Thursday 14th May 2015

[rebeccariots2]

Tenant evictions reach six-year high amid rising rents and benefit cuts
Bailiffs in England and Wales evicted more than 11,000 families in the first three months of 2015, 51% higher than in same period five years ago
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/m ... nefit-cuts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The increase in the number of tenants losing their homes means 2015 is on course to break last year’s record levels. Nearly 42,000 families were evicted from rental accommodation in 2014, the highest number since records began in 2000.

Rental prices have soared in many UK cities but wages failing to keep pace with rising costs and caps to benefits have left many poorer tenants unable to make payments.

Separate figures also published on Thursday showed almost 59,000 households have had their benefits capped in the past two years. Nearly half of those families were in London, where the the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom home is £2,216.

Housing charities said the figures were a glaring reminder that many tenants were struggling to maintain a roof over their heads, and they called on the new government to do more to tackle a housing crisis in the UK.

The latest repossession statistics, published by the Ministry of Justice, reveal the highest number of evictions in a single quarter since 2009, when comparable records began, with nearly 126 families forced out every day.

Haven't heard anything about this on the news bulletins today ... wonder why? This article has graphs that hurt to look at - couldn't be a clearer correlation between the coalition government and increasing misery for tenants.

[Willow904]

Thomas Penny ‏@ThomasWPenny 4m4 minutes ago
And Mary Creagh makes it five..... http://bloom.bg/1EHVUNK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; via @business

Boom boom. Someone I might actually be able to support re the Labour leadership bid. I look forward to hearing how she is going to put her case.

I didn't know she was likely to stand. Someone who's paid their dues is always a good choice. I like her level of experience. Would definitely make an excellent PM. Can't actually think of any negatives. Does this mean we can all cheer up now? We're starting to get some real options now. The contest is coming alive. Hurrah!

[ephemerid]

I sense an air of a different kind of defeat, and tetchiness here, today (I can't put my finger on why, though). I preferred the anger - although it undoubtedly takes more energy. Maybe I'm just projecting - the weather isn't helping.

I'm still angry, Por.

Now that TCBBAC has sorted out all his MPs into where he wants them, he's starting on the rest of the minions - putting more people from his coterie, who nobody voted for, into positions of responsibility in government. I daresay they've paid enough for their reward.

What we have is - an already failed Home Secretary who will never deliver on immigration and will enact a snoopers charter; another unqualified twerp at Justice, with a very clever qualified sidekick to further erode what's left of justice for the common man; a wet fart of a prat in charge of our defence, who has zero idea about our armed forces; a slimy snide dangerous snake at the FO who wants us out of the EU; and a demented spiteful ideologue still at DWP with ministers who despise the people they are there to support as ministers.

On the Labour leadership....we can't have Ed, we can't have Dan Jarvis.
If Labour wants all those working-class votes back from wherever they went, Tory, UKIP, whatever - Umunna is no use at all.
He's Blair all over again, and I don't trust him an inch, nor do I see him as effective in debate.
Hunt carries the class baggage, which the media will not allow him to ignore. It's a shame, but there we are.
Cooper is not only Mrs.Balls, she's a Blairite too - and I am not alone in not forgiving her for Atos. Not one word of regret from her.
Kendall always seems to start off OK, then descends into soundbite waffle and is a disappointment.
Burnham would be fine if only he would nail that fucking LIE about Mid-Staffs. In every other way, he's fine.
None of the serious lefties would be tolerated - not Lavery, not McDonnell - which is a reflection on the Party as a whole.
Angela Eagle. I'd vote for her. I'd vote for Keir Starmer too.

As it is, it doesn't look as though the candidates can match Ed. I still feel that had he not been torn to shreds by the Crosby-led media campaign against him, especially the Scotland stuff, there might have been a chance for him to answer the issues people who Labour lost to the other parties were concerned about. Thanks to that, Labour has lost a man who could have been a statesman.
If Labour end up with a leader from the current candidate list - apart from Burnham with some fire in his belly - they've lost me.

[seeingclearly]

Morning Dan and tc2, yahyah, and utopiandreams.

After my very long response to Willow yesterday on the sanctions-figures-that-make-no-sense-as-usual, those of you who read it (and I hope you settled down with a flask and sandwiches...) may have noticed that the ONS claimant count figures which the government quotes do not as yet include people claiming the JSA element of UC. The ONS calculates them separately as "experimental" rather than "official" statistics.

At the last count, there were 35,600 UC single straightforward claimants on the JSA element who count as unemployed, actively seeking work, etc. like their ordinary JSA counterparts but with extra UC rules on top. They will steadily increase in number as UC gets rolled out; also slowly increasing is the number of couples making a joint claim whose status is also fairly straightforward.

Starting now, is the UC roll-out for people who work and claim tax credits being put on to UC - all new claims for tax credits in this group of people will now be for UC instead. Entitlement for TCs is based on income, and there is no "income floor" - there is a lower limit on hours worked, and to qualify a single person must be working for an employer for 30 hours a week, or be in "sustainable" self employment.

The "income floor" for one person on UC is about £12,000PA if employed and £11,000 if self-employed. The hours don't matter any more.
All the people who want to make a new claim for TCs in these circumstances must now claim UC - they will all be "mandated to the jobcentre" and required to sign a Claimant Commitment. However many hours they work.

New guidance for this describes how Jobcentres will address "low-earning behaviour". This behaviour is not going to be tolerated.

"Under-achieving" employed workers will be subject to mandatory interventions even if they can demonstrate that they are doing what the CC requires, and they will be expected to work more hours, ask for better pay, or change their job, subject to sanction.
Self-employed people must comply with the "gainful self-employment test" which is aimed at "protecting the taxpayer from those who declare themselves self-employed but whose businesses routinely generate little income" - these people will have to close down their businesses and claim UC as a JSA-type jobseeker - this is likely to cost the taxpayer more, not less.

Failure to earn £900 a month will mean that the business must close - someone earning about £800 would currently get by on a small amount of TCs and perhaps some HB/LHA; under UC they will have to shut up shop, and claim JSA and full HB/LHA entitlement.
35% of the self-employed in the UK earn less than the UC income floor. Not all of them are currently claiming TCs or other help; but we are still talking about a lot of people who will have to close down their enterprise - which they were actively encouraged by IDS to take up.

It is estimated that there will be between one and two million people affected by these UC conditions when the roll-out is complete - this could take a long time if it is restricted to new claims only; but as HMRC have issued new rules on sustainability of self-employment in what they call "preparation for UC" the switch from working for yourself to becoming a JSA/UC dependent jobseeker might happen sooner for some.

Thanks to pisspoor wages, ZHCs, short hours contracts, insecure work causing people to have to sign on and off repeatedly, plus the active promotion - until now - of Jobcentres and Work Programme providers to get people off JSA and into self-employment, there is a massive cohort of people who will be affected by this. Massive.
UC's Claimant Commitment can impose any conditions on a claimant that the Jobcentre sees fit. That covers everything from impossible numbers of jobs to be applied for, mandatory attendance for signing on daily, mandatory "training" or programmes, and compulsory unpaid work. Even if you are already working full time.

Some of the people who will be affected by this will have voted Tory. They have no idea what's coming. At least a million of them are going to be forced back on to JSA and expected to work for it; any deviation from what they have been ordered to do will result in a sanction.
IDS will attempt to hide the rising claimant count, but as it is the figures are already massaged and the real picture of employment in this country is hazy at best. Where it will show, eventually, is in tax receipts - and with less money, the Tories will....cut benefits.

Ever since this all started, when the coalition came in I have found it utterly bizarre, and when I read your clear pictures of what these measures do, I have to shake my head to clear it of my own normal perceptions. Because everything paints a picture in which normal human enterprise and engagement in life is getting stamped on and replaced by some formulaic impossibility. People don't organise like this, left to their own devices. I'm afraid I'm unable so see any long term benefit in any of it, for individuals or for us as a nation. There seems to be a coordinated attempt to strip away work and opportunity, stamp out creativity, enterprise and innovation, and demolish aspiration, and it's expanding upward.

I keep coming back to a single question. To what end is this happening? And I can't see one, or not a sane one. The reducing us to a cheap labour pool one doesn't work either. Depressing wages is only part of it, you still have to keep people motivated and hungry to work, and you still have to bring the development needed so there are real jobs to do, productive work. But I can't see this happening.

In the meantime other countries know how to do this stuff ok and are thriving. It's a mess, however can anyone think this will bring any kind of progress or prosperity, it's the opposite of what's needed.

You description of how people who can't earn enough will be treated convinces me these policies are insane. I'm starting to want to know exactly who is pulling the strings, and why. There's not a single one who's an expert in their field, most aren't expert in any field at all.

I think you'll find pretty much the same thing has/is happening in the US...Depressed wages, a 3 tier health system, a lesser social safety net. Harsh conditions if you're poor.
Cameron using young US Republicans is proof enough. The Atlantic Bridge plays a big part in what the Conservatives will get up to. The only difference is they have a written constitution which is hard to muck about with. We don't have one.

Yes, I agree, and even feel the move towards somehow breaking us up, the city dates stuff plays to that as does using National government to create a stronger more repressive and intrusive state, while devolving fiscal responsibility to what at the moment are councils. But if those became regional assemblies instead hen we'd be like a mini version of the states. I always get a little frisson of foreboding when Dan Hannan rears his head because of this. And if glad you mention Atlantic Bridge because it's almost politically incorrect to do so! We never really were anything like the U.S. Before though. My brothers been there for over thirty years, when he's here a while he relaxes into being more of a Brit. The living there can be good, I know, but it can be as appalling as any third world nation too. It really seems this push you describe to get us to be some weird outpost of the U.S. Is both a kind of treason to the UK people and an affront to us as a nation. That we've been such a pushover has confused me utterly. Even in the U.S. though people somehow manage to run small businesses that wouldn't last two minutes here, every tiny town has them, I remember being baffled by how they could survive, and people were such consumers, again the way ordinary people spent money was way out of my experience. So what's happening here has some other dimension we are not seeing or naming yet. Simply because the way people live there is not transferable at all. We've got whole strata of people being pushed downwards, most not yet realising it.

It sort of odd, the two speeches from Cameron have left me feeling rather unnerved, and any opposition, including wee Nicola suddenly seems puny, the Labour candidates have no steel and no fire, and oddly I keep wondering how old this cabal were when they were recruited, keep pinching my self to see I'm awake, and thinking of all the people like Philby who never really affected things as profoundly as this.

It's been very very odd since at least 2012. Remembering the booing of Osbourn then, and how much approval it met with it's funny to be here with another five year stint ahead. Maybe left and right isn't where it's really about, perhaps something more basic is going on, like who'll be the long term winners and losers.

But for what it's worth six months ofvLabour piddling around looking for a candidate to fit the bill that the media set just isn't going to do it. Surely within the ranks there are people stronger and more resolute than that? If not, we are stuffed. We could choose by lottery, a completely random person , and they could be better.

[ephemerid]

Thomas Penny ‏@ThomasWPenny 4m4 minutes ago
And Mary Creagh makes it five..... http://bloom.bg/1EHVUNK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; via @business

Boom boom. Someone I might actually be able to support re the Labour leadership bid. I look forward to hearing how she is going to put her case.

I didn't know she was likely to stand. Someone who's paid their dues is always a good choice. I like her level of experience. Would definitely make an excellent PM. Can't actually think of any negatives. Does this mean we can all cheer up now? We're starting to get some real options now. The contest is coming alive. Hurrah!

Hah! You were posting this as I was posting my last thing - maybe, just maybe.......

Ms.Riots - I hope nobody here is surprised by this. Horrified yes, surprised, no.
I was accused of scaremongering elsewhere the other day when I said there would be more evictions. These figures show how much damage IDS and his policies have already done - it will get much worse over the next few years.

I can understand why some people felt they could not support Labour - but what I will never understand is how anyone with a synapse to call their own could have voted Tory after what they have witnessed over the past 5 years.

[rebeccariots2]

More positive news today from Wales, where we are fortunate to have Welsh Labour running the show.
Tregaron's a couple of miles up the road from me, so am even more pleased to see it.


''The Welsh Government announced today almost £6 million investment boost for the Cylch Caron project in Tregaron – with construction work expected to continue until 2018.

The project is being lead by Ceredigion Local Service Board and the plans for Cylch Caron include a range of services, from a GP surgery, community pharmacy, outpatient clinics, community nursing services to long-term nursing care and day care.

Plans include 34 flats for people who require extra care and support to remain in their own homes and six integrated health and social care places for people who no longer need to stay in hospital but require more support before they return home.''

http://www.tradesgateway.co.uk/trade-ne ... ng-trades/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pleased for you yahyah. But please bear with me when I say it's another stab at my open wound re the appalling decisions / cuts to services here. Tregaron is - would you believe it - where they say they will reprovide 'community' services and beds for us. You know how far away we are from there. How would that make you feel if you had to come to Cardigan to convalesce or die on your release from the general hospital? That's what we are fighting. I keep wanting to find the energy to write an honest piece about one of the reasons why Labour won't win around here until some serious work is put in to sort out the mess made re applying a centralisation of services approach to community services rather than just the specialist services. The services they have ripped away from here are the very ones they should have been building up .... instead we have lost local services and have to go a very long way away for hospital services. Shat on basically. I've kept a lid on it during the election campaign but I won't be from now on.

Blimey, it is not an easy drive to Tregaron for people from your area.
Had no idea what was happening down there.

& the winter before last Ceredigion council didn't grit the road via Llangeitho to Tregaron, so you take your life in your hands driving it sometimes. With cuts pressing, they may do the same again.
Not something you'd want to have to do when stressed about a loved one.

Can see why you are feeling as you are.
Things like that and the Carmarthenshire stuff make it hard to feel positive.

& it's a reminder that ones' person's positive is another person's negative.

And don't forget yahyah - this comes after being promised a new hospital, health centre, community based clinics, with beds etc etc right here to replace the existing Cardigan hospital. It was going to be built the year after I moved here - some eight years ago. We still don't have it - we don't even have the foundations down. And meanwhile they have just stripped out Cardigan hospital - and they will be selling off the prime riverside site - and buildings - for a nice sum.

Our candidate canvassed on the basis that it was clear Hywel Dda Health Board had not been good at planning services appropriate for rural communities - understatement of the century. We have hopes that the new Chief Exec - who has come from Devon and has a good record with rural services planning and provision - will bring some sanity. There's an awful lot of work to be done here though to get something delivered and to bring back any trust in the Health Board and Welsh Govt re their strategy.

The husband of one of my clients was left in Carmarthen hospital for 3 or 4 weeks longer than necessary because they had cut the community beds provision in Cardigan and there was nowhere for him to go locally. They offered places right up in north Ceredigion, Lampeter and Tenby. Can you imagine that? She refused. She rang around the local nursing homes to see if she could find a bed herself - she could and she would be happy to pay the extra amount above the allocation from the social services / NHS for a bed as it was less than the nursing home charged. She let the social worker know. 10 minutes later she got a phone call back from the social worker who she described to me as sounding 'triumphal' and 'crowing' to say that she couldn't authorise the bed as it was a different category than she considered was required and therefore out of the question, despite the client wanting to make up the difference so she could have her husband close by. Result - he stayed in Carmarthen and she visited him every third day because it's a bloody long way to drive for someone who is 75 and frail herself.

[LadyCentauria]

Thomas Penny ‏@ThomasWPenny 4m4 minutes ago
And Mary Creagh makes it five..... http://bloom.bg/1EHVUNK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; via @business

Boom boom. Someone I might actually be able to support re the Labour leadership bid. I look forward to hearing how she is going to put her case.

Blimey! If she does stand for the leadership then, since there's only one place left (although I'd rather see ten than six people in the first round!) Angela Eagle or Tristram Hunt had best get their skates on to get on the ballot. The rumour/chatter has been that Angela Eagle intends to stand in both contests (leader and deputy leader) and I don't think we've had anyone else, so far, say they'd go for Deputy – please correct me if I'm wrong about that. Perhaps Tristram (a name I've always loved, not that I'd base my vote on that) would be willing to join the deputy-leadership contest, if he chooses not to stand for leader.

Gah! David Campbell-Bannerman, talking on PM, just described Ed M as 'hard left'

Edit: formatting

[TheGrimSqueaker]

@TheGrimSqueaker

I thought I said don't answer that, TGS! Seriously I agree with what you've said of Tristram. In fact I take back my Burnham nomination who I like, but as others have said there's the Stafford Hospital baggage, or is that propaganda and lies against him? I have thought him dignified under attack but there are times when you simply shouldn't let them get away with it. Don't give my nominations any credit though, I'm not familiar with the candidates and may not immediately place them by name.

Actually I think Burnham could lance that boil effectively if he did become leader; don't forget that when Jeremy "Rhyming Slang" Hunt repeated the Mid Staffs thing in a tweet Burnham threatened him with legal action, and Hunt retreated so fast there were friction burns on the carpet. Hunt is scared of him, which is why he relies on proxy attacks through the media and through his tame trolls.

[yahyah]

Pleased for you yahyah. But please bear with me when I say it's another stab at my open wound re the appalling decisions / cuts to services here. Tregaron is - would you believe it - where they say they will reprovide 'community' services and beds for us. You know how far away we are from there. How would that make you feel if you had to come to Cardigan to convalesce or die on your release from the general hospital? That's what we are fighting. I keep wanting to find the energy to write an honest piece about one of the reasons why Labour won't win around here until some serious work is put in to sort out the mess made re applying a centralisation of services approach to community services rather than just the specialist services. The services they have ripped away from here are the very ones they should have been building up .... instead we have lost local services and have to go a very long way away for hospital services. Shat on basically. I've kept a lid on it during the election campaign but I won't be from now on.

Blimey, it is not an easy drive to Tregaron for people from your area.
Had no idea what was happening down there.

& the winter before last Ceredigion council didn't grit the road via Llangeitho to Tregaron, so you take your life in your hands driving it sometimes. With cuts pressing, they may do the same again.
Not something you'd want to have to do when stressed about a loved one.

Can see why you are feeling as you are.
Things like that and the Carmarthenshire stuff make it hard to feel positive.

& it's a reminder that ones' person's positive is another person's negative.

And don't forget yahyah - this comes after being promised a new hospital, health centre, community based clinics, with beds etc etc right here to replace the existing Cardigan hospital. It was going to be built the year after I moved here - some eight years ago. We still don't have it - we don't even have the foundations down. And meanwhile they have just stripped out Cardigan hospital - and they will be selling off the prime riverside site - and buildings - for a nice sum.

Our candidate canvassed on the basis that it was clear Hywel Dda Health Board had not been good at planning services appropriate for rural communities - understatement of the century. We have hopes that the new Chief Exec - who has come from Devon and has a good record with rural services planning and provision - will bring some sanity. There's an awful lot of work to be done here though to get something delivered and to bring back any trust in the Health Board and Welsh Govt re their strategy.

The husband of one of my clients was left in Carmarthen hospital for 3 or 4 weeks longer than necessary because they had cut the community beds provision in Cardigan and there was nowhere for him to go locally. They offered places right up in north Ceredigion, Lampeter and Tenby. Can you imagine that? She refused. She rang around the local nursing homes to see if she could find a bed herself - she could and she would be happy to pay the extra amount above the allocation from the social services / NHS for a bed as it was less than the nursing home charged. She let the social worker know. 10 minutes later she got a phone call back from the social worker who she described to me as sounding 'triumphal' and 'crowing' to say that she couldn't authorise the bed as it was a different category than she considered was required and therefore out of the question, despite the client wanting to make up the difference so she could have her husband close by. Result - he stayed in Carmarthen and she visited him every third day because it's a bloody long way to drive for someone who is 75 and frail herself.

It is worrying, particularly when one is approaching one's own twilight years.
We used to live near Cirencester, close by to Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham hospitals, and our own little hospital kept open with an A&E, it was rumoured, because of Black Spider letter Charlie to have somewhere to go if he fell off his horse.

It came home to me when my husband had his aorta screening.
If he'd needed treatment it would have been down at Swansea.
Same with some cancer patients, they end up having to be treated miles away.

Coincidentally, I've just had an email from Elin Jones, our Plaid AM and she mentions the Cardigan hospital plans, and she is in favour of the Tregaron project.

You are right though, Labour here needs to sort it out.

[PorFavor]

I sense an air of a different kind of defeat, and tetchiness here, today (I can't put my finger on why, though). I preferred the anger - although it undoubtedly takes more energy. Maybe I'm just projecting - the weather isn't helping.

I'm still angry, Por.

Now that TCBBAC has sorted out all his MPs into where he wants them, he's starting on the rest of the minions - putting more people from his coterie, who nobody voted for, into positions of responsibility in government. I daresay they've paid enough for their reward.

What we have is - an already failed Home Secretary who will never deliver on immigration and will enact a snoopers charter; another unqualified twerp at Justice, with a very clever qualified sidekick to further erode what's left of justice for the common man; a wet fart of a prat in charge of our defence, who has zero idea about our armed forces; a slimy snide dangerous snake at the FO who wants us out of the EU; and a demented spiteful ideologue still at DWP with ministers who despise the people they are there to support as ministers.

On the Labour leadership....we can't have Ed, we can't have Dan Jarvis.
If Labour wants all those working-class votes back from wherever they went, Tory, UKIP, whatever - Umunna is no use at all.
He's Blair all over again, and I don't trust him an inch, nor do I see him as effective in debate.
Hunt carries the class baggage, which the media will not allow him to ignore. It's a shame, but there we are.
Cooper is not only Mrs.Balls, she's a Blairite too - and I am not alone in not forgiving her for Atos. Not one word of regret from her.
Kendall always seems to start off OK, then descends into soundbite waffle and is a disappointment.
Burnham would be fine if only he would nail that fucking LIE about Mid-Staffs. In every other way, he's fine.
None of the serious lefties would be tolerated - not Lavery, not McDonnell - which is a reflection on the Party as a whole.
Angela Eagle. I'd vote for her. I'd vote for Keir Starmer too.

As it is, it doesn't look as though the candidates can match Ed. I still feel that had he not been torn to shreds by the Crosby-led media campaign against him, especially the Scotland stuff, there might have been a chance for him to answer the issues people who Labour lost to the other parties were concerned about. Thanks to that, Labour has lost a man who could have been a statesman.
If Labour end up with a leader from the current candidate list - apart from Burnham with some fire in his belly - they've lost me.

I couldn't have put it better myself. And, as both you and everyone else will have noticed, I didn't!

Chuka Umunna, as I reflected earlier, is someone whom I believe sneers at people like me. Probably at nearly all of us here, come to that.


Edited to add

Despair, rather than "a different kind of defeat", was probably closer to what I meant earlier. I'm heartened that you're still angry.

[rebeccariots2]

Blimey, it is not an easy drive to Tregaron for people from your area.
Had no idea what was happening down there.

& the winter before last Ceredigion council didn't grit the road via Llangeitho to Tregaron, so you take your life in your hands driving it sometimes. With cuts pressing, they may do the same again.
Not something you'd want to have to do when stressed about a loved one.

Can see why you are feeling as you are.
Things like that and the Carmarthenshire stuff make it hard to feel positive.

& it's a reminder that ones' person's positive is another person's negative.

And don't forget yahyah - this comes after being promised a new hospital, health centre, community based clinics, with beds etc etc right here to replace the existing Cardigan hospital. It was going to be built the year after I moved here - some eight years ago. We still don't have it - we don't even have the foundations down. And meanwhile they have just stripped out Cardigan hospital - and they will be selling off the prime riverside site - and buildings - for a nice sum.

Our candidate canvassed on the basis that it was clear Hywel Dda Health Board had not been good at planning services appropriate for rural communities - understatement of the century. We have hopes that the new Chief Exec - who has come from Devon and has a good record with rural services planning and provision - will bring some sanity. There's an awful lot of work to be done here though to get something delivered and to bring back any trust in the Health Board and Welsh Govt re their strategy.

The husband of one of my clients was left in Carmarthen hospital for 3 or 4 weeks longer than necessary because they had cut the community beds provision in Cardigan and there was nowhere for him to go locally. They offered places right up in north Ceredigion, Lampeter and Tenby. Can you imagine that? She refused. She rang around the local nursing homes to see if she could find a bed herself - she could and she would be happy to pay the extra amount above the allocation from the social services / NHS for a bed as it was less than the nursing home charged. She let the social worker know. 10 minutes later she got a phone call back from the social worker who she described to me as sounding 'triumphal' and 'crowing' to say that she couldn't authorise the bed as it was a different category than she considered was required and therefore out of the question, despite the client wanting to make up the difference so she could have her husband close by. Result - he stayed in Carmarthen and she visited him every third day because it's a bloody long way to drive for someone who is 75 and frail herself.

It is worrying, particularly when one is approaching one's own twilight years.
We used to live near Cirencester, close by to Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham hospitals, and our own little hospital kept open with an A&E, it was rumoured, because of Black Spider letter Charlie to have somewhere to go if he fell off his horse.

It came home to me when my husband had his aorta screening.
If he'd needed treatment it would have been down at Swansea.
Same with some cancer patients, they end up having to be treated miles away.

Coincidentally, I've just had an email from Elin Jones, our Plaid AM and she mentions the Cardigan hospital plans, and she is in favour of the Tregaron project.

You are right though, Labour here needs to sort it out.

Well she would be - it's in her neck of the woods - she's responsible for all of Ceredigion - and it is a good plan. It's just not OK to expect people from Cardigan to be able to use it rather than a local centre. Really not OK.

[ohsocynical]

Boom boom. Someone I might actually be able to support re the Labour leadership bid. I look forward to hearing how she is going to put her case.

I didn't know she was likely to stand. Someone who's paid their dues is always a good choice. I like her level of experience. Would definitely make an excellent PM. Can't actually think of any negatives. Does this mean we can all cheer up now? We're starting to get some real options now. The contest is coming alive. Hurrah!

Hah! You were posting this as I was posting my last thing - maybe, just maybe.......

Ms.Riots - I hope nobody here is surprised by this. Horrified yes, surprised, no.
I was accused of scaremongering elsewhere the other day when I said there would be more evictions. These figures show how much damage IDS and his policies have already done - it will get much worse over the next few years.

I can understand why some people felt they could not support Labour - but what I will never understand is how anyone with a synapse to call their own could have voted Tory after what they have witnessed over the past 5 years.

I honestly reckon a lot of people have had their heads up their asses for the last five years. Unless something bad has happened to them or their immediate family they have lived nice insulated lives, watched BBC news, and according to our State broadcaster believed everything in the garden is, if not lovely, not too bad.

[yahyah]

Rebecca@

Elin Jones says 'The specifications of the new hospital in Cardigan is also a decision that's awaiting the Health Minister's approval. I'll continue to press the case for investment without delay in Tregaron, Cardigan and the proposed health centre in Aberaeron

[rebeccariots2]

Rebecca@

Elin Jones says 'The specifications of the new hospital in Cardigan is also a decision that's awaiting the Health Minister's approval. I'll continue to press the case for investment without delay in Tregaron, Cardigan and the proposed health centre in Aberaeron

Yeah but the specs are wide open and crap - nothing that we were promised however many years ago. Still no beds. They took away 25 beds with no consultation. And the reprovided beds that were supposed to be commissioned from 'local' nursing and care homes clearly aren't there. I've done quite a bit of work behind the scenes over the past few months to find out what is going on ... and I'm not impressed. Sorry - you can tell from this how much I've been having to bite my lip for the past year or so.

[yahyah]

Are you having a 'dark night of the soul' about your commitment to Labour RR ?

Please don't apologise for having feelings about something that is clearly not good for the people of Cardigan.

[rebeccariots2]

Meanwhile over on LDV I've seen a comment BTL that suggests Vince Cable would be a good candidate for London mayor ...

[PorFavor]

Rebecca@

Elin Jones says 'The specifications of the new hospital in Cardigan is also a decision that's awaiting the Health Minister's approval. I'll continue to press the case for investment without delay in Tregaron, Cardigan and the proposed health centre in Aberaeron

Yeah but the specs are wide open and crap - nothing that we were promised however many years ago. Still no beds. They took away 25 beds with no consultation. And the reprovided beds that were supposed to be commissioned from 'local' nursing and care homes clearly aren't there. I've done quite a bit of work behind the scenes over the past few months to find out what is going on ... and I'm not impressed. Sorry - you can tell from this how much I've been having to bite my lip for the past year or so.

Now is the time for you to unbite that lip. A post-victory unbiting would have been better, of course, but in the absence of that - go for it.

[ohsocynical]

And don't forget yahyah - this comes after being promised a new hospital, health centre, community based clinics, with beds etc etc right here to replace the existing Cardigan hospital. It was going to be built the year after I moved here - some eight years ago. We still don't have it - we don't even have the foundations down. And meanwhile they have just stripped out Cardigan hospital - and they will be selling off the prime riverside site - and buildings - for a nice sum.

Our candidate canvassed on the basis that it was clear Hywel Dda Health Board had not been good at planning services appropriate for rural communities - understatement of the century. We have hopes that the new Chief Exec - who has come from Devon and has a good record with rural services planning and provision - will bring some sanity. There's an awful lot of work to be done here though to get something delivered and to bring back any trust in the Health Board and Welsh Govt re their strategy.

The husband of one of my clients was left in Carmarthen hospital for 3 or 4 weeks longer than necessary because they had cut the community beds provision in Cardigan and there was nowhere for him to go locally. They offered places right up in north Ceredigion, Lampeter and Tenby. Can you imagine that? She refused. She rang around the local nursing homes to see if she could find a bed herself - she could and she would be happy to pay the extra amount above the allocation from the social services / NHS for a bed as it was less than the nursing home charged. She let the social worker know. 10 minutes later she got a phone call back from the social worker who she described to me as sounding 'triumphal' and 'crowing' to say that she couldn't authorise the bed as it was a different category than she considered was required and therefore out of the question, despite the client wanting to make up the difference so she could have her husband close by. Result - he stayed in Carmarthen and she visited him every third day because it's a bloody long way to drive for someone who is 75 and frail herself.

It is worrying, particularly when one is approaching one's own twilight years.
We used to live near Cirencester, close by to Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham hospitals, and our own little hospital kept open with an A&E, it was rumoured, because of Black Spider letter Charlie to have somewhere to go if he fell off his horse.

It came home to me when my husband had his aorta screening.
If he'd needed treatment it would have been down at Swansea.
Same with some cancer patients, they end up having to be treated miles away.

Coincidentally, I've just had an email from Elin Jones, our Plaid AM and she mentions the Cardigan hospital plans, and she is in favour of the Tregaron project.

You are right though, Labour here needs to sort it out.

Well she would be - it's in her neck of the woods - she's responsible for all of Ceredigion - and it is a good plan. It's just not OK to expect people from Cardigan to be able to use it rather than a local centre. Really not OK.

Having to go miles away for specialist treatment in all fairness, is not new.
In 98 we lived in Reading. I had to go to the Middlesex in London for my heart op...It was a nightmare for Mr Ohso trying to get there and find a parking space, He was still working because he needed his holiday time for when I came home. I got to see him once.
Then they released me for home rather than my being taken back to hospital in Reading by ambulance, because they were so short on beds. He had to come to get me. He had a row with the hospital car park attendant, because I was only on my fourth day after major surgery, still in nightclothes and they expected me to go out onto the street to the multi storey car park.

Total nightmare. And we were seventeen years younger than now. I don't think we could cope with it this time.

It's one of the reasons we're returning to Reading. I don't drive and if Mr Ohso was hospitalized it would involve hours spent on buses, not to mention the expense.

[rebeccariots2]

Are you having a 'dark night of the soul' about your commitment to Labour RR ?

Please don't apologise for having feelings about something that is clearly not good for the people of Cardigan.

I don't feel particularly dark about it! I'm just very clear that with limited energy, time and money I have to channel my resources towards issues that I care very strongly about and where I feel I can make a difference - even small. If Labour goes for a leader and direction I can't muster any enthusiasm for and don't believe in ... I won't be actively doing stuff for them.

The health services stuff re North Pembs / South Ceredigion has been with me for ages. I did some work with / for our candidate about this - and he was already aware that the reprovisioning of health services in the south of the county was a similar tinder box. Ultimately - the health service issues here were probably one of the biggest factors in not getting the necessary support for him. He really did do some constructive work around the issues - and will continue to do so - but it was number one attack line in many places. The devolved / Westminster responsibilities do make it much more complex and difficult re campaigning sometimes.

[rebeccariots2]

It is worrying, particularly when one is approaching one's own twilight years.
We used to live near Cirencester, close by to Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham hospitals, and our own little hospital kept open with an A&E, it was rumoured, because of Black Spider letter Charlie to have somewhere to go if he fell off his horse.

It came home to me when my husband had his aorta screening.
If he'd needed treatment it would have been down at Swansea.
Same with some cancer patients, they end up having to be treated miles away.

Coincidentally, I've just had an email from Elin Jones, our Plaid AM and she mentions the Cardigan hospital plans, and she is in favour of the Tregaron project.

You are right though, Labour here needs to sort it out.

Well she would be - it's in her neck of the woods - she's responsible for all of Ceredigion - and it is a good plan. It's just not OK to expect people from Cardigan to be able to use it rather than a local centre. Really not OK.

Having to go miles away for specialist treatment in all fairness, is not new.
In 98 we lived in Reading. I had to go to the Middlesex in London for my heart op...It was a nightmare for Mr Ohso trying to get there and find a parking space, He was still working because he needed his holiday time for when I came home. I got to see him once.
Then they released me for home rather than my being taken back to hospital in Reading by ambulance, because they were so short on beds. He had to come to get me. He had a row with the hospital car park attendant, because I was only on my fourth day after major surgery, still in nightclothes and they expected me to go out onto the street to the multi storey car park.

Total nightmare. And we were seventeen years younger than now. I don't think we could cope with it this time.

It's one of the reasons we're returning to Reading. I don't drive and if Mr Ohso was hospitalized it would involve hours spent on buses, not to mention the expense.

My point is - and I almost want to scream it now - we're being forced to go miles and miles and miles away for non specialist services - the community services. These were the very services that were meant to be increased for us when the specialist ones got centralised. We've lost them - some of them completely - and the specialist services are moving ever further away too.

[yahyah]

Good night all.

I'll stop posting what I naively think of as good news stories.
Was just trying to cheer us up, did not mean to open sores.

[rebeccariots2]

'The moment I realised Labour lost Middle England... and my plan to win it back': MARY CREAGH launches leadership bid
Shadow international development secretary becomes fifth name in race
Says she wants to win back trust of middle class voters and Scotland

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... p-bid.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She says quite a bit more than that actually.

[rebeccariots2]

Jane Merrick ‏@janemerrick23 4m4 minutes ago
Very clever of @marycreaghmp to bust comfort zones all over + go to MailOnline

James Chapman (Mail) retweeted
Harry Cole ‏@MrHarryCole 5m5 minutes ago
Creagh launches with @MailOnline. Smart. Not the Guardian. Basically.

[gilsey]

Prof Keen thinks that 5 years of austerity is going to blow the neoliberal consensus out of the water.

http://renegadeinc.com/steve-keen-on-the-uk-elections/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the aftermath of the Conservatives’ surprise victory in the UK, Steve Keen tells us why he thinks this is a good thing: when the economy inevitably under-performs under strong austerity, with no one left to blame we will have to face the facts…

Worth listening to the beginning and end, if you haven't time for the whole thing. You have to forgive him for saying England when he means UK, though of course that may come.

[rebeccariots2]

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 3m3 minutes ago
"There are some colleagues who feel nervous talking about immigration. I certainly dont" My i/view with @MaryCreaghMP http://page.politicshome.com/uk/article ... e_dft.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

That's an interview from October 2014. Very strange to read someone's thoughts about the election, key issues, swing seats etc retrospectively. How times / prospects have changed since then.

[utopiandreams]

@TheGrimSqueaker

I thought I said don't answer that, TGS! Seriously I agree with what you've said of Tristram. In fact I take back my Burnham nomination who I like, but as others have said there's the Stafford Hospital baggage, or is that propaganda and lies against him? I have thought him dignified under attack but there are times when you simply shouldn't let them get away with it. Don't give my nominations any credit though, I'm not familiar with the candidates and may not immediately place them by name.

Actually I think Burnham could lance that boil effectively if he did become leader; don't forget that when Jeremy "Rhyming Slang" Hunt repeated the Mid Staffs thing in a tweet Burnham threatened him with legal action, and Hunt retreated so fast there were friction burns on the carpet. Hunt is scared of him, which is why he relies on proxy attacks through the media and through his tame trolls.

As I've said, TGS, I quite like him but not really knowing anything of him is just my impression. Regarding Jeremy's retreat yes he did do so pretty damn quickly, nevertheless such lies are still repeated, and in the House. Too many people believe it. Damn shame our pernicious press don't quash the lie once and for all rather than perpetuate it even if their influence even is waning.

Now we have another five years of Tory governance, I guess the rest of the Leveson Inquiry shall remain undone. What would be the point? I know he was generously rewarded but I somehow doubt Sir Brian has respect for Dave's bonkers view.

[rebeccariots2]

BBC news reporting on the judicial review brought by disabled claimants who have been left without any funds and forced to use food banks, borrow money etc to survive because their claims for PIP have been so delayed.

About two sentences. One setting out the claims by those seeking review. The second a line from the DWP that 'claims are being assessed at five times the rate they were a year ago'. It's a new programme so of course they are - and if, say, they were managing 1 a month a year ago that would mean 5 a month now - it's meaningless waffle trying to make things look not so bad.

Please let them win this judicial review. So many of these JRs have gone against what I consider very sound cases by the appellants ... please let this not be another.

[TechnicalEphemera]

Just to cheer you up a bit.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 48313.html

[LadyCentauria]

Meanwhile over on LDV I've seen a comment BTL that suggests Vince Cable would be a good candidate for London mayor ...

Oh please no Right, we need a really strong and very high profile Labour candidate – given that London seems to vote for the 'high profile' bit - viz. both Livingstone (very well known and hard-done-by over the abolition of the GLC) and Johnson (very well-known via the telly and 'really funny') - rather than much else, sadly. I wish Glenda hadn't retired, since everyone knows who she is...

[thatchersorphan]

https://twitter.com/BrickLDebates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has organised a radical left assembly - should go live on bambuser shortly - feed links will go up on @occupynn twitter

[rebeccariots2]

Kevin Maguire ‏@Kevin_Maguire 22s22 seconds ago
Mary Creagh wants to be Labour leader. I want to score Sunderland's winner in a European Cup final. We'll both be disappointed

[AnatolyKasparov]

Anyone else feeling underwhelmed by the Labour leadership candidates so far? Or is it just me?

Not a one yet with the calibre of Ed.

Is it me or has he been effectively disappeared.
I don't remember such a swift removal from the political scene as this.
I dont mean his physical presence, it's like they've eradicated it all.

I'd still have Eagle over the others.

I do like Hunt but he's got a name that lefties will scorn, and even though they are quite different really I understand why someone mentioned Zac Goldsmith, they are intelligent decorative anomalies.

I don't really have much to add to what I said earlier about Hunt - save that his initial response to last week's calamity (burbling on about "aspiration" and Waitrose) didn't show any great inspiration or insight. A pity since he should understand this "identity" stuff better than most, given his skillset

[rebeccariots2]

Just to cheer you up a bit.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 48313.html

I read it earlier and it did - cheer me up.

I wonder if Cameron is going to regret some of the things he made such a big deal of in their manifesto ... this being one of them.

[thatchersorphan]

http://bambuser.com/v/5512789" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; obi live, using the onn account instead of the occupylondon one

[rebeccariots2]

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 6m6 minutes ago
I would take candidacy of @MaryCreaghMP very seriously. If she can get the requisite 35 Labour MPs she could have widespread public appeal.

[ohsocynical]

George Osborne's bubble bursts as Bank of England slashes three-year forecast for economy

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ge ... ar_twitter

I do try not to be cynical....But

[ohsocynical]

Bank of England internal forex investigation – serious developments, if true - See more at: http://www.ftseglobalmarkets.com/news/b ... f0MQA.dpuf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ftseglobalmarkets.com/news/b ... -true.html

[rebeccariots2]

George Osborne's bubble bursts as Bank of England slashes three-year forecast for economy

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ge ... ar_twitter

I do try not to be cynical....But

I've just been reading another blog piece saying that the financial circumstances may be about to bite Osborne very hard on the bum ... and it could be a meltdown that Labour will be relieved they don't have to manage the way through.

Trouble is - it's all quite scary stuff again regardless of who is in government. The point being that most of the measures that were available to try and help correct and shore things up last time ... aren't available to use should it happen again - interest rates are already rock bottom for example.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Jim Pickard ‏@PickardJE 6m6 minutes ago
I would take candidacy of @MaryCreaghMP very seriously. If she can get the requisite 35 Labour MPs she could have widespread public appeal.

A certain (Yorkshire based) Tory poster on "another place" I frequent really, really, REALLY hates her.

Might almost be worth her winning it just to see them spontaneously combust

[TechnicalEphemera]

George Osborne's bubble bursts as Bank of England slashes three-year forecast for economy

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ge ... ar_twitter

I do try not to be cynical....But

I've just been reading another blog piece saying that the financial circumstances may be about to bite Osborne very hard on the bum ... and it could be a meltdown that Labour will be relieved they don't have to manage the way through.

Trouble is - it's all quite scary stuff again regardless of who is in government. The point being that most of the measures that were available to try and help correct and shore things up last time ... aren't available to use should it happen again - interest rates are already rock bottom for example.

Have you got a link to the blog piece?

There are a number of issues that worry me:

The fundamentals of the 2008 crash still haven't been fixed. We have an imbalance in the trade with China and our banking sector remains unreformed.

There is a growth in low paying jobs.

China has a massive debt problem and is starting to look awfully like that old Nixon saying - If it looks like it can't go on forever then it can't.

Grexit now looks inevitable because of German stupidity. Given the huge killing to be made by speculators once the flood gates are open, this will inevitably be to followed by Sexit and Pexit and very possibly Iexit.

How about that stock market, driven upwards by low interest rates rather than fundamental value.

The end of QE in the States, leading to a Dollar crisis.

30bn of austerity will drive deflation in the UK.

I give it a year, what really worries me is the degree of our banking systems exposure to Europe and China.

[ohsocynical]

Fucking hell. They're starting on pensioners now on Twitter. Calling pensions, benefits, and it's from Strength and Honour. I didn't expect it of him.

Grey vote also getting the blame for Tories getting in - again.
Thinking of the number of 'grey' Tory voters that have died between 2010 & 2015, and Tories only increased their vote by .O8% doesn't read like their fault to me.

[TechnicalEphemera]

Fucking hell. They're starting on pensioners now on Twitter. Calling pensions, benefits, and it's from Strength and Honour. I didn't expect it of him.

Grey vote also getting the blame for Tories getting in - again.
Thinking of the number of 'grey' Tory voters that have died between 2010 & 2015, and Tories only increased their vote by .O8% doesn't read like their fault to me.

The Tory policy is aimed squarely at protecting pensioners at the expense of everybody else. It has been described as generational theft, with the current pensioners stealing the future of today's youth.

Pensioners vote in overwhelming numbers, and they vote Tory.

Pensions make up a huge (and increasing) percentage of spending on benefits. The degree to which a pension can be seen as a state benefit is however questionable. I wonder if anybody has asked the question what an average persons pension would be if there was no state pension and the payments had been put into a defined contribution scheme.

That may seem harsh but it is the truth.

[rebeccariots2]

Have you got a link to the blog piece?

There are a number of issues that worry me:

The fundamentals of the 2008 crash still haven't been fixed. We have an imbalance in the trade with China and our banking sector remains unreformed.

There is a growth in low paying jobs.

China has a massive debt problem and is starting to look awfully like that old Nixon saying - If it looks like it can't go on forever then it can't.

Grexit now looks inevitable because of German stupidity. Given the huge killing to be made by speculators once the flood gates are open, this will inevitably be to followed by Sexit and Pexit and very possibly Iexit.

How about that stock market, driven upwards by low interest rates rather than fundamental value.

The end of QE in the States, leading to a Dollar crisis.

30bn of austerity will drive deflation in the UK.

I give it a year, what really worries me is the degree of our banking systems exposure to Europe and China.

Here it is:
George’s nightmare
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015 ... nightmare/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and Ann Pettifor also wrote a lengthier piece on similar the other day:
Has Labour just dodged a bullet?
http://www.primeeconomics.org/articles/ ... d-a-bullet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tizme1]

Evening all,

As I said the other day, I don't really have a view on the Labour leadership nor is it my place to really. But I do hope Liz Kendall doesn't win. Seemingly she went to Watford Girls Grammar, as did my daughter and trust me, Dame bloody Helen Hyde [head] would be more smug and insufferable than ever.

[citizenJA]

Anyone else feeling underwhelmed by the Labour leadership candidates so far? Or is it just me?

Good-evening, everyone.

Are they busy with graver concerns? The sufficient stability among the Labour party MPs led by an adequate interim leader allows those MPs to focus on why the country's electorate have returned 331 Tory MPs rather unexpectedly. At the moment, I'd prefer everyone human to Parliament dedicated to protecting the country & people from Tory action.

edited to correct grammar
Frankly, Labour leadership contests right now interest me not at all if the party members are getting on together okay to focus on protecting the country.

[citizenJA]

Have you got a link to the blog piece?

There are a number of issues that worry me:

The fundamentals of the 2008 crash still haven't been fixed. We have an imbalance in the trade with China and our banking sector remains unreformed.

There is a growth in low paying jobs.

China has a massive debt problem and is starting to look awfully like that old Nixon saying - If it looks like it can't go on forever then it can't.

Grexit now looks inevitable because of German stupidity. Given the huge killing to be made by speculators once the flood gates are open, this will inevitably be to followed by Sexit and Pexit and very possibly Iexit.

How about that stock market, driven upwards by low interest rates rather than fundamental value.

The end of QE in the States, leading to a Dollar crisis.

30bn of austerity will drive deflation in the UK.

I give it a year, what really worries me is the degree of our banking systems exposure to Europe and China.

Here it is:
George’s nightmare
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015 ... nightmare/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and Ann Pettifor also wrote a lengthier piece on similar the other day:
Has Labour just dodged a bullet?
http://www.primeeconomics.org/articles/ ... d-a-bullet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sort of. Unfortunately, we all rely upon that busted economic system going belly up.

[seeingclearly]

Not from where many pensioners stand, TE. If you think life is a doddle at this end really, think again. Millions aren't home owners, millions are women who never made it into well paid work. Huge amounts have been slashed on health budgets, that means GPSsome of whom run a 2tier system. many are filling child care or carers roles completely unpaid, and are supporting adult children. tbh I'm tired and not doing that well today otherwise I would have been more factual on this. Statistics are all very well but are not neccessrily revealing on the true nature of things. One of the less forgivable features of Tory thinking is getting statistics to become part of our everyday, and misusing them. This is not to say you are, but regardless of what you believe or think you know on this it's unbelievable that older people are being scapegoated. Of course a huge amount goes on pensioners. It's because they no longer generate their own incomes because they cannot do so or have yielded way for younger workers. I'm very tech on this. Lots of us for various reasons never got near the housing ladder and never could afford to catch up with NI. We are not the boomers of public mythology. Well, I never got the boom bit, neither did a lot of my peers.

[rebeccariots2]

George Eaton ‏@georgeeaton 17m17 minutes ago
Labour left MPs collecting signatures for anti-austerity letter. New intake most left-leaning for a long time.

Ah - interesting developments ahead maybe.

And hello Ernst. I can see you are logged in. Very best wishes to you.

[ohsocynical]

Fucking hell. They're starting on pensioners now on Twitter. Calling pensions, benefits, and it's from Strength and Honour. I didn't expect it of him.

Grey vote also getting the blame for Tories getting in - again.
Thinking of the number of 'grey' Tory voters that have died between 2010 & 2015, and Tories only increased their vote by .O8% doesn't read like their fault to me.

The Tory policy is aimed squarely at protecting pensioners at the expense of everybody else. It has been described as generational theft, with the current pensioners stealing the future of today's youth.

Pensioners vote in overwhelming numbers, and they vote Tory.

Pensions make up a huge (and increasing) percentage of spending on benefits. The degree to which a pension can be seen as a state benefit is however questionable. I wonder if anybody has asked the question what an average persons pension would be if there was no state pension and the payments had been put into a defined contribution scheme.

That may seem harsh but it is the truth.

Pensions were never classed as benefits until this lot got in. It's part of the blame culture.

And there are plenty of us who don't get pension credits...Mr Ohso and I are a few pounds a week above the limit and we know quite a few oldies in our position. It's another mistaken belief that you automatically get all the freebies when you retire. We still pay for our teeth, glasses etc.

[citizenJA]

I rather like the image leading Pettifor's article. I'd prefer using a crossbow, myself. I like target practise for sport. Nothing dies.

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5 ... ormat=750w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;