h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can't get political as it's against the house rules

but! lets screw the low paid and poor again, it's mandaTORY


I don't want to break the house rules (not intentionally anyway)


as a person of not of a err fit body (mind open to debate)letters from1 it's going up and 1 I will get less means = in April, I've to FIND an extra £21 minimum to pay "them" each week, to live in one of their houses

oh dear! one can't even afford a decent begging bowl now - demoted to a common plastic one

come back Guy Fawkes all is forgiven

What are you talking about?

rent and council tax going up and my "allowances" going down.
what they give with one hand, they take back with the other.

Prof, it's the same for those of us who do work: petrol, food, utility bills, council tax etc all go up but wages stay the same, so I guess we are all in the same boat.

I don't think it matters which political party is in power, we all get helixed in the end!!

MonkeyS, yep! I agree with you, my sister is a school teacher, but her job means she has to travel to various areas and she said that she's having to put 2 hours overtime in per day, just to break even on what's being paid out in running costs etc

Kea - those dependent on the state (for whatever reason, job seekers, those too ill to work etc.) are having their benefits cut but council tax and rent payments (even in council provided houses) are going up leaving a gap in the finances that those who cannot find a job or cannot DO a job or both simply cannot fill.

The intention is to save money but also to 'motivate people into work'.

Are they motivating people on disability or with young children as well?

They're thinking about doing that here. Motivating all the unemployed to go out and get those non-existent jobs.

One recommendation was to make single mothers of 14 week old babies go look for jobs

Of course they could just increase top end taxes if they wanted to make some more money Robin Hood style

Or introduce capital gains and financial transaction taxes, neither of which we have here.

Sorry, that's me getting all political.

your second sentence is correct

rob their own richvery very doubtful

bringing back Victorian standards = rich and richer, rest in the gutter = yes

It's obscene that a banker gets a 'bonus' of £14million pounds, just as it's obscene for a footballer to earn a huge amount of money for shepherding a bit of leather around the park, and being able to pay very little tax thanks to some nifty accounting.

It is also obscene that some people find the idea of work abhorrent and expect the rest of the country to pay for them.

I don't think we are too far away from those Victorian values, sadly. Even the politicos of the far left seem to be happy to accept a nice big pay packet in exchange for forgetting their core values. The gap between rich and poor will never shrink in this country because those in power are quickly corrupted by greed. Politics is financed not by the common man but by corporations, so it stands to reason that the common man is secondary when it comes to law making and justice.

I might just have to ask for a lend of that begging bowl

I'm curious about something -- and I don't know if a general question is against house rules. When folks run for office on your side of the Pond, do they are requitred to release their latest tax returns? They do in the US, if they run for President. I always find it salutary to realize that my friends who pay 22-28% income tax (middle class) are paying around 10% higher tax rates than these wealthy politicians.

Hi SpaceCadette- to be honest, I don't know, but it will be interesting to find out.