to think that Nick Clegg was the wrong person to present the Pride of Britain Award to shot policeman

[sincitylover]

I was watching this last night - that very brave policeman who was shot and blinded was presented his award by Nick Clegg of all people.

I thought it was completely inappropriate given the current governments attitude to public services. Shame on him!

Also the policeman, David Rathband has started a charity called Blue Lamp I think to help any emergency services who are injured in the line of duty.

He did make the point that he was left with no money when he was injured.

www.bluelamp-foundation.org/

It'd be a pretty good camp at 20k per year.

What about those workers who arent on benefits being engineeered out of the neighborhood? They are being priced out by HB claimants walking in and dropping the maximum allowed taxpayer cash on the table. Certainly not fair.

What was it Nick Clegg said the other day? Rents have fallen 5%, but HB related rents have gone up 3%.

Simply not sustainable.

Er... have you ever tried to rent a house in a decent neighbourhood on housing benefit?

I tell you what, you walk into an estate agent, tell them you are on HB, dunp yer money on the table, and see exactly where that gets you.

Michael Winner would have been a far better choice imho. He does a lot for police charities!!

Agree totally with northernrock on HB. Actually lol at ccpccp's suggestion at "move somewhere more affordable then if you can't afford the rent." You'd have no shop staff, cleaners, catering assistants, and many more I haven't even thought of, south of the Watford Gap.

IME the reason that HB claimants like myself are making it harder for others is because the Landlord automatically put the rent at whatever the maximum amount the local housing department will pay. You want someone to blame? Blame the greedy wanker landlords.

Well if that is true Saffy85, they will have to pay higher wages to get workers. So people will come off HB and afford to pay rent.

But of course its not true at all. Most people in london commute a distance to get to work. They dont live next door when they work in an affluent area.

No - its not going to be easy thats for sure. But 2 years is more than adequate time to find a new property, or stay and negotiate the landlords rent down. Not all HB claimants will be affected either, just the ones at the extravagent end.

Missed your 16:21:12 post northernrock.

Cant argue with any of it either, other than to say the luxury of cheek and jowl living is a nice to have, whereas cutting the 15billion(?) HB bill is a necessity.

Besides, when property prices fall and (hopefully) rents fall to match, the flow will reverse. Of course that means a lot of landlords getting burnt, but I struggle to feel sympathy for them TBH.

The government just wrote off a tax bill for Vodafone of £6 bn.

That would have helped a bit.

It's not a luxury to have a home,and a lot of of places that have high rent are not exactly lush. I know I used to live in Holloway.

Also, the way the HB cut is being worked out will affect most claimants somewhat now, and all of them in a few years because it will no longer be linked to inflation.

It was wrong of Clegg to have made the award as Clegg is dishonourable and a proven liar whose word is not worth a toss.

hear hear new wave

agree that Michael Winner would have been good choice