Could you live on £7.50 a day?

[vetran]

-- Frank Field

Doesn't look as though his "working with Frank field" is going too well...

yes well its so much better if we have lots of interdependent benefits granted by different organisations and then withdrawn / recalculated / reclaimed without any discussion about the claimants ability to pay.


one benefit that is adjusted according to need and has a clear set of objectives & procedures seems far more sensible than lots of different ones. We can adjust the benefits so we have limits both max & min.

[DodgyAgent]

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness"

JK Galbraith



I notice that IDS lists that he owns shares in Byotrol (who list a number of directors of other drug companies on its board) who are apparently making a loss yet seem to be winning contracts with the NHS, s'funny that especially with a possibility of the privatisation of the NHS looming...IDS is a privileged git who talks out of his rosewater smelling arse

it is interesting that personal responsibility and freedom is defined by those on the left as selfishness. The difference between the conservatives and the left is that there is no pretence from the right. Furthermore the people who create the wealth in the first place are not of the left. So selfishness is therefore only applied to people who have money presumably to give away.

then we have those on the left who's position is equally if not more one of selfishness. Firstly the left creates nothing abnd secondly when they are busy getting their hands on and distributing other peoples money they are only ever doing it to enrich themselves, their friends and their consciences. Last on their list is any genuine desire to help others.

Conservatives may be selfish but at least they are not hypocrites.

A socialist is someone who has nothing and wants to share it with everyone else.

[Zippy]

Based on a single person living in a 1 bed and getting rent and council tax paid.Have tried to find cheapest prices.

Gas and electricity - £50 per month/£11.53 per week.Minimum.
Water - £20 per month/£4.61 per week
Internet/phone - £16 per month/£3.70 per week (not essential - except, in these 'enlightened' times, it is)
TV licence - £12 per month/£2.77 per week (not essential)
Clothes - £10 per month/£2.31 per week (a bit of a guess and assumes you shop in charity shops and buy new undies/socks in a very cheap chainstore)
A new appliance or piece of furniture (e.g. fridge costing £150) every two years - £7 per month/£1.62 per week. Pray it doesn't break before you've saved for a new one.
Mobile phone - cheapest I can find is £5 per month/£1.15 per week. Needed for job interviews etc 'cos your phone package only gives you free calls after 6pm.

So that's £26.54 before you start trying to feed yourself out of your JSA/Tax credits/whatever. And I'm sure we all know how cheap food is at the moment. Forget trying to repaint your living room, replace your sheets or buy (and post!) anyone a Christmas or birthday card. Really - you can't afford it.

I have a new idea. Lets cut out the middleman. Save as much money as possible on the tax bills and spend it on the 'deserving' poor. Slip that old dear down the road a tenner for her gas or buy her some shopping, for example. For those who you deem to 'undeserving' (and, really, there are next to fook all of them) perhaps we could have coach tours around your local council estate. Say, £20 a head? £30 if you buy the optional pointy stick?

I don't hate this government for being a bunch of incompetant fookwits. I hate them for trying to blame the problems of this country on people who (mostly through bad luck) have fook all. It's a nasty, cynical attempt to deflect from the real issues (the main one being - there are NO JOBS) and I don't know how the cnts can sleep at night.

[DodgyAgent]

Based on a single person living in a 1 bed and getting rent and council tax paid.Have tried to find cheapest prices.

Gas and electricity - £50 per month/£11.53 per week.Minimum.
Water - £20 per month/£4.61 per week
Internet/phone - £16 per month/£3.70 per week (not essential - except, in these 'enlightened' times, it is)
TV licence - £12 per month/£2.77 per week (not essential)
Clothes - £10 per month/£2.31 per week (a bit of a guess and assumes you shop in charity shops and buy new undies/socks in a very cheap chainstore)
A new appliance or piece of furniture (e.g. fridge costing £150) every two years - £7 per month/£1.62 per week. Pray it doesn't break before you've saved for a new one.
Mobile phone - cheapest I can find is £5 per month/£1.15 per week. Needed for job interviews etc 'cos your phone package only gives you free calls after 6pm.

So that's £26.54 before you start trying to feed yourself out of your JSA/Tax credits/whatever. And I'm sure we all know how cheap food is at the moment. Forget trying to repaint your living room, replace your sheets or buy (and post!) anyone a Christmas or birthday card. Really - you can't afford it.

I have a new idea. Lets cut out the middleman. Save as much money as possible on the tax bills and spend it on the 'deserving' poor. Slip that old dear down the road a tenner for her gas or buy her some shopping, for example. For those who you deem to 'undeserving' (and, really, there are next to fook all of them) perhaps we could have coach tours around your local council estate. Say, £20 a head? £30 if you buy the optional pointy stick?

I don't hate this government for being a bunch of incompetant fookwits. I hate them for trying to blame the problems of this country on people who (mostly through bad luck) have fook all. It's a nasty, cynical attempt to deflect from the real issues (the main one being - there are NO JOBS) and I don't know how the cnts can sleep at night.

The trouble with welfare reform is distinguishing between the deserving and those who are undeserving. I am afraid that by bringing in an "old lady" to the equation you are adding to the confusion. First of all "old people" are pensioners so they are not the same part of the welfare systems as those who are able to work.

Zippy please do not fall for the left wing trap.

The same applies to the NHS. The reason we hear so many stories of it failing is because someone trumps up anecdotes (that are perfectly fair) of good work that are then used to shut up any challenge to what the NHS does.

You can call the government what you like but they are not the ones to have increased and presided over the huge welfare bill that is crippling the economy

This country needs to get everyone who can work into work (which in my view is all but the over 75s and the terminally ill) and to change the culture and attitude to work.

There are plenty of jobs it is just that under labour we do not prepare people to either want or be suitable for them. As ever it is the Tories who are cleaning up the mess that labour have created.

i think you have a cheek to expect the tories within 3-4 years with the shackle of a left wing coalition party to sort the mess out.

[vetran]

Again & Again we go back to the Polish etc being able to get jobs and survive just above or below benefit values.

compare that with people getting £100K for housing benefit.

[DodgyAgent]

Again & Again we go back to the Polish etc being able to get jobs and survive just above or below benefit values.

compare that with people getting £100K for housing benefit.

If you go to any of the fast food chains they are all being staffed by Italians, Greeks, Spaniards as well as Eastern Europeans - very few Brits,

[OwlHoot]

Then the 'jobs' that exist in the UK don't pay enough, why should the tax payer subsidise firms that are either greedy of not viable.

Often it's greedy buyers (private and Government), choosing the cheapest goods regardless of quality, who make the companies unviable in the first place.

[VectraMan]

Again & Again we go back to the Polish etc being able to get jobs and survive just above or below benefit values.

compare that with people getting £100K for housing benefit.

Probably because the Polish are willing to live cheaper - shared houses etc. We probably all did it as students; I remember my grant was £2150 in 1989 for the whole year, but I lived in a cheap shared house and lived with my parents at the holidays to save money, as did most. In poorer countries people live with their parents much longer. Here every 18 year old without an income thinks they're entitled to get their own council flat.

[vetran]

Probably because the Polish are willing to live cheaper - shared houses etc. We probably all did it as students; I remember my grant was £2150 in 1989 for the whole year, but I lived in a cheap shared house and lived with my parents at the holidays to save money, as did most. In poorer countries people live with their parents much longer. Here every 18 year old without an income thinks they're entitled to get their own council flat.

This.

[SantaClaus]

Completely agree with Darmstadt... the govt. is running a blame game to whip the people into a frenzy and believe that every person on benefits is a lazy, feckless scrounger.

It's very easy to blame the poorest and powerless in society because they have no voice. It is the govt's fault for believing the banks are "too big to fail", selling of our industry and utilities and leaving us with sky-high commodity prices, pushing up everyone's bills.

Don't get me started on how the banks use debt to entrap us for the rest of our lives. The whole banking system relies on the vulnerable being in debt. And if you don't believe that, ask why savers are being robbed in Cyprus and not bond holders?