Over-fifties could pay £300+ a year extra National Insurance, to ‘fund a fairer social care system’. The idea proposed by Damian Green is part of a range of measures to fill a funding gap for pensioners. The Pilgrims’ Friend Society said that while some people might struggle to make the payments, they supported it because ‘we know as Christians that we're giving to the general good. For some people who are barely getting through, that would mean the difference between paying the rent or not. But for people who are managing, it would be OK. It should be for everybody because everybody is going to become old unless they die young.’ The proposed model of state pension is that everyone will be entitled to a basic safety net of support, with individuals encouraged to top up this provision from their own savings or housing wealth. Proposals including winter fuel allowance tax and surcharges have been labelled ‘a tax on getting old’.

A report by victims' commissioner Baroness Newlove warns that anti-social behaviour is being ignored by authorities across England and Wales. She said police, local councils and housing providers were downplaying the harm caused by crimes, and victims being repeatedly targeted were left to ‘suffer in silence’. Meanwhile police chiefs and local government associations said they took anti-social behaviour seriously; but their resources were under strain, and they needed more funding to tackle the problems. People are scared, whether in their homes or in the streets; syringes are buried in children's sandpits, and there are huge increases in 'petty' council fines. Victims say they often feel persistently targeted by their perpetrators, and ignored by those with the power to prevent and intervene. Anti-social behaviour such as vandalism, street drinking, prostitution-related activity, and nuisance neighbours is often treated as a series of isolated incidents, rather than taking into account the cumulative effect it has on victims; affecting mental health, sleep, work and relationships.

If Parliament doesn’t pass a Brexit deal and withdrawal agreement by 22 May, the UK will have to take part in EU elections on 23 May despite having opted to leave the European bloc. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is running for these elections, and two recent YouGov polls indicate it might attract 27% of the voters, overtaking both Labour and Conservative. Farage hopes to quell the idea of a second Brexit referendum by topping the polls and calling for an immediate withdrawal from the EU. The party is expected to focus on the single message that the UK must leave the EU immediately. Detailed policies will be left until after the EU elections. Meanwhile, he has pledged to ‘realign and change British politics’ by standing in the Brexit-backing city of Peterborough by-election in June. See

A new survey by the pro-EU group European Movement Ireland and polling company Red C shows that public support for Ireland’s membership of the EU has increased to 93%. The survey of 1,000 people aged 18 and over across the country shows support for the EU at the highest level since the poll began in 2013. 50% of people surveyed now believe that a united Ireland as a member of the EU is more likely in the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the union, while 41% do not think that this is likely. The highest backing for continued EU membership was among the 18- to 24-year-old and 65-plus age groups. The survey was conducted between 21 and 27 March 2019, when there was uncertainty around whether the UK would depart from the EU without an agreement as originally planned on 29 March.