due again.

And guess who the "method " came from? Your words "Do it online or get yer wife to do it." You are free to believe the "online" method does not require the original passport being sent to HMPO.

You don't really need a SIM if you have a phone as you can use the hotspot if you have data. I don't have data on my phone and just piggyback my wife's phone when out and about.

You should try the pharmacy,tablets will make you feel better. Seriously, android is a pain in the neck, I had a Lenevo and quickly changed it for a Windows version.

I only do contactless in the UK or when travelling, and only use the Wise card. They send an email within seconds of the spend which is quite handy.

No he didn't, he said it shouldn't be done online. Most people do it themselves at VFS, i was one of the first when it move from the FCO in 2014. Went back to UK in Sept to do it again. VFS sucks.

The online method that was suggested requires the original passport to be sent to the UK and Mr Tom was quite right in what he said. You may well think it is ok to be without a passport but I doubt many would agree.

If you are in Sattahip I wouldn't disagree.

Indeed,we are in Chonburi and would normally use BTS from Kheha. But VFS has moved from Trendy to Rama 9 and going to that area we would use the airport and Makkasan.

I used to hate going to Bangkok but recent years has been a bit easier, i think due to better transport services. From Pattaya you could get the bus to the airport and then the train to Makkasan. VFS is not far away, within walking distance or a couple of stops on the MRT.

Agreed, you shouldn't be here without an original passport as proof of identity. As far as the wife goes I think it meant send the wife to VFS in Bangkok with the application.

Apologies, I looked back at my old passports and when I went to Luan Prabang in Jan 23 I did get the same sticker as you show but never noticed. Nothing on previous visits but they were some years prior. Same with Malaysia last visit was Feb 2020 and certainly no sticker on entry to Vietnam 2 months ago.

The only card I have on Google is my UK credit card, no loading required. I also only use cash here, my card is only to get cash from ATM. When I lost my ATM card at least it was protected by the pin number, contactless cards are very vulnerable.

It is a bit of a confusing topic. I have been using Google Pay for some years and found it quite useful. Google Pay came from a merger of Google Wallet and Android Pay but the wallet never actually went away. Looks like Google wallet has been revamped and now taking over from Google Pay. My understanding is that the new version of the wallet provides a contactless facility on an android phone for your cards so should work in any establishment that accepts contactless payment. Anywhere that you find Google Pay or contactless payment logos, you can make contactless payments with a supported form of payment that you stored in Google Wallet. https://support.google.com/wallet/answer/11951709?hl=en#zippy=%2Cwhats-the-difference-between-google-wallet-google-pay%2Ccan-i-use-google-wallet-to-tap-to-pay

I flew into LP and can't remember an arrival card but could have been. They opened the back doors and we were first off the plane, I was through immigration quicker than my wife.

Looks like it has come to an end. From 1 January 2014, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has discontinued its service of depositing foreign marriage and civil partnership certificates with General Register Offices in the UK. https://www.tameside.gov.uk/registrars/births-deaths-marriages-abroad#:~:text=From 1 January 2014%2C the,Register Offices in the UK.

You need to be a little careful on the wording. There was a time when you could deposit the marriage certificate with the General Registry Office(GRO) through the British Embassy in Bangkok. I did it in 2008. I should point out it was a deposit rather than a registration, as you say the UK will recognise a legal marriage in Thailand. I think the embassy stopped handling GRO deposits in 2012 but not sure if you can still deal with the GRO direct. In reality not a great deal to be gained but you did get an annotated copy of the deposit with the GRO seal which over the years has been very useful in visa applications for my wife.

"major airlines"? The source text has been rearranged somewhat under journalistic licence, airlines named account for less than 10%. "More than 2,300 Ryanair flights have reported incidents of GPS interference since last August, according to a report, as well as almost 1,400 at Wizz Air, 82 at British Airways and four from easyJet. About 46,000 aircraft in total have logged problems with GPS over the Baltic Sea in the same time period, the Sun reported, based on analysis of flight logs with the website GPSJAM.org."

There is an old saying, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Virtually every evening at 5pm I watch the BBC news channel live sat out on the verandah. Probably about 75% of the time there is no problem but the rest of the time it varies from slightly intermittant to unwatchable. Been doing it for some years and what I have noticed is the worst reception is when there is stormy weather in the area. Puzzled me a bit at first until I noticed the satellite details on the screen. A bit irrelevant to your title, although I have Cyberghost I don't use it when watching the TV app, at the end of the day if something works speed tests and vpn are superflous. If the buffering I see is weather related then not a lot can be done about that.

There was nothing other than the entry/exit stamps when I went to Laos last year on E-visa. There was no sticker last time I went to Malaysia a couple of years ago but I did get one back in 2014. Bit of a surprise as I had been KL the year before and never got one. That was by air, was on the train to Penang when they used the sticker, it had a tear off tab and left part behind. I was on last page of passport and they put it right in middle of remaing space causing bit of a problem. Never been to Korea.