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I
am trying to write something once per month, which will often be a re-cap on
news that is already in the public domain but just in case you missed it.
I have prepared a Mission Statement for the ELTA community and which I
have posted to the Web site. I believe that a Mission Statement is very
important for a community such as ours since we will never meet, we all have
different issues and needs and this is a way of ensuring we remain focussed on
the main issues. I must stress that this one reflects my perspective so it can
be modified if there is a consensus that we should do so. In the first pass, why
not send me an e-mail if this version causes you a problem.
Many WPAs write to me on the assumption that the ELTA web site is mine. It is
NOT, I did a lot of the original work but it is intended for the ELTA community.
There is a Message Board where you can leave your thoughts and make
comments on issues of the day or respond to other's messages. One of the key
points in the Mission Statement is that we should not use the ELTA community web
site as a place to winge about the Society and the problems it has caused us. We
know all about the problems and the failure of the people involved in its
affairs but I strongly believe we should focus on going forward to get
compensation from the Government, auditors and ex-Directors, not least as the
Society has very little money, nearly all of which is OURS!!!!!
Suing ourselves makes no sense to me!
You will recall that I said I was writing to the Society about the
apparent anomaly between Annuity policies starting between Jan 1st and March
31st each year and other annuities. I have now received an explanation from
the Society and am satisfied that my concerns were NOT justified. One
less problem to worry about!
You will be aware of the various leaks to the media about the Penrose Report.
Even assuming they are correctly reporting what Lord Penrose is going to report,
that does not mean a victory for us, just one more step on the path to getting
compensation in the short term at all and maybe even ever. In my opinion we need
to keep up the pressure for many years to come. If you missed the report in The
Times, then you can find it at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-872186,00.html
There is also an excellent section on the EMAG web site referring to all the
recent media coverage, maintained by Liz Kwantes and which you can find
at:
http://www.cookham.com/community/equitable/articles.htm
and which will keep you constantly up to date with all that is happening.
I think that Tim Balkwill has written to many of you already, but if you did not
receive his e-mail, then there is a Tory Adjournment debate on 4th Nov. which is
open for people to attend.
Finally for this month I am often asked if it possible to add WPAs to our
mailing list who do not have access to the Internet. The simple answer is
No. But, I have about 100 names on the ELTA mailing list out of a community of
around 65,000 and it would be great to include them in our news dissemination,
collection and information exchange process. So here is a suggestion.
If you know any WPAs that are in this situation, then why not act as a
coordinator for them, giving them copies of our news updates and other material
form the various web sites and if they wish to give us information on what they
are experiencing with ELAS then you can submit the material on their behalf. We
can answer their questions or point them to people who can.
Regards,
Peter Scawen
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