Morning all. Happy Birthday Theo and Esther. Even though it can't surely be true that sees a rash of SECOND birthdays coming up???!
Spider, don't flounce, come back!
I've made an active choice not to vote. I feel a bit strange about it, as I always vote in all elections, but none of our candidates have bothered their backsides in this area - we've had a couple of leaflets through the door. The current incumbent has had the seat for many years with a huge majority. If I wanted to vote tactically against them I'd have to vote for a party I fundamentally disagree with. If I didn't want to vote for them, there are two 'alternative' smaller parties, one being the BNP, and one headed up by Tommy Sheridan, and there's no way I could vote for either of those. I wish there was a 'none of the above' box.
Deb and Biscuits, excellent ideas about the health service. I couldn't really fault the treatment I've experienced throughout my life, and my dad would likely have died a lot earlier than he did without it. I do feel there's so much waste in public services though, my own bugbear f'rinstance is food in hospitals. Interesting discussions on the Guardian food blog about this - my solution would be to charge people for food when they're in hospital, or encourage them to bring their own (as so many do anyway) and those people who are on low incomes get theirs free. Charging those who can afford it - likely to be less than they spend on food themselves - would increase the quality and allow the 'free' food for others, and reduce the huge amount of waste - frightening amount of inedible food simply thrown away every day.
Anyway....
Abdn, I think you were talking about tax credits, and how it should support single parents. I don't disagree, but I want to share an anecdote, just to show there's always exceptions.
I have an acquaintance who had never met the right man, felt she was getting old, etc etc and adopted a baby from a third world country. Even though this process cost her a lot of money, there were still costs to the public purse, i.e. assessing and approving her for adoption, court costs, etc. She earns well, bought her house when houses were cheap/affordable, and has a lot of family support. She was shocked at the amount of help she got as a single parent - totally free nursery place, tax credits, activities, etc etc. Now, DP and I have an above average joint income, but we have nursery fees for B of over £700/month, a substantial mortgage, and DP (rightly so) pays maintenance for the DSDs. In effect my single parent friend is sooo much better off than us, despite working pt - she has no mortgage/rent to pay, no childcare costs, and gets loads of extra help. I don't know what the answer is, I do know that we will miss the little amount of tax credit we get (as I'll be working all of this year, we're not entitled to any), and the tax relief on childcare vouchers does make a difference to us.
On a fluffier note - I'm well chuffed with my little plants in the garden. The spuds are growing, I haven't yet killed the teeny tiny herb plants, and the strawberries are looking quite healthy. Yay!
I'm supposed to be working from home today, so better crack on.