Is this really what people want?

Reminds me of Eddie Izzard's description of fashion as like a circle - the uber fashionable and the complete dork kind of meet round the back, as you put it, Xenia. :)

Glad others enjoyed the link on the other thread as much as I did.

We may be opposites but we meet around the back - as a free market libertarian I think we should have let the banks fail as they did in the 20s or early 30s and also not interfere with the natural setting of interest rates.

very good article, very interesting.

no one very right wing will read it sadly.

I am going to have a look at Breadandbutterfly's post, I had a read yesterday but wanted to read the article that she linked to and didn't have time. I just keep clicking in here because I have about 2 minutes while I wait for my uploads (work)

Hope that's OK Mcmooncup? (Bit late to ask, sorry.)

This is the link to the thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/politics/1596171-We-must-stop-protecting-the-rich-from-market-forces

Can't resist it. Breadandbutterfly posted a great link on her thread, all about how the poor work harder than the rich: socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor, etc. You should check it out.

actually, xenia, are you from a different culture and background i wonder? - that would explain why your views are so very different, and family oriented - but i think its sad that you cannot understand, or try to grasp that some people do not have family, either to care for them, or that they would care for.

it would be lovely if every one had a family that they could rely on to help and look after them, but that is not the reality. i think in some cultures it is, and i admire that, but i do wonder what you would have suggested for me?

i have always worked. i have been lucky.
my DH has always worked, apart from one 3 month spell when he was made redundant about 20 years ago...

i do not resent that we pay tax, and that some of that tax provides a safety net for those who fall on hard times.

i do see, in my work, much hardship. i do see those who live on benefits and like it taht way
i see more that dont.
i would still prefer a welfare system than not.

Soup is too expensive for the poor. What's wrong with them licking the dew off the pavements?

Next we will be told that if the poor can't find their way around their kitchens, why pay HB for them to have cooking facilities, it would be cheaper if they hung out with signs on them begging for soup.

The streets of London are paved with people Xenia has stamped on.

quote from xenia " In fact your relative can pay for you to get the night bus to London from Hull for your hunt for work.

Someone stood in the City of London the other week with a sign saying he was looking for work and he got a good few offers. Sometimes you need literally to get on your bike."

your relative can pay for you to get the night bus....which relative is this then? and which london - that mythic place where hte streets are paved with gold....?

ive just realised that Xenia is joking. has to be...

mignonette

Would you like us to pitch in so you can relocate to a tax haven Xenia? I can see that paying taxes is really stressing you.

Xenia is the daughter of Norman Tebbit, I believe. But after she fell on her head, she has never been quite the same. He didn't put a bike helmet on her when they embarked on their famous 'Get On Your Bike' tour of Britain in the mid 80's.

We must be compassionate.

The sad thing is the poor diet is real poverty, it's amazing how many people cannot cook a meal from scratch. Also when you look at special offers etc its rarely on fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables but on junk food.
I am fortunate enough to have a decent sized freezer so can cook in bulk and freeze meals, many don't have that luxury.

There are plenty of overweight non benefit claimers too, it's down to education and just sheer choice.

Xenia you seem to have a real bee in your bonnet about "hard" workers - i work very hard.
i work shifts.
i work long hours (tomorrow is a 12 hour day - given notice of that today)
i work very very hard.
i still think there should be a welfare state, funded from all of our hard working taxes- if you moved across the planet to find work then and, if you dont like the state of affairs you have moved into, it begs the question, why stay? you seem to think its so easy to upsticks and move - surely if you dont like what you moved into then its as easy to do it again?

The scary thing is that Xenia is real

Don't eat too many of these

Oh dear. Xenia. Oh dear.

They are fed. 60% of us are over weight. We have nevre had such fat people particularly the lower earners. You cannot suggest the poor are not fed. they are massively over fed. If we got their calorie intake down to 1800 a day with less food they would be so much better.

Standing in the street with a sign around your neck do you know what the response was the during the great depression when people took to the streets with placards round their necks?

The country has massive debts. This is an issue facing much of the world at present. It is a huge issue, not just special to the UK and it is even worse in places like Greece and Spain.

I think everyone in the UK should be fed, yes. I would not remove the basic welfare state although it could be pared down quite a bit. It would certainly hlep if tax rates could be reduced to a flat tax of about 12% including NI.

If people's families cannot support them then like many of our ancestors and indeed many of us people have to move on the planet where there is work. That is terribly common. It is not contradictory. In fact your relative can pay for you to get the night bus to London from Hull for your hunt for work.

Someone stood in the City of London the other week with a sign saying he was looking for work and he got a good few offers. Sometimes you need literally to get on your bike.