To think that there is no hope here?

Think she means steal perhaps

Don't know what English utopia you live in. But in Leeds sons partner sends a pretty, natural blonde employee down to the cellar when a particular group of males come in because they stroke her hair and make lewd remarks.

The girls finish at different times to catch trains, buses. The boss walks every one of them or puts them in a taxi to get home safely. At the other end parents, partners pick them up.

The company has to suck up this expense if they want to keep staff.

It used to be safe if you were a Yorkshire keen walker to put on your boots and hit the Dales. Now there's fear.

Seize them? What do you mean? Be precise, please.

I think the point this poster was making was that any decent society is defined by how it supports its most vulnerable - including the sick and disabled. The problem in the UK, is that every time money needs to be found it’s always the sick and disabled at the forefront of cuts to find that money. They are the low hanging fruit because they have no voice and can’t fight back. If the proposed cuts go ahead thousands of genuinely disabled people are going to be rendered ineligible for support. Their need doesn’t just disappear overnight because the government stops funding it. If similar cuts were proposed to any of the benefits available to parents, the tone of the conversation would be very different and MN would be exploding with indignance.

OP gets her info. from the Adam Smith Institute but doesn’t have the intellect to consider why they might want to “other” huge swathes of the population. That bastion of fairness Madsen Pirie sure does speak for the common good!!

How has privatisation of public utilities gone and other great ideas such as the Poll Tax??

Zero critical thinking underpinned by an “I must be right because I’m a high earner” attitude.

Get your head out of the Daily Mail, get out into your local community and give a little of yourself back to others.

You live in a wonderful country, stop thinking about yourself and you may start to enjoy it.

There are people posting online claiming they will leave the country, and I think they should actually follow through instead of just saying it. I suggest anyone planning to leave to really go and take all their assets with them—absolutely everything. Don’t leave anything behind, as people in the country might seize them.

Oh my 😂😂😂

Tell us you don't understand socialism without telling us you don't understand socialism.

Interesting. Well, I'm not an apologist for the Conservatives. A.plague on all their houses (at the moment. Fingers crossed that changes).

Well I find it offensive that the OP is disparaging our great country and would rather leave than try to help make it better.

If that’s how the OP feels I would rather they weren’t here and let those of us who want to rebuild from the mess the Tories made, get on with it.

The reason people are annoyed by you is because you think you’ve done it all through hard work. As if that’s all you need to do.

Cameron’s government were also responsible for abolishing DLA in favour of PIP, and proudly announcing that the new benefit would include claimants with mental health conditions - something which DLA did not support. Which is why we find ourselves in the position we do today - because it’s difficult to substantiate self declared mental health and the Equality Act 2010 doesn’t require a formal diagnosis for someone to be defined as disabled. So many claims are admitted simply because they can’t be disproved and the bill for disability benefits has ballooned as a consequence.

In my view, based on recent conversations, there seems to be a growing sense that the wealthy no longer feel as welcome or safe in the UK.

It is worrying to me as we are, in the UK, already more dependent on higher earners than one might expect. We are more reliant on high earners than, say, the Scandinavian model (which generally taxes all workers heavily, not just the highest earners). Over 60% of all income tax receipts comes from the top 10% of earners - which is anyone that earns over £59k approximately.

The UK is mad. Of my 6 cousins on my mum's side (and I don't think my dad's is any better but I don't really know them) only 1 (like me) works full time, but she would still qualify for child benefit, not sure about UC, one has never had a job at all (early 50s, addiction issues), one has never had a full time job but has sporadically had some part time jobs (a managed medical condition) and one worked for about 2 years as a teenager and then again in her early 30s for about 18 months (no idea really how she gets away with being on benefits, she has an adult child now) and the other two has not worked in about 20/15 years respectively, one having formerly had a job that they enjoyed but which is now essentially extinct (he is depressed which I suspect is largely linked to lack of a career or any aspirations whatsoever in life) and the second having bought then sold their council house only to then move into another and lived off the proceeds plus benefits. It's not because their husbands/wives (3 are currently married 2 never married) are CEOs but all because they are simply perfectly comfortable on benefits. I am a strong advocate for benefits as a safety net and frankly a gone safety net but this situation is ridiculous. I grew up in a working class family but my generation are not working class any more - they are benefits class.

I moved overseas in 2016 - a key benefit to this (not the driver at the time) is that I pay less than 20% tax now. The infrastructure in our adopted country is sometimes highly questionable but obviously we have private healthcare etc and it is not very expensive to pay for healthcare anyway which is no frills but decent quality and much quicker than the NHS. The schools are good up to high school level and again with the tax I save I can pay for good education for my children at high school - no "catchment areas says no" nonsense.

I would prefer a happy medium. Paying say 30% - 35% tax (not the 60% that would now be my top slice rate if I was still in the UK) and a slightly better standard of support and social care than my current country provides. But not freebies for all who just can't be bothered to work.

I'm not the Chancellor thank goodness. So I don't have to solve the problems (although I would.stop the triple lock. That would be a start). But if there isn't enough money coming in to pay for everything then there isn't enough money.

I've literally said in this thread that I don't blame people claiming benefits. I blame the government's who have created the system. But I also don't think anyone else owes anyone a living. Blame who is responsible here; the people who make the policy. Not everyone else.

More than 630,000 graduates are claiming benefits, according to official figures that cast doubt on the value of “Mickey Mouse” degrees.

A total of 639,000 people with an honours degree or similar level qualification are claiming Universal Credit, according to the first data of its kind released to Parliament.

That is equal to more than one in nine (11.9 per cent) of Universal Credit claimants and is four percentage points below the proportion with no qualifications.

Those without any qualifications who are receiving Universal Credit numbered 849,000, representing 15.9 per cent of claimants, according to the data from the Labour Force Survey for March to May this year, released to Parliament by the UK Statistics Authority.

It’s truly fucked.

Your post was downright offensive, you meant to say, surely.

???

The original post?

I mean, surely most people other than the very very top earners end up being economically neutral at best when we consider over input/useage over our lifetimes. The tax burden wouldn’t feel so heavy if the money was used for the right things and our services were fit for purpose. If we hadn’t been subject to 20+ years of media poor baiting and being told our lives are rubbish because of benefit claimants etc the opinion towards people who need to rely on the state may be more sympathetic & compassionate. The elitist media are very good making sure the finger never points their way :/

I'm ambitious and successful but I'm not in the top 1% of earners- nowhere near!
Depends what you mean by successful..I guess for you success is money? I find your post offensive to be honest. Almost greedy, but also I feel sorry for you with your lack of empathy for other people and people's circumstances.
I work frontline NHS by the way.

wages are way too low. Someone working full time shouldn't have to rely on the state but these days in many places a full time NMW does barely cover housing. What do you suggest OP.

Not everybody can be a high flying banker or doctor. Do you run your own business. How much do you pay your staff esp if these are roles in which do not require qualifications.

@justasking111 this is the Tax Policy Associates' conclusion on the report which predicted the 16,500 number. If you google you will find a very comprehensive analysis. I tried to link to it but MN doesn't like the link for some reason:

Yeah that’s why PP said billionaires AND multi millionaires.

And it’s not exactly something to rejoice about that rich people are so small in number. It’s not the gotcha you may think it is.

I suspect PP is troubled and flabbergasted by the economic and fiscal illiteracy of the post.

There are only 150 billionaires in the UK.