And that McCall woman who advertises shampoo and seems to get her formerly drug addicted (allegedly) fingers into just about every pie going. she is really annoying.

We do have something to be proud of in this country. It appears we are in the top league for general grumpiness and moaning - well, thank goodness for that!

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Today’s grump…. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget. Need I say any more? And I don’t smoke anymore but still know that I’m going to be worse off for it.

 

Pledging loyalty to the flag, who needs it.

When I were a lad at school we were taught that to be British was the greatest thing we could wish for. The Armada, Sir Francis Drake, Good Queen Bess, Captain Cook, Clive of India, all those red bits on the globe, all those nasty foreigners cramming people into a Black Hole in Calcutta, strange people over the channel that ate frogs and at Sunday school stories of tribes in darkest Africa that boiled and eat missionaries.

Mind you we were at war in 1942 so Germans were the most despicable of the lot, and the Italians, well they were more pitied that hated.

But we didn't have to salute the Union Jack every day, we already knew we were great, after all it was and still is GREAT Britain.

It was called history lessons in those days, I think the PC wallahs call it an excercise in xenophobia today.

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saint-spoon:

Today’s grump…. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget. Need I say any more? And I don’t smoke anymore but still know that I’m going to be worse off for it.

 

Smoke, don't drink, don't have bra...children. Going to be worse off as usual. Used to it now!

But love the comments on the beeb website. Judging by the spelling, not enough tax is being put back into education

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Carl Jervis:

saint-spoon:

Today’s grump…. The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget. Need I say any more? And I don’t smoke anymore but still know that I’m going to be worse off for it.

 

Smoke, don't drink, don't have bra...children. Going to be worse off as usual. Used to it now!

But love the comments on the beeb website. Judging by the spelling, not enough tax is being put back into education

Hmm - don't smoke, don't drink, don't have a car, don't travel by plane.....but as they have'nt made any compensation for the loss of the 10p tax band I'm still worse off. Looked at the chart this morning - those with a taxable income of £8000 will be £170 a year worse off in April - I suppose i'm lucky to be only £50 down. Those on £34,000 a year will pocket another £379 - wonderful to have the working persons friend in office is'nt it?! 

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They call us "Sad Git`s", What about the ****hole that invented shrink wrap?.

Sue, if you really earn less than £8k There's a possibility you might be entitled to a bit of Working Tax Credit. Probably not a lot but prob more than your tax loss.

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BPitW 9-10 June 2007.
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No I don't earn less than £8000, they're the ones who would suffer most, but I'm still under £15,000 which means I'm considered well below the national average - that's why I'm only £50 down. I know there are ways for those on very low wages to get more but why do they have to make everything that complicated? It seems everything available to those on low wages/pensions/benefits as complicated as possible. You know the sort of thing, pages of questions before they might consider a pensioner eligible for a bit of extra so they just give up and don't bother.
 One consequence of Brown's years seems over complication and departmental ineptitude in all things - lots of people seem to have been overpaid their family tax credits etc. which are then demanded back. Why tax credits anyway? Whatever, it's always a case of single people paying extra to give more to families. And whoever is in government it's the 'average, middle income' vote they seem to be after - not a case of Labour looking after the poor and the Tories looking after the rich as the rantings on another thread tried to indicate. I suppose all this complication and red tape means more jobs in the public sector and less on the unemployment figures!

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I took a look at the tax credit info on the CAB site - half way down it states "the credit calculation is very complicated". You can say that again! I'm not surprised so much benefit goes unclaimed if this is an example. This appears to be a whole industry in itself - plenty of work for those who provide paper forms and interpreters. You sort of feel that there must be some very simple way to ensure those who need money can get it, but if it was simple too many people would claim!

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Well, before I got ill I was the Vice Chair of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers so I have quite a lot ofopinions on our dear old welfare system.

You certainly have a point on the complication issue. However thats not a new thing, although it has increased under NuLab. But you should have a look at the enttlement conditions for National Insurance benefits ie the supposedly 'simple' non means tested kind, honestly it makes your head spin.

And there is a difference between complication in entitlement conditions and complication in the claims process. Claiming Tax Credits is pretty easy, the form isn't that long. And most other benefits are usually claimed over the phone ie somebody on the other end fills out the form for you. Pensioners also generally get a visit to tie up loose ends ie supporting info. And, in both cases, the amount of money you get at the other end is significantly more than you used to get under the previous equivalent schemes under the Tories.

The introduction of Tax Credits was a fiasco although in my opinion  this was as much due to IT problems and the culture within the Inland Revenue (as was, now HMRC) as the innate complication of the system. I was NAWRA's rep on the consultation group (the minutes of which are published on HMRC's website) and we were banging on about the issues of oerpayments for months before it hit the press and the politicians finally took notice. Prior to this HMRC saw nothing wrong in stopping someone's TCs altogether when an overpayment was identified but one of the things we pushed for (and got) were clear limits on the rate of recovery to avoid hardship. But it was a bit like getting an oil tanker to make a u-turn...

A big problem is that any government has to balance a number of different, often contradictory, demands when designing the social security system. Make it all means tested and everyone claims its a disincentive to save, make it all universal and everyone complains at the cost and the fact that 'millionaires' can claim them too. Its certainly ironic that a lot of the people who voted Tory in the 1980s when they removed the link between pensions and average earnings are probably the same people who have now reached retirement age and clamouring for it to be reinstated. And increasing Retirement Pension would mainly benefit richer pensioners with private pensions who have paid off their mortgage. At least NuLab have done the next best thing and linked the rates of the means tested Pension Credit to average earnings.

Honestly, I could type pages of this stuff and I don't want to come across as a NuLab apologist but I do believe in credit where credits due. There's a hell of a lot wrong with the system too  and I might get round to that at some point, although a lot of that is down to NuLab uncriticall adopting Tory thinking in some areas.

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BPitW 9-10 June 2007.
My website My flickr

The general conclusion seems to be that you either need to have a lot of money so you can look after yourself or have nothing so you can claim for everything. It's all the in betweeners who have just over the limits for benefits of any sort who suffer - those with a small private pension etc. And with all the talk of child poverty, what is the current level of income that qualifies as poverty level?

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sue allen:

The general conclusion seems to be that you either need to have a lot of money so you can look after yourself or have nothing so you can claim for everything. It's all the in betweeners who have just over the limits for benefits of any sort who suffer - those with a small private pension etc. And with all the talk of child poverty, what is the current level of income that qualifies as poverty level?

Your assumption is spot on Sue.

During my working life I never had the misfortune to claim anything from the state.I was lucky enough never to be out of work and consequently built up a reasonable occupational pension. I expected to pay tax on that since my contributions to it were subject to tax relief, but to my horror and disgust my State pension, which I had paid for all my working life also became subject to taxation.

I was always brought up to be self reliant, the welfare of my family was my responsibility but that I also had a social responsibility to the community at large. It sometimes became a little hard to swallow when the workshy and the malingerers seemed to be allowed to live off the state without any sanctions, but I consoled myself with the fact that they lacked any self pride and esteem.

Now I am retired I am still supporting those that have never contributed in any way to the pot, and that is the hardest of all to swallow.

As some joker once said "If I'd have known income tax was like this I'd have never signed up to it in the first place".

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
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Well, you could become an MP and claim £10,000 for a kitchen, £300 for a rug and £750 for a television. Add in taxi fares, plane fares and meals out etc. See list below:

Air conditioning unit - £299.99

Bed - £1,000.00

Bedside cabinet - £100.00

Bookcase/shelf - £200.00

Bookcase/cabinet - £500.00

Carpet - £35.00 per square metre

Carpet fitting - £6.50 per square metre

Coffee maker/machine - £100.00

Coffee table - £250.00

Dining armchairs (each) - £150.00

Dining chairs (each) - £90.00

Dining table - £600.00

Dishwasher - £375.00

Drawer chest (five) - £500.00

Dressing table - £500.00

Dry cleaning - both personal and household [items] are allowable within reasonable limits

Food mixer - £200.00

Freestanding mirror - £300.00

Fridge/freezer combi - £550.00

Gas cooker - £650.00

Hi-fi/stereo - £750.00

Installation of new bathroom - £6,335.00

Lamp table - £200.00

Nest of tables - £200.00

Recordable DVD - £270.00

Rugs (each) - £300.00

Shredder - £50.00

Sideboard - £795.00

Suite of furniture - £2,000.00

Tumble dryer - £250.00

Underlay (basic) - £6.99 per square metre

Wardrobe - £700.00

Washer dryer - £500.00

Washing machine - £350.00

Wooden flooring/carpets - £35.00 per square metre

Workstation - £150.00

I wonder how many people could stretch to that within their budgets.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
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Ah - the John Lewis list! how can the poor dears manage with such low cost items!!

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