I live in Worthing.
No offence, but you could pin a blue rosette on a park bench and local residents would vote for it come election time.
I am the Worthing Labour Nemesis. That's it, just me. I rant and rave, stand at election time and try to pretend the "opposition" is more than just me and 10 or 20 other die hard activists.
I don't like Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing. He has been incredibly slimy at polling stations, tried to sideline me with 90 year old residents at every opportunity and generally acts exactly as you might suppose a Tory with a HUGE majority might.
BUT. He did quite a good job as Minister for Children. He spoke out once or twice for children (shock, horror) and adoption of babies went up dramatically - an issue I believe he holds close to his heart.
In short, he did his job, worked as hard as he could, listened to a bit of evidence here and there, and actually made a bit of a difference.
The other Worthing MP, Peter Bottomley is not too shabby either. A long term defendant of the sick and disabled, it was his opposition to removing the mobility component to those in residential homes that led to the government removing this most pernicious of policies.
So guess what? In the reshuffle, Loughton lost his job!!! One of the few effective minister, for reasons best known to himself, Cameron gave him the chop!!
Now, if a rabid leftie like me finds that against all odds, the MPs she has opposed for decades actually did a halfway decent job, then they probably did.
So why did Cameron sack Loughton? Is he quite mad? He was effective, he knew his brief VERY well (even social workers speak highly of him) and he did a good job.
So come on Cameron - what happened? Did he drink the wrong Viognier? Was he not wearing the right loafers? Is his postcode not quite the ticket? (You need to watch this one, as sadly, you need MPs from all over the country, not just Notting Hill)
Maybe Tory Tim knows, but I for one, am mystified.
Interesting how all the people moaning about skipping meals on the bbc this morning were all morbidly obese!! How does that work??
ReplyDeleteThis country has gone to the dogs. You wouldnt go with £5k in your pocket into a BMW garage and ask for one so why have kids if you cant afford them? This country rewards irresponsibility. Also parents who get their child benefit along with the plethora of other handouts then go and spend it down the pub then go to food banks should be ashamed of themselves!
Its no wonder many skilled people are leaving the UK, they are sick of seeing their tax let the lazy lead easy lives with their Sky Tv and ipads etc
There are jobs in this country just a lack of people willing to do them when benefits pay more. Makes sense. Stop benefits then will see people working.
With the lax system as it is too many people are screwing the system with pseudo-ailments that provide an endless stream of cash. A top back surgeon said back pain is a social illness not a medical one, spot on.
Soon there will be no taxpayers in the UK then what will you lot do when there is no money to give you, because the people who you have been leeching of for years have decided to move to lands where their talent is better rewarded and their money is used to support their own family not the generations of other families who have never worked and dont want to either.
Not all back problems are psuedo ailments. Some of us have very mechanical injuries that are very obvious. There are some doctors that believe it is stress induced,but is stress not a recognised illness? It has very apparent eitoligy and is treated by doctors, why would they bother if it didnt exsist?
DeletePlease remember that a few years ago there was an illness called yuppie flu, it turned out that after years of research there was a virus that attacked the nervous system in a similar way to MS. What i am getting at is that many so called pseudo illnesses today will be recognised as a 'real' medical illness in the future.
I hope for your sake that you have lots of very good insurance for your future as there will be no help for you if you should ever suffer a devestating illness or have a life changing accident.
Just to remind you that disabled people do pay into the tax system, there are a lot of people with hidden disabilities that work for many years till they become to ill to work.
Oh and for the record, i do not consider myself a leach.
Working mother of 3 and disabled, receiving benefit that enable me to work.
Matt - I feel sorry for you mate. It must be hard living with so much hatred inside that it comes spewing out in a completely irrelevant 'reply' on Sue's blog.
DeletePeople! dont be seen arguing with a idiot like matt! People watching might not be able to tell the difference(joke) let poor matt live in his fantasy land where their are enough jobs for all, no one is disabled,& people on the dole can afford i-pods & beer and where every one sheds a tear for the poor downtrodden bankers!!
DeleteListen you misanthropic creature, have a look at Sue's picture on the left, when fighting for millions like her, she she ended up in hospital. Then say she is putting it on. Sue, just ban these people, they contribute nothing, there may be arguments to be had about resources, etc but these people don't make them.
Deletedamn, i'm replying to the bigots...
Matt - I'll make the very simple point that circumstances change. Illnesses happens, accidents happen. Having a family is something you should plan for, yes, but how the hell can you plan whether you're going to be struck down with a debilitating disease or lose a limb in a freak car accident? You must be really fortunate to have that level of insight to your future. I'm sure Downing Street would like to use you as a crystal ball for everything.
ReplyDeleteMy man Jonathan Djanogly got the boot too. He was the Justice Minister that decided to take down the DWP Appeals video. He's also the guy that hired private detectives when some of his CP were suspected of 'disloyalty'...
ReplyDeleteJohn Major is a tough act to follow, but Jonny D's done it.
Matt - care to share with us why your little rant is in any way relevant to this piece by Sue on her MP ?
ReplyDeleteIts just another excuse to have a pop at benefit claimants isn't it.
Well you know what, if I was as rude as you I'd be saying two words - the second would be 'off' but I'm not so I won't.
At all times, remember folks this is RELATIVE POVERTY and claiming to have any other type of poverty in the UK is grossly offensive to those living in actual poverty.
ReplyDeletePoverty in this country is defined as not having the latest iphone or not being able to go on holiday or the pub every night. Actual poverty is not having ever owned shoes, never been to school etc it is an insult to those people when people here moan about poverty while at the same time being overweight with fag in hand.
61% of children defined as living in the very scewed definition of UK poverty dont have working parents. quite shocking. as one obese benefits person said on the bbc news this morning they thought poverty was not having a wardrobe full of new trainers!!!
Sorry sympathy of working people has well and truly ran out for those that want to live of others. Support for benefit cuts and caps has never been higher.
Question is why has it taken this long to enforce??
Not all working people.
DeleteThere is a point where a civilisation can rise above the level of grubbing; where how much something costs, such as a system of social welfare, is less important than its value to and effect upon society - a chance for the poorest to attain social mobility while not having to worry about where those bills are coming from; a society where the poorest can live out long lives in as rude health as the wealthiest.
And then you get the tipping point, where a society begins to degenerate. Where, rather than talk about ambitious plans for giving the whole of society a chance to do something with their lives, people become burdened with a false sense of entitlement and sit on their stoop and complain about other people having life better than them.
It's always the other man who's "workshy," "scrounger," "unfit mother," "Bolshy lazy sponger." It's always your taxes that are paying for the nice shoes on their feet, their nice haircut, the smile on their faces.
And that bitterness seeps in and poisons everything. Compassion is a fool's dream; social programs warp in your perceptions into a grotesque parade of the poor supping at a trough of your precious money or literally leeching the life from your veins while you sleep at night.
Day and night, that poison works its way into the brain - that addiction to self-righteous pompous middle-class Charles Pooter "Diary Of A Nobody" fury which looks about as dangerous as a penguin carrying a handgun.
The poison worms its way into the tabloids, which ooze with slimy politicians whose only ambition is to line their pockets, and whose only ticket - the one thing they want you to vote them in for - is that they can offer you, not an actual solution to your problems, but a continual supply of the indignant stuffed-shirt toxin that keeps you awake at your work.
That toxin that prompts you to talk about "everybody has a job, and those who can't get a job mustn't want one," and urges you to look about how much something costs you rather than how much it costs somebody else as well - or rather, to look at things such as social care in terms of "I don't need it, so why should I pay for it?" rather than "I'm only doing my bit at work for me and mine. This - taxes, NIC - is my way of doing my bit for my country and the people who live in it, and who might come home disabled from defending it. From defending me."
We're a degenerate nation. Gone to the dogs? Yeah. Only, we're the dogs. We're the mangy, scruffy mutts who've forgotten that we used to be as kings in this world. And you know what used to make us walk as kings?
Pride in our twin greatest achievements - our NHS, and our welfare system. The two things that, together, served the nation more than any wars ever could.
We're not going back to a glorious past, with this nothing little Captain Mainwaring attitude of ours. We are, collectively and with our eyes wide open, going forwards towards a future as ruins, in ruins.
And it all started the day the first shouty little man complained that compassion, ethics, altruism were playthings for fools. On the day that the first ambitious git of a nothing politician looking for a vote heard him, and offered him a Faustian deal.
Save the Children is seeking to raise £500,000 to help children from low-paid working families, who it says are going without hot meals and winter clothes
Deletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/05/save-the-children-uk-campaign
That's food, Dave, kids going without food, not trainers.
Dont fall for they hype findlow tell mom and dad to stop spending the benefit on fags, tattoos and sky tv then there will be money for food.
DeleteDefine your priorities. If its fags rather than food then mugs who work shouldnt be forced to bail you out.
Save the children need to redefine what poverty is rather than looking at the number of ipads and 7 seater people carries in peoples houses.
What a truly amazing post, do you have a blog?
Deleteits up there with Orwell and i am being serious..
Sorry, that was at Alex, not the sub Jim Davidsons
Deleteand i see you have a blog, gonna circulate that blog post..
Seems the train from "Ignorant Bigot Central" has arrived and discharged all the failures onto your blog Sue.
ReplyDeleteSeems you cant be nice about a tory these days without a fascist popping up.
Interesting how all the people moaning about skipping meals on the bbc this morning were all morbidly obese!! How does that work??
ReplyDeleteIf you skip a meal you're actually decreasing the rate of your metabolism. Your body goes into "starvation mode" where it tries to compensate for the low calories. Your metabolic rate can actually decrease as much as 10-15%, and your body will hold onto the fat and burn lean muscle instead.
I'm sure my friend will be relieved to know that the back pain she experiences due osteoporosis, arthritis and spinal damaged caused during an operation (all of which shown by MRI scans), is purely a social illness.
There are many people in this country who are in poverty, many of them have low paid jobs, they are married and may have children. Thier wage may be a penny over the limit to recieve housing/council tax benefits, free prescriptions and help with uniform cost / free meals for thier children. It puts them in a very difficult position of meeting the cost of housing and fuel costs as a priority and then the food comes next. Things like shoes, clothes etc come down the list and usually come from charity shops, as do some birthday and christmas gifts.
ReplyDeleteIts not all about being scroungers, benefit cheats, or anything else.
Wow, have I stumbled onto the Daily Shite?
ReplyDeleteThis piece is about the sacking of Tim Loughton MP - Sue hasn't even mentioned poverty!!
What about those with back pain but 100% normal MRI that are still determined to to get their benefits?
ReplyDeleteAlso how are all those saying they have to skip meals this morning all obese? Going on a diet would be better for their health long term me thinks.
What annoys people about issues concerning the welfare state is people in work are being asked to be taxed more to pay for people who receive an income in benefits which is much higher than those who work.
Now can someone explain how that is fair?
I get housing benefit, council tax benefit and jobseeker's allowance. It comes to a total of around £530/month. I have no dependents, so I can just - JUST - cope on this, and I don't smoke, drink, go out on the town, eat takeaways, have Sky, etc. Find me someone of 28 who works full time and earns less than £6500/year and I might think you have half a brain cell, but you won't be able to, because that'd be far below minimum wage...
DeleteIf someone would offer me a job, I would take it. Unfortunately, because there are very few jobs around, and because I USED to claim DLA/ESA due to severe mental illnesses which I have worked my arse off to recover from, no one will hire me. When I received ESA and DLA I received more per month than now I'm on jobseekers, but my DLA was needed for extra costs incurred due to my condition - care and mobility needs - so I had the exact same amount of disposable income I do now. Which is...pretty much nothing after rent and bills.
Stop reading the tabloids and do some critical thinking, for goodness sake. People are so naive these days, they'll believe anything the Daily Mail tells them...
1st benefit income is NOT higher than this who work. Saying it is makes you look spectacularly silly
DeleteSue
ReplyDeletethey're running scared
we have a right to the expression of our lives, another entitlement that the nazis want to remove
Mahatma Gandhi:
Delete"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
40 years ago fewer than 300,000 people were on sick-benefits with around 100,000 on long-term. Today those figures are 2m+ and 700,000.
ReplyDeleteThis despite less manual labour and better medical care.
Some of these are genuinely sick, others are just lazy. Why should lazy people share in the wealth of our country?
[QUOTE]lance has left a new comment on the post "Tory Tim gets the Chop - but WHY?":
Delete40 years ago fewer than 300,000 people were on sick-benefits with around 100,000 on long-term. Today those figures are 2m+ and 700,000.
This despite less manual labour and better medical care.
Some of these are genuinely sick, others are just lazy. Why should lazy people share in the wealth of our country?[/QUOTE]
Some of these are genuinely sick, others are just lazy. Why should lazy people share in the wealth of our country
couldn't agree more lance but you dont get the desired result in government by just attacking the sick and disabled who very rarely leave the house as they are to ill or disabled to do so
there are two types of illness and disability groups one of which where they are out and about and doing their best to fit in and then there's those like myself who very rarely go out and are an easy target for the government to target as in general this group cant fight back and many live alone and if it wasn't for their carer constantly filling in the DWP forms none would ever get fand you would need to kill millions of people to stamp it out completely and even then you still may not fully illed in and the claimant would die pure and simple
These are the two groups and the vast majority of all sick and disabled in the uk fall into and it's about time we had a proper government minister who fully understood sicknesses and disabilities and on why some cant work and why some could work given the right help because until you do understand you as a government minister will fail to achieve the desired result and all your end up doing is to kill those at the bottom who very rarely leave the house and who do not have a carer
i do have a carer and am only alive because of one but we as a country need to think of those who don't have one
having to many children and expect the state to pay is very wrong but that's another topic so is fraud and fraud will never be stopped just as fraud with your bank card will never be stopped and being killed and ending up on crime watch that will never be stopped
so we need in government only mp's who fully understand on the best way forward and not go down a Hitler way of thinking to destroy everyone on benefit and that the problem would be solved because is wouldn't fraud would still go on true it would be very minor but you would still not stamp it out completely
sorry for the above spelling errors i only have one bad eye working today the other eye awaiting a cataract operation
DeleteYou must be very new here if you believe we haven't heard these canards before Mr Lance.
Delete40 years ago there were millions in residential care units who were not eligible for any benefit. That changed very quickly in the late 80s and early 90s, which is where almost all of the swell in the net total happened.
By the way, there is no such thing as 'sickness benefit' and hasn't been for almost thirty years. It gives it away where you get most of your poor information from.
As medicine improves more people survive major health crisis. Premature babies survive but often with disabilities, cancer has a higher survival rate, many stroke victims who would have died survive with major disabilities and that is the same for many other medical conditions. That is why we have more people with chronic ill health and disabilities. It is hypocritical to praise the progresses made by medicine if then we make people who are still alive feel guilty for being an unproductive burden. Before quoting random figures people should stop and think and try to understand what they really mean and not just repeating things they have heard in the pub.
DeleteI would have died only twenty years ago, I'm alive but with lots of on-going health issues. I had also paid a lot of income tax, in case you wonder and I resent being called a scrounger.
Has the comments section closed on the Daily Mail? It seems like all the haters are gathering on Sue's blog now.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the obese man on the BBC speaking about skipping meals, but it's no secret that poverty and obesity are inextricably linked. Unemployed people eating from the microwave, ill and disabled people unable to prepare healthy meals will lead to obesity in many people.
Convenience food is the staple diet of the poor, and as one professor said last week on the BBC News, the middle class would rather starve to death than look fat because fat is the equivalent of poor. Poor = Poverty.
So in a moral sense fat people are actually being starved to death, starved by the wrong nutrition, the wrong education, and so many mental health factors brought on by dire poverty.
Domestic abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and abandonment will always be more prevalent in poor communities.
And yes, fat people can also go hungry and they actually do need to eat, fat people can suffer malnourishment just like a skinny person can.
There really is a complete lack of understanding about Health and the issues surrounding Health these days.
But something I find very strange are that all these Tory supporters, or anti-welfare supporters speak like they are the effigy of Michelangelo's David. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them looked more like the effigy of Eric Pickles.
Apart from that, nice post Sue. It seems like he was sacked because he wasn't incompetent enough to sit at Cabinet. God forbid there would ever be a Tory who actually helped people.
Wow, Sue, that's some troll that's attached itself to the top of your blog there! Seems to be of the classic clichéd tory type. Probably a drive-by trolling, by the looks of it. All that irrelevance and all. Suspiciously writing to form, almost as if they have a template they follow. I have an amazing example of one that was actually posted on facebook by an actual person. It's got everything! Much better than the one on here, which is fairly poor by my troll's standard. Keep trying 'Matt', keep trying, lol.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that every report I have seen today on food banks shows people with cigarettes on their table or people smoking outside them??
ReplyDeleteA pack of cigs can feed a family of 4 for a day easily.
Working public gonna have no sympathy for you guys unless you get your priorities straight. Stop the smoking and sky tv and use that money for food rather than running to food banks and making mugs of those that donate food to them.
So the ones who aren't seen smoking must also smoke because the people standing beside them do? Seeing all members of any societal group as exactly the same is really, really, really not a good thing to do, for the sake of accuracy as well as morality.
DeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteHealthline is interested in contributing a guest post to your blog. We would be open to contributing any blog that would be of interest to your readers. Healthline bloggers have been featured on a variety of sites including:
Washington Times: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tango-mind-and-emotion/2012/aug/10/how-healthy-choices-easy/
Natural News: http://www.naturalnews.com/036515_diabetes_strawberries_prevention.html
Patch.com: http://strongsville.patch.com/blog_posts/where-and-what-to-eat-in-cleveland-to-beat-the-winter-blues
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Warm Regards,
Tracy
Andy,"Why is it that every report I have seen today on food banks shows people with cigarettes on their table or people smoking outside them??"
ReplyDeleteYou know Andy,I do not smoke,I gave up 30 odd years ago.But I don't begrudge anyone a cigarette.Cigarette smoking is
addictive.Cigarette smokers pay a lot of money to the exchequer.If Governments,or people like you so hate cigarette smokers then ban the bloody things and give treatment to those who now smoke.
But people like you say,the poor should not own a TV or a computer.Which are no longer luxuries but mainstream.
I tell you what,if the poor did not have these things kids would be making a lot more trouble on the streets.Have you never heard the one about large families not having a TV.They go to bed early.
People like you hate your own pathetic life,and want everybody else to hate theirs.
I tell you what Andy,if you are on a poor wage,the less they pay the poor will mean the less they will have to pay you.
I can't resist entering the fray with my pet hobbyhorse.
ReplyDeleteBeing fat doesn't necessarily mean you are eating too much, it means that you have eaten too much. That excessive eating might have occurred years ago.
Once you have become significantly overweight (but not necessarily obese) you mess up your metabolism to the extent that you need, on average, 500 calories a day less to maintain your weight than someone who did not get fat.
Of course, you can always say that if someone is fat, it won't do them any harm to lose weight, but the reality of low income is that people skip meals for days when the bills come in, which messes more with their metabolism, or, longer term, eat unhealthy food which tends to be the cheapest. When challenged on this, I actually went round some shops in a couple of poor areas and compared the foods. If you really want to stay alive on a low income, then stuff like chips work out the cheapest way to do it.
Take JSA or assessment phase ESA. £71/week. Deduct from that phone, gas, electric, water, bus fares, stationery, an amount for everyday wear & tear such as light bulbs and batteries and clothes, the difference between LHA and your rent or the difference between IS and your mortgage payments, and how much do you actually have left for food?
Hey Matt, Dave, Mike, Lance and Andy
ReplyDeleteassuming you are all different people who just happen to write in the same way about the same things, probably from a script that Chris Grayling left before he went to the Ministry of Injustice
You are of course all correct we are all useless, lazy, cheating scroungers, fat, obese even, big brother watching slobs, the real nutters on the bus - except when we do things like go out after 6 o'clock at night, enjoy a pint with friends and try to live a reasonable life.
A few of us have just come back from walking in the Himalayas, we even threw away our crutches. We've been to the top of the mountain and seen a miracle!! Some of us are turning into work tomorrow as usual. Some are visiting the health specialists. I do not know how being on a kidney dialysis machine can be viewed as being lazy though! Similarly, having chemotherapy can be a bit of a drag i suppose!
Unlike rich people and tories we are not entitled to anything. The rich and tories seem to think they are entitled to all the country's wealth; entitled to cheat and lie at will; entitled to the best of everything regardless of how it is obtained; entitled to abuse and persecute anyone they want. We have to fight for everything. So it's a good job we have ESP - extra special privileges - like knowing your ISPs - and knowing where you live ..............
p.s. guys
Deletehow do we know you're tories - simple, there's no women!
You lot are ridiculous so basically you are saying its ok for someone to spend their handout on fags and eat from a foodbank as the duty they pay on the fags is helping HMG. Ok then have it like that why dont you pay for all the smoking related illness you generate for yourself? What do alcoholics do with their benefit, yep buy more alcohol! Whats the point?
ReplyDeleteWhat a ridiculous concept? Its no wonder this country is going to the grave if thats the feckless approach you wish to encourage.
More than likely the cigs are bootleg ones from the continent so no I doubt any duty is being paid on them.
Welfare is a £150 billion disease that will send this country to an early grave and working people are sick to the back teeth of contributing to it.
What you all want is working people to work their butt off pay all their income in tax so you can have an easy life then drop dead before they ever need to use anything that they contributed for.
we are not ridiculous by nature - unlike you - but we are all mad
DeleteWhat is your Job Mick.Tory Chairman of the local party.
DeleteSo now smokers on benefits go on a booze cruise for fags to avoid tax.You make it up as you go along you anal retentive blue boy.
You are missing the whole point.Cigarette Smoking is addictive,like a lot of drugs.
The Government will not ban them because they get a lot of revenue from them.Plus a bung from tobacco producers.
I have no problem in seeing Cigarettes Banned as long as treatment is offered to those addicted.Who often start smoking as children.
And what about the Posh Boys that smoke.Are they not a drain on the NHS.
What you want is fiscal apartheid.The rich can do as they please but the poor can go to the workhouse.
OK, Mick, show us the evidence that that is how everyone on sickness benefits spends their money. Also the evidence of where they get the extra money on top of that to pay for food, bills, rent and transport, since those things are usually paid for by the benefits.
DeleteShow us the evidence, because without it you appear to be an ordinary, bog-standard, pathetic liar.
Gosh, you are so bitter. OK, a few points for you...
ReplyDeleteSome people may use some of the money they get on cigarettes but this is generally at the expense of other things that it would generally be considered reasonable to spend on. Of course, you could reduce benefits generally by the cost of a few cigarettes and some alcohol, but this would penalise those that wish to spend their benefits on staying out of debt with their utilities and eating healthy food.
You also seem to be creating a false dichotomy between welfare and working people. The majority of welfare consists of pensions, which in the UK are contributory, i.e. people work and then they get the pension. Most housing benefit and council tax benefit goes to people who are either pensioners or in work. Working tax credits, child tax credits, child benefit, access to work, independent living fund, DLA are all benefits that are payable in work and not all are payable for people out of work.
Meanwhile, one person objecting to working their butt off to pay another person's DLA may be matched by a working person on DLA objecting to working their butt off to pay for the other person's child's free education, or a variety of other public services which they(the disabled person) never use because they cannot access them.
Sickness and disability can strike anyone. The DWP has for a number of years now carried out the Right Payment Programme under which it selects random cases plus a range of cases where it would have expected the claimant's condition to have improved and reviews their case. This shows fraud rates at less than half a percent for sickness and disability benefits.
The last two governments have attempted to cut back on sickness benefits and have unfortunately found (as a member of the government publicly said) that people are sicker than they expected.
There is also the practical problem where work is concerned. You see, the hard-working taxpayer who objects to paying benefits for sick and disabled people and thinks most of them are scroungers is also the employer who won't touch the same sick and disabled people with a bargepole or the work colleague who deeply resents working alongside people who need extra help because of the things they can't do and who need extra time off for medical appointments.
Well said Sunnybanks.
DeleteWhy is it all we ever get off these ranters is unsubstantiated allegations and opinions based on propaganda straight out of the Daily Mail?There is never a troll with any actual information.
We give them plenty of actual facts all the time but somehow they never seem to believe that the "facts" could actually be right. They have been told what to believe and somehow canot then believe the actual truth, like IB/ESA fraud is 0.3% and DLA fraud 0.5%. These are the government's own figures and they remain stubbornly low no matter how mcuh they want to find evidence of widescale abuse.
Mick thinks "welfare is a £150 billion disease"
He's been taught to think that by Cameron and Co who always cite this as the cost of "welfare spending", implying it all goes on scroungers. What he never says is that :
The biggest part of that bill by far is pensions and the most fraud is on pension credit, running at 2.3% for the last set of figures dropped a little in the latest set to I think it was 1.7%
42% of welfare spending is PENSIONS.
15% of welfare spending goes on children, in the form of child benefit and child tax credit.
JSA for the unemployed is 3%
ESA for the sick and disabled is 4% of that toal amount.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good scapegoat to have a rant at instead of going after the £13 TRILLION hidden away from the tax man in offshore bank accounts.
Just goes to show governments CAN fool some of the people ALL of the time.
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/03/budget-2012-breaking-down-the-benefits-bill/
Great post, facts and the bigots who post about ginourmous benefit bills and 'scroungers' etc are two distinct and seperate entities...
DeleteThe park bench says, "No offense taken". But it would rather not be compared to a Tory again, please.
ReplyDeleteOk another fact why are 2 million Eastern Europeans doing jobs here lazy brits wont do and should be doing?? Been asked repeatedly but everyone wont answer it.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask the lazy brit they all say they are better off on benefits. Who says work pays? I dont.
RIP GB
Eastern Europeans work here for a while because our wages are greater than theirs with exchange rates etc.
ReplyDeleteThey tend to share accommodation,work here short term,as some Brits do abroad as a working holiday.
They would not work for the low wages on a long term basis.
And why don't you go picking spuds for less than minimum wage Ed,instead of being a bigoted ignoramus parked behind your office desk firing of silly questions.Instead of WORKING.
Oh Ed , it must be awful being you
ReplyDeleteyou come on here ignoring the discussion and just post your comment do you know Matt or Dave or Andy or Lance or Mike by any chance?
I'll ask a lazy Brit the question on all our minds - why won't you do you full day's work to earn your full day's pay and stop using work time to write on here - it's called defrauding your employer?
6 September 2012 15:51
I know many Eastern Europeans who share a room with five or six other people, nobody sane could say that is acceptable even more so for someone with kids. This example is becoming as tiring as that of "if Stephen Hawkings can work than all disabled people can". At least the empathy-challenged trolls should come up with something new and original. A broken record is a lot more interesting.
Deleteanyone who thinks things will be different under a labour government better read this - from the respected black triangle
ReplyDeletehttp://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/06/no-left-turn-miliband-scoffs-at-suggestion-liam-byrne-received-a-punishment-beating-for-welfare-dependency-spiel-i-have-a-lot-of-time-for-liam-he-says/
the morality standard of the fit younger generation 45 and under have a lot to answer for and in reality have no place in a civilized society
ReplyDeletesick and disabled people have always been around but when i was a kid my parents never once said they were scroungers it would never have entered their head in the first place and that goes for all of the community i grew up in
The fit today have no place with their lack of bad social skills and how they think with regards the sick and disabled of today their minds of one of pure greed for themselves with never a thought for anyone else fit or disabled
My parents emigrated to America when I was young and I couldn't wait to get back to the UK. I hated the horribly selfish attitudes and the completely self serving culture over there. Still, even they would never treat their disabled the way Britain does. As you say, it would never even enter their heads.
Deletedavid cameron and IDS had they grown up where i lived would have had their mouths cleansed with carbolic soap if they has spoken as they do today that's for certain
ReplyDeleteWhat happened Nick was the Tory Party,aided and abetted by the LubDums,decided not to punish the Greedy Bankers that caused this mess,(remember it was a worldwide recession with bankers buying toxic debts and all that Jazz),but to punish the poor.The usual scapegoat.A bit like a bully picking on a weaker child.
ReplyDeleteThey did this via IDS,Greyling etal,using Propaganda.The same technique that Joseph Goebbels,a Nazi,used in WW2.This was aided and abetted by a right winged press.The Daily Heil etc,and cowering the BBC by threatening to privatise them if they did not bow down,bend over,for their paymasters.
So,in the future,when history is written,I hope this bunch of Gangsters,remember Cameron,"The Disabled have nothing to fear from a Conservative Government"Or his quizzling,Nick Clegg,the lying traitor.Have pages written about their despicable behaviour to the most vulnerable in society.
well whatever happened has set this country back generations
Deleteit's no wonder there are so many people who die of drugs along with rising crime high divorce etc with the fit who have minds based on a BNP MENTALITY as that is what they are as no decent conservative or labour person would think such bad thoughts on the sick and disabled
the conservatives today are in reality nothing more then BNP in disguise and labour need to be very careful as the BNP is a very narrow and simplistic way of thinking
Nick
Deletebe under no illusion, the labour party and Moribund are not going to change things. There is no hope of any radical things happening under labour - who are further right wing than any previous labour party - Moribund has clearly stated they will not be relplcaing anything the tories have set up because the country can't afford it - mean while I read today of MPs expense claims going up by 20% - Gordno Brown claiming 13000 for travel having been to the HoC only 3 times in 2 years!!!!
Democracy is finished - the only wy to change thingss is by bloody revolution.
very true labour are not far behind the BNP party but with a smile on their face
DeleteObama v Romney:this is the big question in which the west will be heading in the next presidential election
romney is like david cameron and IDS way to far right and deep down BNP
obama is similar to the labour party with a good smile and talk but with regret the usa is like the BNP so he may mean well but cant go forward as his hands are tied on what he can and cant do as big bushinesses hold the cards
So therefore you have many deaths from the drug gangs especially near the boarders with Mexico
All the time you try and run a country without a share of the wealth that the country generates for all of it's people you will stay as you are with high crime murder and all the other ills that go with living in that type of climate
in other words your politics are rubbish and those in society at the bottom being left out will need to result to the laws of the jungle in order to survive which is hardly ideal in 2012
the politics today of both the usa and the uk are far from ideal in providing an inclusive society and that's never going to change if the likes of Oxford university keep spewing out students with selfishness and greed as it's core value
Sad story but a rare one. For every one like this you probably have a million where the system is working very well, so well that you dont need to bother working.
ReplyDeleteThis country is unreal and the people on here are unreal too. I could sense an admission that the reason people here are on benefits and dont do the jobs that eastern europeans do is that a) they are better off on benefits b) they think those jobs are beneath them.
Well folks the benefits party is over so what will you do when the free money you are used to seeing rolling in every fortnight just doesnt happen anymore. Shock horror will u get a job that foreigners do? Plenty of jobs available in restaurants, hotels etc etc Why not do them?
Also why do you mislead people by saying only £90 a week etc your benefits give? Why not tell them about the added bonuses? Such as having rent paid, council tax paid, free meds, free dental etc etc These are all things WORKING people pay for yet you are used to getting it for nothing plus spending money on top. Also dont forget your £90 is tax free so WORKING people have to earn £200+ just to be the same.
Is it any wonder so many millions here thrive on benefit and are so desperate to stay on it as they would be worse off working? Why is the US already out of recession? Because their work pays not benefit. The reforms here are to ensure work pays not benefit simple as that.
Why should working people live with their parents whereas though that decide to bang a kid out at 14 get a free house with spending money etc If you cant afford kids dont have them and dont expect the rest of us to contribute to their upkeep. Your child, your problem.
Walk down any british street you will see the feckless doing nothing idling in the street. Their benefits are safe, since they have nothing to do all day they simply just wander down any street all day usually with a pushchair in tow and cig in hand.
I spoke to a travel agent the other day he said the only people that can afford holidays these days are those on benefits. Some spanish resorts wouldnt survive without those on benefits going there. he even said some people on benefits have got properties in spain and spend the whole winter there. The recent bbc show had someone on benefits for a 'bad back' who was so ill he had a yacht in the south of france.
There needs to be something more of an incentive then pride to get the idle working. Only when work pays more than benefit will people bother to get off their backside.
This country isnt about to go to the dogs it already has.
I don't know where you get this utter tripe from but it would help your cause if you could provide evidence and not sound like a tabloid reading numbskull who has never possessed an original thought in your life!
DeleteAn alternative narrative to your "working people paying tax to keep benefits scroungers" could go something like this:
Out of work benefits amount to roughly £80 billion, the amount of money British business and other assets bring into the exchequer amount to well over £100 billion - more than meeting the bill for out of work benefits. It's not only the hard-working taxpayer (of which I am included) who contributes money to the Treasury!
Here's another stat for you and your reactionary mates to mull over: Just 3.4 per cent of families in long-term receipt of benefits have four children or more.
Yet another:the majority of people claiming Housing Benefit are working.
Instead of cherry picking stories about individual scroungers and then using them as scapegoats to attack the majority of people struggling to claim and live on benefits you might be better off looking at the bigger picture.
You might use your time better by asking why so many of us work for so little within a system that is failing the majority and rewarding the minority: those being the rich who plunder and gamble and skewer our financial system, causing economic catastrophes like the recent downturn.
You might also be better off looking at the whole charade that allows the rich to get away without paying their fair dues in tax (to the tune of £40 billion plus)!
While you're at it ask yourself why the corporate media present sensationalist stories for uneducated, tabloid reading lumps to consume. You might not like the answer.
I was mystified my this too- but thought it was just me!
ReplyDeleteSome of the comments are appalling, but it is a sure sign that the right is running scared. Some arguments are too stupid for words, such as the only people going on holidays are people on benefits and or a pack of cigarettes can easily feed a family of 4. Which means that for less than £7 a day, £210 a month, a family of 4 can be fed. It is interesting that so many negative comments are suddenly piling on your blog, Sue, it has to mean that you are becoming dangerous. It is the ransom of success, it does not mean that it is acceptable, but it is a by-product of a very successful campaign to expose what this government is up to. And I am sure this campaign is orchestrated.
ReplyDeleteAnita Bellows