Off Topic The QPR Not 606 Rolling Election Poll

Lib Dems policy mate, they nicked it. UKIP promising £13,000, Labour a 10p starting rate. Take your pick.

 

The Tories are promising all kinds of stuff they know they can't pay for, Col.

 

Ok. Not Labour!!

I actually don't care if it was the Lib Dems' idea initially. The parties nick each other's ideas all the time.
As it happens, the Lib Dems have gone up in my estimations since they've had to share power. Tuition fees aside, they seem to have grown up and actually have helped keep the Tories towards the centre ground. I'd settle for that again.

 

I actually think they all are mate, with the exception of UKIP, who have actually had their costings verified by an independent company.

 

Don't you mean the centre ground of far right and far far right? They are imposing policies and cuts that Thatcher wouldn't have even dreamed of.

 

Er no, I don't.

 

So you think the policies being imposed by the current coalition government fall into the centre of political thinking?

 

Guess what, me too. Or Lib-Lab. Though I can't stand Vince Cable I think they have done ok. Here's hoping they somehow hold on to 30 plus of their seats. Sadly it's a straight Tory-Labour race where I live, so I can't really help.

 

The Lib Dems are on course for decimation at the polls. The antics of Clegg at the last election are still fresh in people minds and until he leaves the political arena he is a liability to the party.

 

When it comes to unemployment figures, I wouldn't trust the figures at all. They come from the DWP. Iain Duncan Smith is about a trustworthy as a fox in a chicken coup. His stewardship of the DWP is appalling. I'm by no means a left wing minded person but he cannot be trusted. I fully back the idea of making sure those that can work should work but he really does have blood on his hands. The use of sanctions by the DWP has been so morally repugnant. The number of people with genuine need that are being left by the wayside is just immoral. The numbers having to use food banks and being pushed into the payday lenders have rocketed thanks to him and his policies. He is a man of smoke and mirrors and it is him alone that will make me not vote conservative for the first time in my life.

 

Nice one Banksy.....

 

UKIP are just on the bandwagon, and the 10p tax rate ended up costing us money which is why Labour backtracked on it last time round., They see it merely as a soundbyte and will never introduce it. In other words - they are lying.

 

Here's another Banksy, from Clacton before they had the by election UKIP won.


The council thought it was racist, so erased it. Sometimes I despair.

 

It's making mid-pages of some newspapers today, but not front page. I've no problem that the union comments on what seems to be a local problem in this hospital. But the BBC representing it as a national problem and having the union comment on it exclusively, is divisive and unhelpful imho. If it's a top BBC headline, then Ministers, including Shadow, should be invited to comment.

 

As I understand it, the figures come from the Office for National Statistics which is non-ministerial and reports directly to Parliament. Even Labour are welcoming the figures (with caveats that the figures include 1.3m people who work part time but would like to work full time). Stan pointed out yesterday Robert Peston's comments in support of the Coalition's employment record (I'm sure you know Peston is BBC and not a right winger), and it's interesting to see his blog. I set out relevant parts below (taken from the BBC website).

The Big Question for the electorate will be - will things improve still further under the old-style socialism that the SNP wants to bring in by teaming up with Labour? If you think they might, take a look at France under left-of-centre, President Hollande.

"Analysis by economic editor Robert Peston

David Cameron may look at today's stats on unemployment and wonder why on earth his party is only neck-and-neck with Labour in the opinion polls, and not benefiting from record employment levels and a significant rise in inflation-adjusted pay.

Probably the most interesting stat for me was that regular pay - excluding bonuses - saw a 2.2% increase in February and a 1.8% rise in the three months to Feb. And for the first time since serious records began, that headline rise is the real rise - because CPI inflation is 0%.

It is striking that fears of employers significantly shrinking pay rises with the disappearance of inflation have not materialised: there is no sign in the UK of so-called bad deflation.

Read Robert's full blog

Every new job, he said, was "giving families security, putting food on tables and helping people out of poverty".

"We are on the cusp of something special in our country: full employment, a job for everyone who wants one, if we stick to the plan, we can reach it," he said, claiming that Labour would put that at risk.

The PM has also been buoyed by remarks by International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde praising the strength of the UK recovery compared with the rest of the European Union.

Speaking in Washington at the organisation's spring conference, Ms Lagarde said the UK's strategy was "delivering results" and compared to the growth rates of other EU countries "it's obvious what's happening in the UK has worked".

The Tories' coalition partners are also claiming credit.

Liberal Democrat and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: "With record numbers of people in work and the highest employment rate ever, people can see the difference Lib Dems have made in government.

"The balance, common sense, fairness and financial discipline praised by the IMF today are the things we have brought to government."

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna welcomed the fall in unemployment, saying it was a "huge issue".

But he accused the Conservatives of ignoring "the fact that 1.3 million people are working part-time at the moment who would like to be working full-time".

"They ignore things like the fact that on average people are earning £1,600 less now than they were in May 2010," he added."

 

So explain the rise of the use of food banks, the increase in payday lending. As for the use of sanctions, I'll try and get figures together. You may well be correct on the source of the figures but it still does nothing to justify the manner in which that **** has trodden all over so many people.

Unemployment is one thing but the way disabled people are being treated by that ****er is abhorrent. Not all people on benefits can work. He's stripping them of basic dignity. Like I said before, I totally agree that those who can work should, but he is also hitting those who cannot. Take a close look at ATOS and their replacement company Maximus. Both have a very sordid reputation. Many of their targets have come from the DWP directly. I have personally been through their processes as has my sister, (as we both have debilitating conditions) and I can speak from personal experience. that their treatment of the disabled is contemptuous.

 

First, I'm sorry you and your sister are in poor health, Quality, and since I don't have first hand knowledge of how benefits for the disabled have been affected, I'm interested to hear you feel the Coalition Government's treatment of the disabled has been contemptuous. Sure, not all people on benefits can work. The ideal situation is to find jobs for those that can work but aren't working (I'm not so much talking about malingerers which hopefully represent just a small proportion, but for those say, that have mental or depressive conditions and need support to help them move forward.). This should leave more money available for the remainder of disabled claimants. The genuinely disabled deserve all they get - they don't choose their condition.

As for food banks, high rents seem to be a big cause, and in London that's caused by foreign money coming into the centre because investors thinks its a safe harbour and good earner. I don't want to disrespect those that go to food banks, but I do wonder how many are taking the cheap food option while using money saved on iphones, flat screen tellies, Sky TV etc... There must be some!. It's interesting that 100 years ago, the picture of poverty was a shoeless child that was underweight. Now, experts will tell you that a child in poverty will be overweight because of a poor, often junk food, diet.

 

I fully sympathise with your situation. Your ire, however, is (at least) partially misplaced.

The reason that clampdowns on whether benefits are truly needed is down to the many many benefit cheats in this country. If they didn't screw the taxpayer out of many thousands of pounds that they do not deserve, there would not be the need to try and find them. Unfortunately, the best way to find them is to check everybody on benefit, because there's no magic litmus test. And people like yourself whose condition may not be immediately apparent will come under greater scrutiny. That's not the way it should be, and I do feel for you. But sadly, because of the culture of benefit cheats in this country it's the way it is. A debilitating condition is fairly simple to fake, and only proper scrutiny will weed out the minority that are making life so tough for everyone who really needs the assistance. The alternative is the open-door, open-house policy adopted previously by Labour and which has led to the point we are now at.

 

Thanks Goldhawk, we are coping. (Just)

The use of sanctions on someone that has quite clearly got a condition that effect their ability to work is contemptuous in my mind. There are numerous cases of this happening. I completely agree the malingerers need to be weeded out but the way in which IDS has rolled out his policies has directly led to many disabled people being lumped in with the malingerers. The mental health of those who are already at a low ebb are just being pushed further under. Some of which just cannot cope and have led some to commit suicide. (Even if this has just happened once, it is one to many but the numbers are far greater than that. IDS has blood on his hand for that.)

The removal of legal aid support from assisting people to challenge the decisions of the DWP is just a disenfranchisement of justice for those who are in no position to challenge them without support. That also is treating disabled people with contempt.

I don't disagree that there maybe some that use food banks to cover wayward spending practices but there many people that are in genuine need after being sanctioned in ridiculous circumstances. I don't have figures but would wager (if I had the money to spare) that the percentage of those using food banks to cover they poor spending is a very small amount compared to those using them all together. (The use of food banks to cover poor spending is smoke and mirrors from IDS in my personal opinion. But we are all entitled to have our own opinions.) The fact he won't sit down and talk to the heads of many charities aimed at helping those in food poverty but will discuss it with the head of banks, (who have what experience of poverty exactly) symbolises his lack of understanding or unwillingness to try and understand the problem.

In regards to the diet of the poor, quite often you will find that the cheapest food is also the worst for you as it contains the poorest quality ingredients. I am fortunate the my other half is a total wizard in the kitchen and can make healthy food with little spending. (Not IDS's fault that the art of good, cheep cooking s being lost but that doesn't make it right that he should play on this to cover some of his poor choices as head of the DWP.)

Finally, the housing problems in this country are a big problem as are the energy companies. (Or should that be cartels) The Tory view on consistently trying to help first time buyers is a joke as most of the people that don't own homes never will due to the way the employers of this country exploit their work force. (Zero hours contracts etc. It has been the well documented case for years the work/home life balance I this country is so skewed in favour of the employer that it is having a detrimental effect on many.)

 

The problem is that the minority who are fakers have a better state of health from which to fight for benefits.

More vulnerable people who have had medical diagnosis get bullied by people with barely any medical expertise because they're easier targets.

Sorry to hear of your troubles Quality Passing Rules.