A country where people don't ask what am I entitled to but rather.....

[RustyBucket]

What are my responsibilities....

Cracking line, hope they are going to crack down on the "entitled" culture, it is all over this board like a rash at the best of times.

Harpsi has obviously been working on her blood pressure issues

[slaps tocc for mixing her up with ol' Nancy Redtop]

Yeah and he'll cut tax for under 10k and in return abolish tax credits.

sorry CaptainN

"Yeah and he'll cut tax for under 10k and in return abolish tax credits."

Well I'm fucked then! Start a job on monday with an annual salary of £7k. Even though my income tax and NI would be minimal on that wage, I was bloody looking forward to paying it. After being on benefits for the last 5 years, it's about bloody time I started paying back. And I want to!

But if they abolish tax credits, I'll be back on income support cos I can't afford to work without them (single parent) great

there are at least 4 nancys around at present... one has a garden, and one is 75 too...

Only one of them is bossy and strident though...

oh don't Nancy - you'll confuse me even more!!!

I do think it's time to redress the entitlement culture that Labour has so carefully engineered to create widespread dependency. The Labour government wanted to run our lives 'for your own good'... I'm glad to get out of that particular bear-hug.

The speech included something about people who can do more, should do more but people who can't, should get help. They're not going to remove tax credits for people on the poverty line on £7k a year.... they will take them away for people on over £50k a year. It's only fair. It would also be fair to put an earnings ceiling on Child Benefit and the Winter Fuel allowance. People with a lot of money need neither but get them anyway....

I should add that people who 'can do more' is going to involve those with higher earnings paying more tax. So those that thought the Tories were all about giving money to millionaires should take note.

Chil - that's the very point I was going to make.

I didn't vote Tory and don't like DC but among people who can do more and SHOULD include those who currently tax dodge - lets hope they have a sense of responsibility as well. My only concern is that DC will not worry about them in the desire to seem radical and visible. Sadly I think the people who will come off worse are those like me earning under 15k, getting working tax credit which rules me out of a lot of things even though I am under the level where others can claim.

I am not optimistic about him at all.

"The sooner people realise that their mere existence doesn't entitle them to anything, the better IMHO..."

Agree wholeheartedly.

Multi nationals are entitled to handouts though. No national insurance rise, no capital gains tax rise. But both of those for citizens of the UK.

The idea there are lazy scroungers is one parroted by the right wing elite who control the media. But in fact anyone who works alongside these people also know the mantra that a market can only work efficiently with around 5-7pc of waste.

So you will always - under the prevailing hard right Tory/Labour ideology - have around 1.5mn unemployed in a country of around 30m working adults.

It is 1.5mn unemployed - structural or natural unemployment it is called - which holds down wages, funnels profits to the super rich, major corporations.

Meanwhile what we see on this thread from people who hate unemployed people (in the middle of a massive recession!!) and single Mums, is piety.

They are posting about their own piety, their own lives and how they value themselves over other people. Not about the reality of employment or young women being allowed to bring up children with having to send them up a chimney or prostituting themselves.

You are either socialist or fascist.

Riven, he didn't specifically mention the disabled, did he?

The rich are entitled to their riches though, nothing to do with years of state handouts, tax breaks, whole areas of the UK set aside for the rich to avoid tax, light touch regulation, offshoring...

i told you. I told you that the tories would leave us to starve.

Why would they have any regard for us? the conservative think all single mothers are feckless slags looking for a gravy train. I mean, none of us are even wearing the new Conservative-Approved collar ring on our finger, how on Earth can we be expected to behave rationally without a owner husband?

If you want to incentivise the poor into unskilled dead-end jobs, double the minimum wage. You know, like the rich, you have to pay them well, you don't starve the rich into executive positions.

what I meant is that DC should have specifically mentioned the disabled. He mentions the frail and the old. Think he was trying to reassure people, but it has backfired spectacularly. MIL is having panic attacks already about having her winter fuel allowance withdrawn, and she won't be able to afford to heat the house.

I am a higher tax payer and fortunately have a DP in the forces. He is a higher tax payer too. We both work long hours in stressful jobs to keep a roof over our heads and pay the bills and sometimes life feels hard. When I am feeling sorry for myself about it I think about just how hard life can really be for some people and how fortunate we are. If either of us were to lose our jobs then we could manage on one income, yes it would be very tight and we could only just about manage to eat and pay bills, but we would get by. This would be a situation we wouldn't want to be in for any length of time and would be viewed as a way of living just until we got back on our feet. I think myself lucky to be in this situation

However, many people, especially single parents live like that every single day and can see no way out of it, just managing to afford food, worrying about how to pay the bills and put clothes on their dc's. It is impossible for them to work and afford childcare. The first thing the goverment needs to do before they start penalising people who don't work is to make it easier for them to work, not to make them worse off by working. Also look at Riven's situation, why on earth should we not help her and people like her? Aside from the fact that it would cost the taxpayer so much more money to force her to work and put her DD into care, do you really think her life is easier than mine is? Whilst I may complain about having to work long hours etc, I am willing to bet my salary that her job as a carer to her DD is much harder work and longer hours than mine.

I agree that the people who are not entitled shouldn't be given handouts, but in reality this is the minority. Of course people who chose not to work just because they don't want to shouldn't be entitled, criminals should be made to put something back into society, there should be more done about absent fathers/mothers who do what they can to avoid contributing to their children's upbringing. However, the people who do need help should get help, and as a tax payer I am more than happy to know that some of my taxes goes towards helping these people. Who knows what tomorrow brings for us all? It could very easily be me needing that help one day and I am happy to contribute as much as I can to ensure that if I do ever need it then I will get it.

If the £10k threshold is to be implemented immediately then there will be no more of this I'm better off on benefits nonsense, people will be able to take jobs which should make us less attractive to all but skilled immigrants and genuine asylum seekers meaning everyone's quality of life will at least not get worse as demand on public services isn't pushed to breaking point.
That in turn should enable us to take care of the elderly and the disabled, I'm afraid the benefit breeders are about to learn harsh lessons but have only themselves to blame.