Friday 29 March 2013

A TALE OF ONE CITY, AND THE REST OF THE UK


I was amused by this opinion piece in the Mirror, written by Brian Reade, and on the subject of the Bedroom tax, and just what this government of rich boys is doing to one class of people (theirs), compared with another class (definitely no one they have ever met)
Apparently we have agreed to pay the new governor of the Bank of Britain, no, sorry, England, along with his salary of nearly £900,000 a year (didn't Eric Pickles get himself in a strop about people in public service earning more that the prime minister?), £5,000 a week housing allowance
No wonder they have had to reduce everyone else's entitlement.
It appears that George Osborne has been able to surmount the immigration laws which say that you can only employ a foreigner (from outside of the European Economic Area) if no one within the EEA can do, or is willing to do, the job. So, out of the 500 million plus people from all of Europe, including, in London some of the highest paid bankers in the world, there is no one, who can run the bank of Bri, England.
Amazing! Well, enjoy Mr Reade's comments. He's far funnier than I am.
A vampire on a week-long bender would not have as much blood as currently leaks from my heart at the plight of Diana Carney.
The wife of the next Bank of England Governor says her family are struggling to afford a home in London as they relocate from Canada, despite her millionaire hubby’s £874,000-a-year salary.
She blames those pesky French tax emigres for taking up all the “suitable homes” in our capital, and she doesn’t know where to turn. Sacre bleu!
Maybe we should organise a whip-round? No, hang on, we’ve already done that by agreeing to give the Carneys a £5,000-a-week housing allowance.
So maybe she should have a word with the family friend in his 40s I was talking to this week, who, like 660,000 others, is sinking under a cloud of fear, panic and depression at the bedroom tax which kicks in on Monday.
He’s been out of work for two years, and despite a daily search, can’t (like Mrs Carney in a Mayfair estate agency) find anything suitable.
Since his mother died, he lives alone, and although he’s asked to be moved into a smaller housing association property, none is available.
So he faces the prospect of moving many miles away from where he’s lived all his life, going into sheltered accommodation with pensioners, or seeing his benefit slashed from £70 a week to £52.
Like more than 80% of everyone affected by the bedroom tax, he has no viable alternative but to stay put and instead of crawling along the breadline, sink below it.
And there are many, disabled people especially, who are worse off than him.
There couldn’t be a worse time to do this to the poor.
The lack of housing in Britain has rarely been as stark, and the jobless situation in many towns and cities where the public sector is being slashed has rarely been as bleak.
The Tories know this. Yet still they push through this vicious attack on the most vulnerable people, with slavering lips.
Hoping the odd leaked story to the Press about a jobless mother of eight living in a mansion will make the electorate believe that’s the norm and give them votes for hammering the spongers.
But what they’re really pushing is desperate people into homelessness, food banks, loan sharks, crime, mental illness and suicide.
Contrast the gravity of their housing anguish with Mrs Carney’s and you’ll see we truly do live in Dickensian times.
It’s still a Tale Of Two Cities. The few who work in the City of London are rewarded for their failure and propped up by a gold-plated safety blanket.
The jobless masses in other ­cities are human collateral in an ­ideological war they never asked for, and they are powerless to fight back in it.
There are 2.5 million people on the dole, many made jobless through a banker-induced depression.
Yet there are currently 770 known bankers in the UK earning more than £1 million a year.
The reckless who gambled with your money and mis-sold insurance which resulted in billions being stolen from hard-working people prosper, while those at the bottom perish.
We call this a Christian country. But maybe we should ask this Easter why we don’t put that philosophy into action.
Because we can crucify those at the top as much as we like but they always seem to rise up from the dead.
Meanwhile the poor, as the Bible says, will always be with us.
And from Monday we’ll ensure many are considerably poorer.

39 comments:

  1. I have made comments about the degrading and insulting bedroom tax, work fare and other despicable attacks by the LabLibCon party on the ill, infirm, disabled, poor, unemployed, elderly, low paid etc and I'll repeat it here.

    What we are witnessing is a return to the 18th Century, a time when the rich were very rich and the poor were very poor. In my view it is the aim of Cameron and his LabLibCon cohorts to return to this time in history, a time when the poor can be run into the ground whilst the rich sup from the plate of plenty whilst throwing the occasional scrap to the poor.

    These so called "intellectuals" swan about the country telling anyone who will listen how dire the country is in yet at the same time they award themselves and their mates massive pay awards and bonuses and we, the poor, are just supposed to sit back say "how very nice" and get on with our suffering. Well in my view the worm is beginning to turn. The bedroom tax and work fare "programmes" are the last straw in my view. I would not be surprised to see riots across the country this year as a direct result of the LabLibCon party's plans to continually attack the poor etc.

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    1. Yep, it does look like that doesn't it. All this modernity and loss of privilege for the privileged classes was too much for th likes of this kind of Tory party to cope with.

      I mean if a chap's parents sent a chap to Eton and then on to Oxford, a chap's parents have the right to see a decent return for that kind of outlay..don't ya know. what!

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  2. The boss of Barclays just got awarded an £8m bonus. The banking system would have been reset to zero if taxpayers hadn't bailed them out with £400Bn. Yet they're 'saving' just £60m with this tax.
    In reality it will cost more to rehouse people in private accommodation so it's obviously a political stunt rather than a serious attempt at cutting the welfare budget.
    Labour would have done the same thing as they started the process with private accommodation benefit payments and haven't said they would sack the bedroom tax in social accommodation benefit payments.
    Watch out for the BBC claiming it's all the fault of the SNP for not 'finding' the money to cover the costs of the London bedroom tax.

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    1. It always amazes me all the s**** we heard from Broon the Loon, Darling the marling and others about Iceland back in 2008. Yet here we are 5 years later with the UK banking system dragging the UK to the edge of the precipice whilst Iceland have sorted out their banks, let the big banks fail and saved the Savings banks, and IMPRISONED the faulty bankers.

      This begs the question, "who is the dumbest of the dumb dumbos now?" I don't think it is Iceland by the way. :LOL:

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    2. Monty: I think that the Labour Party has already blamed the SNP for not legislating against the bedroom tac, perhaps not understanding that the Scottish Government cannot legislate to cancel UK legislation.

      The SNP as a party has decided that, where they have the power to do it, they will not evict people who genuinely cannot pay the bedroom tax. Labour has not made any such commitment to not evict. They have voted (against the SNP) to evict the poorest people from their houses, knowing that they will be responsible for finding them other accommodation, at huge cost... Clearly the Tory/Liberal party vote for evictions.

      We should also note that the Scottish Government has made good the shortfall in money from the DWP, due to the 10% decrease in the amount available to councils for whatever they call the rebates system now.

      The BBC is simply the press office of the Labour Party in Scotland.

      Arbroath: Iceland is a democracy. It has no nobles, no aristocrats, no titles. Everyone is equal and they have PR.

      Of course it is small enough that the people's wishes actually count with the government. MPs and ministers shop in the same shops, take the same buses and sit in the same seats in the cinema.

      They wouldn't dare disrespect the wishes of the people.

      Oh to be Icelandic.

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    3. Of course THAT is the reason "they" don't want us to go Independent. We will become a small country and our politicians will have to rub shoulders with the poor, the disabled etc and we can NOT have that happening now can we?

      I agree, oh to Icelandic! at least we'd have our own FULL parliament that had OUR best interests at heart!

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    4. Arbroath..yes didn't Gordon declare Iceland a terror state or something ?
      We will also have to face our day of reckoning over our debts and can't keep putting the day off with money printing and zero interest and theft of deposits etc.

      tris..yes Labour are guilty by their silence and will use the bedroom tax to beat the SNP via their BBC studios.
      I watched FM questions the other day and it was just a talking shop. Firstly about bee pesticides...EU competence. Bedroom tax...London competence. Naughty tweets....incompetence :)
      Only with an independent country outside of the EU will we be able to control our own lives.

      Delete

  3. Arbroath1320 says:
    29 March, 2013 at 3:27 pm

    Oops!

    Sorry for going off topic, but I’ve just written to Electoral Commission to complain about the use of the names Scottish Labour party, Scottish Liberal Democrat party and Scottish Conservative party. Having checked the Electoral Commission website I’ve found none of these parties are registered so in my humblest of humble opinions none of these names can be used. I think it is only fair and just that the political parties in Scotland use their correct names and not ones that lead to confusion amongst the electorate.

    Just doing my wee bit for the upcoming fight you understand! :lol:

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    1. Bravo. Dubbieside is our resident expert on these matters. He's a real whiz with what is a legal entity and what is not. Hope he's reading this.

      As far as I remember from what he said, you're bang on there. they don't exist as parties.

      It's just the London Party branch office.

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    2. Well that's the view I took Tris. Anyone can go onto the Electoral Commission website and do a search on any political party, needless to say a search on ANY of these BIG three parties comes up EMPTY! Now I wonder what that means??? Surely it doesn't mean they do NOT exist? I mean that would be ILLEGAL would it not? :lol:

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  4. Replies
    1. I had that on file for Saturday or Sunday snaps CH... but you beat me to it... It's dead right too.

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    1. That one I hadn't seen CH, but I'm in agreement with it. If they had to do half the things we had to things would change dramatically.

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  6. Arbroath:

    Deep dusty depth of the filing cabinet for your letter and in thirty years time it may, or may not, emerge. Of course, you will not be around by then. Accidents on a lonely Highland road, top of a mountain or self-inflicted injuries under a tree>n I will, of course be suspicious but will have no proof!! You would be well advised to avoid such locations, especially with friends or spouces! Is "spouces" a word? Who knows and who cares?

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    1. Of course you may very well be right John, however there is always the old adage to fall back on....."nothing ventured nothing gained!"

      If my death at the hands of others results in a fairer and more exacting Electoral Commission then my death will not have been in vain.

      Always remember folks, should I die in a remote part of Scotland at the bottom of a ravine or somewhere even more remote always remember it was the LabLibCon party wot done it! :lol:

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    2. Eeek.. that's a cheery topic.

      But yes, others have gone before (mind I think they maybe were causing more of a problem that Arbroath is)

      Poor old Robin objected to illegal wars, and knew a thing or two about the background. His memoires would have been dynamite

      ... and that nice man gave a wee interview to the press about the fact that the dossier was a pack of lies... That would have been embarrassing and then where would Tony's congressional medal be... not round Tony's neck, that's for sure.

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    3. WHIT?

      Little old me, Arbroath 1320, causing a few problems for political parties that do not exist? Shooreley shome mishtake! :lol:

      Don't worry CH I never travel alone!

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    4. That's VERY interesting CH. We await developments with bated breath...

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    5. Better get a bulletproof vest Arbroath.

      Delete
    6. Better get a bulletproof vest Arbroath.

      How does that stop a bullet in the head? Boom boom.;)

      Delete
    7. Get a bulletproof hat as well, Arbroath!

      Delete
  7. tris


    Through early morning fog I see,
    Visions of the things to be,
    The pains that are withheld for me,
    I realize and I can see...

    That suicide is painless.
    It brings on many changes.
    And I can take or leave it if I please.

    The game of life is hard to play,
    I'm gonna lose it anyway.
    The losing card I'll someday lay,
    So this is all I have to say.

    The sword of time will pierce our skins.
    It doesn't hurt when it begins.
    But as it works its way on in,
    The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...

    A brave man once requested me,
    to answer questions that are key.
    Is it to be or not to be?
    And I replied 'Oh why ask me?'

    'Cause suicide is painless.
    It brings on many changes.
    And I can take or leave it if I please.
    ...And you can do the same thing if you please




    “There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.”
    ― Jane Austen, Emma




    Emma and Harriet make a charitable visit to a poor family near Mr. Elton’s vicarage. On the way, Harriet expresses her surprise that Emma has not married, and Emma explains her resolution to remain single. The poor family they assist engages their compassion, but soon the girls’ thoughts turn to Mr. Elton,

    A (English) Tory world writ large

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    1. There's not a lot of charity in the English Tories, Niko. That which there is very much follows the old adage Charity begins at Home!

      I do hope you are not as depressed as the Mash song suggests. As Mr Blair once said, quite incorrectly as it happens...things, can only get better.

      :) How's Taz?

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  8. Oh Niko that is so sad I don't think I could bring myself to do a wee poem in reply
    I do hope it is not an expression of your feelings

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  9. I hope not fairfor. But Niko's a sensitive soul and he's taken a bit of a battering over the last few days.

    You got friends here niko... if you ask Mr Brownlie nicely he may take you to be pub.

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  10. Don't worry fairfor all you need do is watch the movie M*A*S*H* you'll hear the song being sung during the movie, when the dentist feels he's had enough and wants to die!

    Good movie by the way! :D

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  11. For those who are not aware, that lovely Mr Foulkes is at it again!

    Rev Stu has an article about it over on wings.
    http://wingsoverscotland.com/no-stone-uncrawled/

    Talk about mutterings of a drunken madman!

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    Replies
    1. He really is a complete ass.

      I imagine he was drunk.

      Delete
  12. Arbroath
    Thanks I did not realise that was a song from a film I haven't seen a film since about 1960

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  13. Aye it turned out to be a pilot for the long running T.V. series of the same name. It is based around a Medical Army Surgical Hospital hence M*A*S*H* surprise surprise!

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  14. Well what do you know?

    Ian "I'll gie ye a doin'" Davidson has been caught out lying AGAIN!

    Rev Stu has a good piece with video evidence on his site.

    www.wingsoverscotland.com/ian-davidson-is-a-liar/

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    1. Well, I never.

      Thanks for pointing that out, Arbroath.

      I had blamed him for abstaining, but someone pointed out to me that he had voted against... I just can't remember who it was...

      But the Hansard version is hard to disbelieve.

      Delete
    2. Just found it Arbroath...

      It was Boorach who said that Davidson had voted with the SNP.

      I dunno where he got that information though.

      Calling Boorach... Are you there?

      Help us solve this mystery please :)

      Delete
  15. Aye I know but Hansard has it there in black and white. Wonder how Davidson will explain this case of lying to save one's earse in the future? Oops I forgot he will NEVER be questioned about this bout of lying to the electorate will he,........or will he?

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    1. Well, he certainly should be...

      But who's going to do it?

      BBC Scotland?

      Huh.

      We'd be a likely to get some common sense out of George ffoulkes as that...

      Delete
    2. Now there's a thought. Get the anti Labour PRO SNP BBC to carry out an interview with him about his "memory loss!"

      Does George Foulkes DO common sense, I've never noticed myself!

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