The grumpy thread

[Guest Hooli]

I don't see why it exists at all. It's such a small amount I'd be surprised if it didn't cost more to run the system than it pays out, so by scrapping it any low earners could have a tax cut that more than covered their loss.

[michael1703]

I blame these two for "the buy to let" boom

 

[scaryoldcortina]

Bloody hell! I suggest everyone goes away to research the affects of the 1834 Poor Law (ammendment) Act, because removing the social safety net and damning the most vunerable had a significant affect on people with jobs too - wages went down and conditions got worse because everyone was so shit scared of being made unemployed and having to either beg or go into the workhouse (or starve to death).

[Mr Lobster]

I blame these two for "the buy to let" boom

I think I've just had a little 'boom' all of my own looking at that. Excuse me a minute would you.

[DodgeRover]

I lay the blame firmly on thatcher forcing the sale of council houses, if you are in a position to get a mortgage on your council place then you can buy something else and leave that place available for rental.

 

I also blame her for devastating British industry and selling off critical infrastructure to foreign powers. Fucked if I know who I'm going to vote for at the next election though, could never vote conservative but Labour seem to exist in a parallel universe to the one I'm living in. Hopefully we've got an independant standing

[scaryoldcortina]

It also didn't help that they also prevented local authorities from using the money raised from selling council housing to build more houses with.

[Craig the Princess]

It also didn't help that they also prevented local authorities from using the money raised from selling council housing to build more houses with.

Yes, that was the really spiteful bit of right to buy.

[Tamworthbay]

Bloody hell! I suggest everyone goes away to research the affects of the 1834 Poor Law (ammendment) Act, because removing the social safety net and damning the most vunerable had a significant affect on people with jobs too - wages went down and conditions got worse because everyone was so shit scared of being made unemployed and having to either beg or go into the workhouse (or starve to death).

And that is why those who abuse it are among the lowest of the lowest, I am a proud socialist who believes the world is a better place when we help each other, to those who need the most from those who have the most etc but it relies on everyone doing their bit and the system struggles when a minority exploit the system for their own benefit. What causes me the most pain is that I have seen occasions where the very systems put in place to protect incomes of the poorest by providing for their children are seen as a cash cow and the resulting children live a life of misery. In such instances the system effectively promotes child abuse. One lad who had no less than eleven siblings told me 'Dad says we need the money' when I asked him about his mum being pregnant again. I am not for one single second suggesting we should remove any aspect of the social security system and anyone who knows my posting on here will know how strongly I defend social protection but there does need to be some way to prevent a tiny minority exploiting what is there to protect all of us should we ever be unlucky enough to need it.

 

I have also seen families where every single penny goes on the kids and one family that always sticks in my mind where the Dad would pass out due to lack of food but the kids always had a meal in their bellies. He eventually found work again and I have never seen anyone happier than when he told me that.

[scaryoldcortina]

I have also seen families where every single penny goes on the kids and one family that always sticks in my mind where the Dad would pass out due to lack of food but the kids always had a meal in their bellies. He eventually found work again and I have never seen anyone happier than when he told me that.

I've been that dad. Sometime around 1998 when we had a 2 year old and 10 year old, I was out of work and my disabled wife had just had her DLA stopped because she was suddenly cured by a DSS doctor's 5 minute visit. I was self employed at the time, and it's before tax credits came in so half our income just vanished overnight. I used to feed the wife and kids and pretend I'd eaten already. It's not a place I ever want to go to again, and I'd not wish it on anyone. I would rather see 10 undeserving people get benefit than 1 who really needed it go without, the current system makes me so mad it's hard to articulate.

[Tamworthbay]

I've been that dad. Sometime around 1998 when we had a 2 year old and 10 year old, I was out of work and my disabled wife had just had her DLA stopped because she was suddenly cured by a DSS doctor's 5 minute visit. I was self employed at the time, and it's before tax credits came in so half our income just vanished overnight. I used to feed the wife and kids and pretend I'd eaten already. It's not a place I ever want to go to again, and I'd not wish it on anyone. I would rather see 10 undeserving people get benefit than 1 who really needed it go without, the current system makes me so mad it's hard to articulate.

I agree completely, but the other side is when you see kids being mentally and physically abused by parents who only had them as an 'income' it does make you think there has to be a better way. I am not sure what that other way is and I guess the reality is that however good you make a system there will always be those who find ways to abuse it. I used to get mad about it, now it's just makes me incredibly sad. On a daily basis I see the rights and benefits our fathers and their fathers before them suffered to gain for us being frittered and given away without a blink of the eye by a generation who only get upset when Facefook doesn't work. At 45 I feel decades older than some of my colleagues who just seem unbelievably shallow to me. One day they will wake up with no NHS so social security safety net and no pensions and wonder why.

[Kiltox]

The house I rent has gone up in value by nearly 20% in two years. Madness around here

 

Really want to move back to Scotland but don't think I'd be able to keep my current job even though it could be done remotely 95% of the time

[Richard]

Anybody under about 55 can forget about getting a pension, state or private, no matter how much they have contributed.

[scaryoldcortina]

Funny thing (no, not actually funny) is I know a family exactly like that. 5 kids, no control, their youngest is around the same age as my son and he and his girlfriend are already expecting their second. Not a single job between the whole lot of them but they always seem to have plenty of off-road bikes to buzz around on.

 

I still wouldn't want to see the benefit system abolished, I do think that UBI or citizen's income would be a fairer way because if you remove the link between support and unemployment no-one is dissuaded from taking a job, and the important jobs of ensuring food, heat and shelter are taken care of for everyone. Of course, you would also need to take measures to make sure rent and inflation are controlled or the better off will raise the prices to soak up all the extra money. This is why it will never happen under the tories.

[michael1703]

Agree with the above, but it wouldn't happen under labour either

[Negative Creep]

The house I rent has gone up in value by nearly 20% in two years. Madness around here

 

Really want to move back to Scotland but don't think I'd be able to keep my current job even though it could be done remotely 95% of the time

 

 

I still can't get over the fact that my Grandparent's house, which is now worth about £250k, cost them £33k back in the 50's. And that is adjusted for inflation

[doobietoo]

Because they believe in re-distributing wealth

 

Well at least that bit was correct....have you seen their wage/pension figures?

paid for by OUR taxes...... thankfully not for much longer though....

[scaryoldcortina]

Well at least that bit was correct....have you seen their wage/pension figures?

paid for by OUR taxes...... thankfully not for much longer though....

Yeah, let's spend it all on the NHS or something!

 

PS, that was sarcasm.

[BavarianRetro]

Yeah I get that. But why would they bother? There's no direct incentive for them. They might invest in Tory voting areas to keep their votes safe, but nowhere else.

Thats just nonsense. Don't be ridiculous. No government would get away with that gerrymandering and bribery of the voters. It couldn't happen.

 

Anyway, look at the infrastructure investment planned for the next ten or 20 years or so.

 

There's HS2, an extra runway for Heathrow and the Oxford/Cambridge corridor. Hardly pandering to the Tory voters is it?

[doobietoo]

Thats just nonsense. Don't be ridiculous. No government would get away with that gerrymandering and bribery of the voters. It couldn't happen.

 

Anyway, look at the infrastructure investment planned for the next ten or 20 years or so.

 

There's HS2, an extra runway for Heathrow and the Oxford/Cambridge corridor. Hardly pandering to the Tory voters is it?

 

you seem to have missed all the tory areas in the north....

[scaryoldcortina]

Yeah, but the Tories don't act in the interests of their voters, they only care what their donors think. There are always some bribes and promises at election time, and the odd bung when things look bad (Surrey referendum anyone?) but they are not out to help the majority at all. If you are in a strong labour area they don't give a wet shit what anyone thinks - My local council has been cut back harder than surrey by a long way and there is no help to be given.

 

Once you realize that then it's obvious why things are the way they are.

[Lacquer Peel]

Well at least that bit was correct....have you seen their wage/pension figures?

paid for by OUR taxes...... thankfully not for much longer though....

 

Why does your view of the EU have to be so binary? I don't agree with the excessive wages and pensions paid to MEPs(?) but the EU has done some good as well, particularly in redistributing wealth to poorer parts of the EU including parts of the UK decimated by red and blue Tories.

 

At least employees of the UK civil service and Government are paid the average wage and can expect a pension in line with an average worker... Oh...

[angle]

I still think the best way to solve the housing problem would be to limit the amount of buytolets like they do parking permits for an area. So an area of say 100 house would get 50 permits for buytolet the rest would be for people to own as their own home. Then there could be a gradual reduction in the amount of permits per year. This would return streets to being homes again. I would do a similar thing with holiday homes to stop villages being ghost towns in winter.

Not sure there's a legal way of doing that (and can't really see the Tories bringing one in either) but St Ives have just brought in policy which means that any new builds can't be used as second homes, I think now they've got it through the courts a lot of other places in Cornwall are likely to do the same.

[doobietoo]

Why does your view of the EU have to be so binary? I don't agree with the excessive wages and pensions paid to MEPs(?) but the EU has done some good as well, particularly in redistributing wealth to poorer parts of the EU including parts of the UK decimated by red and blue Tories.

 

At least employees of the UK civil service and Government are paid the average wage and can expect a pension in line with an average worker... Oh...

Because you never see big EU banners proudly shouting about how good they are at spending our money in little backwaters no one ever goes to apart from the locals, The only places you see them is on motorways, major roads and tourist attractions that many people use....Those signs always remind me of the adverts on the side of artic trailers parked in farmers fields by the side of the motorway.... as for my binary view.....pot /kettle?  

[Lacquer Peel]

I've seen the signs in backwaters in Scotland.

 

I don't believe the EU is great but handing all power to venal authoritarian Tory demagogues is worse.

[AlabamaShrimp]

This is all an interesting debate but can't it be summed up by the majority of people are bastards and only out for themselves they will always override the people that could make a difference but it's the way it's always been and as shit as that might be it isn't going to change (cynicism and sarcasm in one post!)

[cros]

It can be summed up simply- housing for lower income people needs prioritising above housing as an investment.

[AMC Rebel]

Anybody under about 55 can forget about getting a pension, state or private, no matter how much they have contributed.

Dang! I am 54

[xtriple]

Just been to the dentists again. Had my first fitting last week for my new teeth to replace the three I lost over Christmas. I said it didn't fit properly. Today, final fitting and finally stop looking like a garp toothed meth head.

 

It doesn't fit at all now!

 

Seriously like it's for someone else entirely (with a similar shaped gob granted). Much confusion, new impression taken (hate them) and I now have got to go to the tech lab to have them fitted. It seems, round here, not only can you not get a car repaired, a car sprayed, a plumber to fix a water leak without causing two more or anything else done, you can't even get a dentist to fix your gob... even at the vast prices the buggers charge!

 

Oh, and I broke my big toe right foot last night so hobbling even worse than usual. Toe looks awesome: purple and about three times the size of the other big toe.

[Lankytim]

The shite you overhear sometimes.

Sat having a coffee in McDonald's, this particular one seems to be used a lot for job interviews. I overheard the interviewer telling the young lad in his best suit how one of the previous workers had 7 weeks off when her Dad died suddenly and how she was talking the piss and they expect coworkers to be "made of sterner stuff" and how he "only booked a day off for his dads funeral"

Fucking bellend. If I heard that in an interview I'd throw my coffee over him and walk out. Is there no room at all for compassion any more?

There's a similar case at my work. Two of the Van drivers have been going out for years. His Mum is on deaths door but his other half has been told she she can't have time off when his Mum does finally move on as they can't have two drivers off at once.

Un-fucking-believable.

[andy18s]

I worked with a load of Polish agency lads on 1 place,where a father and son were part of the crew

The old man has a heart attack whilst at work,and got shipped off in an ambulance

The Polish line manager wouldn't let his lad finish to go with him....made him stay till the end of his shift as he "wasn't too bad"......English lads were in uproar and a couple of us took the lad there and then