If the Tories come into power, tax credits could be axed :-O

[GlastonburyGoddess]

In the news today. Im appalled. Talking about how tax credits create a demotivation to earn more etc etc

Im disgusted, no mention of if it would be replaced with something else.

we both work, we get our wages at the end of the month and within 3 days its gone on bils, we then live day to day off the tax credits. we'd be f**d hope they dont end up in power....

What gives you the idea I disapprove of gay marches? I think they're great. Just don't see that they should receive public funding.

I don't think it's a case of personal opinions just common sense, do we need a gay pride march? err, no.

Do we need respite care for carers with disabled relatives? err yes.

Common sense, something this government lacks.

gay pride is brilliant, but when the pot is so small, it is not something I would deem necessary. But then I don't deem wrap around care at school necessary. probally as it is something I can't access even if I wanted too.

I thought wrap around care was paid for by the parents, if it's not then it should be.

I am a carer and a single mother

I should be burned at the stake!

maybe it is called some thing else(like I say I can't access it) it is where parents can leave their kids at school for hours.I ssume they pay but not the full ammount.

If we are talking about tax payers money be spent on public need...do we 'need' a war in Afghanistan.do we 'need' a war in Iraq etc etc.

Givememoresleep,

I too am a carer and a single mum, I know how you feel, I also home school (because the education system is so bad) work part time (so I get tax credits) so I fall into everyone's bad books.

But I'm still gonna vote Conservative because Labour have killed this country and we need someone with some common sense and some backbone to to put it back on track.

Doobydoo,

short answer is no. Never should have happened.

I think the country has been on a downward spiral for many years. It is not simply the current Labour government.

Agree someguy,and have to say Thatcher but I am sure people will disagree...but feel the rot set in then tbh...then just continued.I shudder at Blair,hideous.

what are the symptoms of thos downward spiral?

I don't think things started with Thatcher. There was for instance an ideological drive by the Labour party to knock down 'slums' (which were actually very well-built Victorian properties in areas sharing a strong sense of community and collective responsibility), and then pack the occupants into new-build concrete towers.

Which was of course a disaster.

Symptoms? Well try this:

www.thewelfarestatewerein.com/archives/2005/06/wall_street_jou.php

"In the 1930s, British football crowds were as orderly as church congregations. Today our soccer fans are a byword for aggressive violence. In the first-class matches in 1946-47 only 10 players were sent off. By the mid-'90s the total number of red cards issued in a season had reached 451. Hooliganism is not confined to our footballers and their supporters. In 2002, a survey by the travel company Expedia of tourist offices in 17 countries found that, for loutishness, British visitors were top of the league.

At home the yobbism of the football crowds is only magnified in the incidence of violent crime, which rose from 4,221 in 1898 to 331,843 in 1998-99. Even adjusting for population growth, that amounts to a 47-fold increase. The situation is actually worse than the numbers suggest, for the laws and their enforcement were stricter a century ago. Indeed, as one eminent authority, Professor Jose Harris, put it, "If Edwardian standards were applied in the '90s, most of the youth of Britain would be in gaol."

"In 1912-13, for example, one quarter of males aged 16 to 21 who were imprisoned in the metropolitan area of London were serving seven-day sentences for offences which included drunkenness, 'playing games in the street; riding a bicycle without lights, gaming, obscene language, and sleeping rough." (www.thewelfarestatewerein.com/archives/2005/03/the_fantastic_r.php)

The level of acceptable disorder in modern Britain is so high, it is ludicrous.

I haven't been subject to many crimes, but have attempted to report financial fraud of various kinds - police not interested; arson - not interested; minor assault - not interested; large-scale importing of counterfeit goods - not interested.

I am sure there are many other examples - from the police in the 1930s having the time to prosecute people for swearing, you'd now be lucky to see them for anything short of GBH.

I think it's fair to say that not only would our ancestors be shocked at the state of our society (routine public drunkenness, violence, uncontrollable children in schools, etc.), so indeed would people from many other countries in the world.

I caught a trailer for a program about the large numbers of Britons imprisoned in Thailand recently -it's safe to say that from the Britons groping waitresses in Greece, to the man who decided to abuse a statue of Mustafa Ataturk in Turkey, or the stag groups pissing on the Freedom Monument in Riga, Britain is a byword for licentiousness around the world.

Interesting stuff someguy,

I think Italian football fans are known for shooting the occasional referee....

I wonder why? Breakdown of the family? Lack of discipline?
Why are the Brits like this?

I think society has become very individual, and also focused on the individual. Individual rights and freedoms are seen as all-important.

I do not think that is true of many other societies - in Asia, a misbehaving child on a bus would expect to be told off by any random stranger. In this country that is much less likely.

Equally that same child in school is likely to 'know his rights', which basically extend to being able to get away with pretty much anything. Even as adults, there is little incentive to personal responsibility - people can smash up their state-provided accommodation, knowing that they have a legal right to have fixed, to receive medical treatment, to receive social security, etc.

What duties does an anti-social person have to society? None. But society still provides him with very much. It is no wonder that he behaves this way.

I'd cal that the 'spoilt child ' syndrome with society replacing the parents role.

Very interesting.