Picking up a few points:
'I don't think they are planning on cutting school meals, just not rolling out the extension that was planned. I could be wrong. '
true but you need to consider that the extension was partlt to pick up flaws in system-(am assuming riven's council operates an ectension to basic system as the basic one is very simple and doens't consider income amounts- basic benefit claim or nothing) atm only people on is can get free school meals (probably jsa); if you are working poor- remembering that could mean self employed and just about breaking even, possibly only say £10 per weel profit (DH doesn't make huge profit becuase of needing to acquire stock / equipment ready for when we go in full blast) but getting tax credits- and wtc barrs you from claiming regardless of what tkae home pay is.
So am thinking that it's not so much an expansion as closing loopholes; esp. as promoting self employment / new start up business is so vital. We need to make the figures for entrepreneaurs about yto enter that hard first few eyars add up don't we?
'that's mean; absolutely it can go as many don't need it but people inyended does not equal smokers; it will include a hell of a lot of newly poor I think, it's needed to make redundancies but you ahve to accept then that there will be newly redundant people in need who have no fault and have a long working history. You can't just accept ther redundancies, it's only half the equation.
'Sacti - sorry, off-topic a bit, this, but is it possible she was using 'aborigine' in its generic sense? The native American indian tribes are often referred to as aboriginal as well. Whereas the Australian Aborigines don't appear to have a specific name, IYSWIM. Or was she just being a bit dim' sadly, sim. Nice lady and all, but....
when the school letter contain glaring errors you know you are dealing with dim not generic.
Yes xenioa we are working towards employment, we just meet hurdles at every step: the plan was for DH to qualify and then me to finish my training (pgce now impossible due to sheer mileage but plan was social work as related to work history; will there evcen be a social work sector in 2 years? Who knows?
Someone said those who know cuts must be made.... don't know anyone who disputes that but what I fear is happening is no doubt created by politicians regardless of gender: we are here defending our incomes and lifestyles panicking whilst the obvious savings (trident, policitans and banks, infrastructure, quango's, investigations (new quangos to create vuts? what are politicians for fgs? new investoigations over deaths at a hospital that have now ceased and have been investigated twice? really? when they are tlaking about livelihoods?) skip by untouched becuase they arer ahrder on those who make the decisions and their friends. that's not an anti tory argument- seems to happen regardless of teh volour of the leaders. but then how differenta re they all? Oxbridge, mainly male, blah de blah..... hardly a surprise is it?
(and yes I know Oxbridge has many very bright people, it however does not by any stretch have all of them- many very bright people did not attend university at all or attened later- we need a bigger variation of people in parliament for really groundbreaking laws)