“A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.” *

Theresa May recently stated that a police officer who joined the force in 2010 is now 32%, or £9000, better off. Private Eye has analysed this assertion and has - astonishingly - discovered that you have to take it with a large dose of salt. She had omitted to include the following information (an oversight, no doubt):

• These figures ignore inflation.
• They include yearly increments, which are not pay rises as such.
• The date of 2010 allows her to exclude those who joined after 2013 when the starting rate for police constables was slashed from £24,204 to £19,773, with corresponding incremental reductions.

Consequently the pay of the post-2013 intake is thousands of pounds lower than that of the recruits of 2010. As the Eye drily observes, this claim "comes straight from the Department for Misinformation."

Q: Who was the Home Secretary responsible for cutting police starting rates in 2013? 

A: Theresa May.

* Mark Twain.

News updates - from the web

Our regular round up of relevant news items, selected by ARMS' Steve Ion.

Working beyond seventy - here.

Expats get their pensions upgraded as if they were still in the UK after Brexit - here.

Waspi women 'won't go away' - here.

70 year old baristas: what happened to retiring early due to the benefits of new technology? - here.

Are older workers filling gaps in job markets left by migrant labour returning to their own countries? - here.

Half of new build retirement homes sell at a loss - here.

Do combined library and children's centres benefit all generations? - here.

Pet power in old age - here.

News updates - from the web

Our regular round up of relevant news items, selected by ARMS' Steve Ion.

Virtual reality game and dementia - here.

Home cafre advice - here.

Studying yoga could help ward of atrophy - here.

Get people out of hospital or get your funds cut - here.

Disabled still being refused access on buses - here.

High intensity training for older people - here.

Tory solution for unaffordable care? No care - here.

A third of older people don't use computers - here.

Solidarity with rail workers

Figures from RAIB (the Rail Accident Investigation Branch) show that 80% of the deaths and the most serious injuries in the last six years occurred on DOO (driver-only operated) trains, even though such trains account for only 30% of all trains in the UK. 

Solidarity with rail workers on strike for safety today.