Rich beyond Money

It’s Christmas time and far too many families are having to rely on foodbanks to get them through, because they are having to choose between two necessities – food or warmth.  As if this isn’t bad enough they are labelled with the word ‘poor’.

In the Evening Post tonight there’s an article which is headed ‘poor take-up of flu jabs’ and children who are not good at exams are sometimes reported as being ‘poor achievers’.  I’m sure there are plenty more examples that I could come up with but you get the picture.

So I want to start a campaign to stop using the word ‘poor’ when describing those who don’t have much money.  My Dad never did but he was one of the ‘richest’ men I’ve ever met – great talent just never got paid for it.  

We have to end this awful trait of automatically aligning monetary wealth with worthiness.  And if you need proof as to why, just look at the cabinet!

Les

HOGGOF – Have one gripe, get one free ; The Sequel

When is a solution not a solution?

My first gripe is continuing the theme of a previous blog on why you shouldn’t do something because it only works on one level but not on another.  Confused?  Let me explain …

Apparently 200 elderly (today's Daily Mirror) will die of cold each day this winter – that’s nearly 75000!  The cynic in me (which grows daily) reckons that this ConDem government are quite satisfied with this as it will go some way to solving the rising age population. 

So back to my point – you don’t solve this problem by in effect killing people.  On paper it works, but in reality it is totally utterly completely awfully & morally WRONG!

And secondly …

Who on earth picked this Sue Lewis, (again today's Daily Mirror) new lead of Financial Services Consumer Panel?!  Obviously somebody who was having an off day, or someone just as totally blinkered as she is when it comes to Payday Loan companies.  Up to a point, when she likens a payday loan to using a credit card , I can see where she is coming from, as there are a few people who are able to use them like this.  But it’s only a few.  Lets’ be clear here – if it weren’t for the thousands who get dragged into rollover loans, and get into deeper and deeper debt, the likes of ****a wouldn’t make any money.  The ConDems austerity measures have led directly to the boom in ‘business’ for these companies as they are allowed to benefit out of the misfortune of others.  They are there solely to make shedloads of money.

Credit Unions, on the other hand, are there – in providing loans at decent rates, with no hidden costs, no tie-in to rollover loans, and free life insurance – solely to help people help each other.

‘So what’s the catch’
I hear you ask?  
Well, they don’t turn round and give you the money straight away.  Instead they help you check that you have done your sums right and can afford the loan repayments so you don’t get into debt. 
Not really a catch, then.
‘There must be something’ you continue.  ‘What else?’ 
Oh yes, they also help you to save money by insisting you pay money in on a regular basis, like £1 (yes that’s right) a week.  The idea is that in future you wont need to go elsewhere and take on loans at extortionate rates of interest, and rack up horrendous debt. 
So that’s not really a catch either. 
‘So just why are they doing all this for me?’ 
Simple, because you are also doing the same for them. 

Think about it!

Les

HOGGOF (Have one gripe, get one free!)

First gripe ... maybe it’s naive of me but I do find it very disappointing that the Lib Dems have to tell lies in their Focus leaflets.  So I’ve been asking myself why.
Unfortunately once something is stated as a fact very few will ever know that it’s not true, and if you try to challenge it, you often come across as being petty and unconvincing!  This kind of thing happens everywhere, where ‘you’ are actually in the right and ‘they’ are in the wrong.  Like when a kid bullies another but if they try and fight back they usually get told off as well as.  And the newspaper that prints a misleading and defamatory headline on the front page, with an apology next day if you’re lucky, on page 96 in very small letters. 
So very unfair – but so very common.  At least I have answered my question – the Lib Dems do it because like everyone else they can! 

Second gripe ... more on an observation really (and one that I you might not like!) but I actually believe there are some decent Tories, even rich ones – I just don’t agree with their politics.  But – and this is a big, Huge, MASSIVE But – they are certainly few and far between, and most definitely extinct from the UK cabinet!

Les

Jobs or Benefits? Silly question!

I can be a bit thick sometimes – I believe it’s called being ‘tup’ round these parts.  But perhaps I’m doing myself a bit of an injustice.  Maybe you are the same - for ages you know something but you don’t really KNOW it, and then suddenly out of the blue it clicks.

Ever since the coalition got in, like every fairminded person I’ve been anti the attack on people who are on benefits.  Yes of course there are the odd ones who do cheat the system, but as I’ve said before there are thousands upon thousands having who have no choice.

The Tories (with their little LapdogDems following them) have created division between what they have called strivers and skivers – one of the oldest political tricks in the book  So they decide that the benefits bill is too high and IDS gets the task of putting forward a plan to reduce it.  He comes up with one which basically means the innocent poor end up paying for the guilty rich. 

Yes, I know you know all this but I’m getting there!  This morning I had that Eureka moment – creating jobs or cutting benefits?  ACHIEVE BOTH!!!!  More jobs means less on benefits – the simplicity is intoxicating.

So why aren’t the government doing this?

Answers on a postcard …

Les

Austerity can work?

Read this article the other week which suggested that austerity can work if you stick to it.  But of course just because something works it doesn’t mean to say that it is the best option.

For example …

You’ve got a raging toothache that just wont budge.  It would certainly work but I’m pretty sure you would look for an alternative to getting your head chopped off.

Or you don’t like the house you live in.  It’s one answer but also extremely unlikely you’d bulldoze it to the ground and build a new one, rather than just moving to one you did like.

Or you are really struggling to save money.  Again it’s a solution but I doubt you would get rid of a kid or two to achieve this.

These are perhaps somewhat extreme but I think you get my drift.

Les

PS I noticed that, surprise surprise, the bunch of hypocrites quoted in the article didn’t actually mention who would be on the austerity receiving end …

Black Day Number Two

And tomorrow yet another black day for politics.

I have three questions …

How can this government be getting away with taking money from people already on the breadline whilst the cost of living just keeps going up?

How can this government be getting away with giving money to people who already have plenty and will probably just squirrel it away in some offshore account so it wont even benefit the economy anyway?

And I cannot quite understand that all the e-mails I’ve received over the last few months from the Labour Party are full of the message but with no feelings – no anger, no outrage.  Don’t know about you but I’m brimful of both at all this – it’s wrong, wrong and more WRONG!  So my last question is has anyone got any ideas how we can get this government gone?!

Les

Like Mother Like Son

What a black day for politics.

Today Robbing Hoodies Cameron & Osborne impose the Bedroom Tax, where thousands of council & housing association tenants will have their housing benefit reduced for apparently having at least one ‘spare’ bedroom.  I say ‘apparently’ as many have a valid use for their ‘spare’ which this miserable government have failed to take into account.

Over the last year or more the ConDem government have been playing the divide & rule con trick inferring that those on benefits are workshy ‘skivers’. They have particularly aimed this at other families who are not entitled to anything themselves yet are also going through hard times.  And what a very clever trick it is too, as of course there are those who do cheat the system, which the newspaper always delight in reminding us. 

But this trick is also wickedly unjust.

For every benefit fraudster there are THOUSANDS who only survive because of the state help they get.  They would like to work but as we all know there are simply not enough jobs – don’t forget this ConDem government got rid of loads wrongly assuming the private sector would be able to replace them.  And of course there are all those who are physically unable to be in paid employment, despite the efforts of the French company ATOS to declare people fit to work – these decisions have been successfully challenged nearly every time but unfortunately not before the person’s health has deteriorated even more.

This blog has been by far the most difficult I have ever written.  I cannot adequately put into words the anger & despair I really feel on behalf of those who through no fault of their own will be suffering even more from today.  Before too long there will be blood on the hands of Cameron & Osborne because many will NOT be able to survive any longer.

Cameron once said “we are all in this together”.  For sure God knows we are not!

Les

No time for sleeping

The Bedroom Tax is wrong.  All of Labour knows it, together with most Lib Dems and I suspect an awful lot of Tories too.

So I have two questions …

why is it being implemented?  and

how many spare bedrooms do the cabinet have?!

Les

Rich v Poor

Like all important messages I feel I need to add my voice in reiterating what so many socialists are currently pointing out – Cameron & Co are taking from the poor and giving to the rich. 

Some ie Tories will argue that they can do so because they ‘won’ the last election.  That might have mandated them to tackle the economic situation but it certainly DIDN’T mandate them to do so by stealing from those most hard up.

So I want to know what the hell gives them the right to do this?!

Les

How to save money - the Tory way!

Anyone seen the list of 50 measures councils in England are being told they must carry out to save money?  Laugh?  I nearly cried – well actually my jaw dropped for so long I thought I had lockjaw!

For those of you who would like the same experience (!) just click here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/39264/50_ways_2.pdf for a link to this jolly document, entitled  ‘50 ways to save : Examples of sensible savings in local government’ put together at the behest of Eric Pickles. 

To be fair there are some things listed which I actually agree with, particularly those which apply to the upper levels in any council – use more video conferencing, avoid 1st class travel, look into supplying open source computer software etc.  But a lot of them, even when on the face of it they might seem reasonable, are going to be counterproductive eg don’t quite see how you can ‘Cut spending on … agency staff’ and ‘Introduce a recruitment freeze’.  (Am I missing something?!)

Sadly but not surprisingly many would result at diluting the pay & conditions of staff such as 'Close subsidised council canteens' and 'Hot-desking' – it’s ‘little’ things like these that may seem minor but almost certainly demoralise staff.  So in any case this won’t save money but instead will eventually add to costs through increased sick leave and staff turnover. 

And would any list compiled by Tories be complete without the obligatory good old union bashing with suggestions like 'Scrap trade union posts' and 'Charge for collecting trade union subscriptions'.

But I’ll finish the real humdinger ‘Stop translating everything into a foreign language’.  Just how well will this go down in English cities like Bradford and Leicester?  The words balloon and lead come to mind (let alone all the expletives!!)

So far this list only applies in England.  Let’s just hope & pray it doesn’t cross any borders!

Les