Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Anthony Darby]

I was listening to the radio in the car the other evening. An education minister was trying to justify the removal of the £30/week EMA payments (paid to the children over 16 in the poorest families so they remain in education). He said they'd interviewed a large number of these children and 90% said they'd still go to school (or college) if the payment didn't exist, so they are cutting it and targetting the 10% who wouldn't!

[Martin Baxendale]

The situation re. housing costs is similar here, Lesley. Rentals for social housing have been pushed up to pretty much the same as market rates, so for someone unemployed with say three children needing a three or four bedroom house the total amount of benefits they get will include a very large chunk for housing costs which, if it's for rented accommodation, doesn't go into their pocket but goes straight to the local council or into the pocket of a private landlord. Market rates for rented property are very high, especially in cities, because they're been driven up by high property price rises.

And it can be difficult for single parents (of whom there are rising numbers partly due to the soaring divorce rates) to get back to work when childcare costs are so high. Many women with children find that almost everything they would earn at work would be absorbed by paying for childcare., so they'd be working just to pay someone else to bring up their children in their absence. Not an ideal situation. Trouble is we have a very fragmented society with people moving around a lot, so many people don't live near enough to other family members (e.g. granny and grandad) who in the past might have been expected to do free childcare.

Also, I think it's easy to lose touch with what things cost and how much people need to keep a family going these days. They reckon you need well over £30,000 a year coming into the household if you have two or three kids, and that on average to get that income both partners have to go out to work. The average household income quoted by the government recently is £36,000 - the average first wage being about £24,000 and the second (usually the woman's!) income being on average half of that at around £12,000. But there are a hell of a lot of people on a lot less than that. The worst off tend to be young single people who can't find work (and there's very little work around for young people in the current recession) who often have to live on something like £50 a week. And now people on disability allowances are being called in en mass for "re-assessment" by benefits staff who have apparently been told to ignore doctors' assessments on disability and make up their own (totally unqualified) minds, to try to get the benefits bill down.

The big question is, all the people that the government want to "help" back into work - where will they find jobs after a major recession and while huge job cuts are happening as a result of government spending cuts?

 

[Michael J Campbell]

Very well put Martin, although I am in a different Country the situation is almost exactly the same, the only difference here is that the Banks are robbing all the Money. Once upon a time  somebody used to Rob the odd Bank occasionally,now the Banks are robbing everybody for the next 5 years.
Some of the senior staff in one bank have gone to court looking payment of a total of 40 million in bonuses,the Government agreed but then had to back down because of a backlash from the public, the staff have now gone back to court. We await the outcome with interest as the drama continues. 

[Paddy Tobin]

As Michael said above, the bank have put Ireland into huge debt and the government are bailing them out using, among other sources, the national pension fund. So, after paying for my pension for 36 years it is now being reduced by the government to pay for someone else's stupidity and greed. And, this latest reduction is on top of two previous levies which are being deducted from my pension. Needless to say, I am not happy.

Paddy

[Arykana]

 

[Michael J Campbell]

January sales.


This bl**dy january sale lark is doing my head in..
went to boots, they don't sell boots,
went to currys, they don't sell curry,
went to selfridges, they don't sell fridges,
and that  Virgin Megastore, what a bl**dy let down that was...

[mark smyth]

I like it Michael 

[Brian Ellis]

This bl**dy january sale lark is doing my head in..
went to boots, they don't sell boots,
went to currys, they don't sell curry,
went to selfridges, they don't sell fridges,
and that  Virgin Megastore, what a bl**dy let down that was...

That appeals to me too Michael

[Paul T]