Father’s Day photo

[Mylovelygreendress]

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Soz.

Speaking of Farage, BBC has just bounced Digging for Britain so he can be interviewed. Not Happy.

My grandmother had a bit of a thing about the (younger than her) Queen Mother. Nan loved racing, hats and gin about equally and as we worked out this distaste was motivated by pure jealousy teased her mercilessly, saying her only problem with the QM was that she had racehorses and unlimited hats and gin. She took it in good part., although I think she'd have been part of an "anti QM Squad" if such a thing was around then.

Noooo! Cross about that.

or those people who won't join in anything at Christmas time. Just sit looking miserable and complaining about the cost.

I'm often reminided of the dwarves in The Last Battle, trapped in a prison created by their own negativity.

Think I might head over to a Taylor Swift thread and tell them I don't understand why anyone would want to spend hundreds, even thousands, to watch a woman perform on stage for ninety minutes or so. I mean it's probably not even her, is it, it's a stand in miming to a backing track.

SNAP
https://otda.ny.gov/programs/snap/

Thanks for the explanatory link - guessing this US government initiative was well-buried on Google UK.

You've educated me, as I thought there was next to no social provision in the US for people on low incomes; it's good to know there is something even in the Trump regime!

I'm not sure of its relevance to begrudging UK taxes going to the Royal Family, though. I'm a dyed in the wool Labour voter, which, loosely speaking in UK parlance means I am pro- my taxes going to people who don't have much money, and anti- them going to people who are already rich (e.g. The Royal Family).

Not sure if it's under the same name, but see my post a few days ago about the Tory plans to replace PIP (a UK disability benefit) with vouchers - this sounds a bit like the SNAP card, and this element of 'policing' how social security benefits are spent is precisely why I'm urging people to vote Labour in the upcoming G.E. - so that benefits continue to be paid in cash.

I begrudge a single penny of my taxes going to the Royal Family precisely because I want them to go to people who actually need them - people living in poverty. And if people want to spend their benefits on (e.g) fags and booze, I would hardly begrudge them as a drinker/smoker myself.

I hope @BemusedAmerican that I have gone some way to un-bemusing you about the nuances of left wing/right wing attitudes to tax in the UK.

TLDR - the sort of person who is happy for their taxes to go to the already rich Royal Family is more likely to begrudge a birthday cake put on the SNAP card than the sort of person who doesn't want their taxes to go to the Royal Family, but to people in need.

Yeah, it’s a fun story on MN to say America sucks and we have no programs for those unable to work or on low income. SNAP is one just one of many.

Oh and we have similar myths about how the left and right feel about it.

It sounds like a step in the right direction, but if Bemused is correct and what people buy with it is subject to moral policing, there is still a long way to go (as there is in the UK).

Is that in your opinion?

And are you always so very confident of your own judgement being right? Even when you only learned about something a few minutes ago? I’d love to be so…

It's the opinion of your fellow-American, so argue it out with her. I can only go on what you are telling me - I have no first-hand experience. At the moment you seem to be contradicting each other, so I'll have to pass.

By the way, the US have 70,000,000,000 in foreign aid 2 years ago, and it’s constantly rising. I’d like to see some of that put into more helpful programs. Not booze and cigarettes though. I’m good with people sorting out how to feed their vices on their own and long after their children get housed and fed.

Note I caveated my opinion with 'if Bemused is correct ...' If Bemused is talking rubbish, I await clarification.

Ok, so you have no opinion on the fact that one can’t buy cancer causing cigarettes with US federal benefits. Good. I’m relieved!

I think Bemused gets to weigh in on where their tax dollars go. Just as you get to moan about your £1.50.

Ah, so vices are only allowed for the rich? You do realise the Royal Family drink and smoke, and our taxes in the UK are paying for that?

I'd much rather my £11.50 was buying 20 Sovereign Superkings for a stressed out single mum, than paying for a fraction of a bottle of cask-aged whiskey for Charles and his chums to sip ...

I think it’s twisted if you want to subsidize big tobacco to kill people.

Are you rich?

Your taxes aren’t paying for what you think they are with respect to the royal family. It’s no doubt fun to bat those ideas around, but it just isn’t the case.

Oh wait, you’re the same one that said they paid for the camera, the clothing and the entire trip to the beach. You are already well aware that isn’t the case.

Not my taxes, not my circus.

As a very general opinion, I fully support the right of the adult human being to smoke. I'm watching my non-smoking elderly father dwindle away with dementia at the moment, making life hell for my mum and putting immense strain on my sister and me as we try to protect them both, but he angrily resists any intervention. Thanks to the dire state of the NHS we can't access proper support for them; even exploring BUPA there was no one in their area.

I'm hoping I die of a smoking-related illness long before my brain crumbles like my father's. If they'd legalise assisted dying in the UK, I might have more incentive to give up the fags, but progress on that legislation is very slow.

I’m sorry about your father. Wish you and your mum peace.

No. I'm a middle earner. My husband is retired due to ill-health so, with the way tax works in the UK, our household income is much lower than two low-earners.

Thank you, I appreciate your kind wishes.

I don’t know what the answer is, but cigarettes and alcohol are the least of our problem vices and I assure you anyone that wants those or even hard drugs here in the US is getting them regardless of income level.

SNAP is for food. It’s not the only benefit for low/no income people, we have social security also, which is just money and not “policed”. Also typically someone on snap would have housing benefits, vouchers or else live in low income housing.

Additionally there is Medicaid to cover medical expenses. There is also a newer thing where some get an additional $200 (approx) per month that they can spend toward food, household and health related items. I have a friend that gets this and she can buy flowers and other happy things with it as she wishes. She says she can’t spend it all so has been stocking up on steak and lobster and freezing it.

My friend also has a home aid that comes to assist a few times a week. She doesn’t really need the help so the aid does whatever she wants around her apartment. She uses her as a housekeeper.

This is all anecdotal, of course, but this is someone who had horses, a sailboat and a new car every year as a teenager. I don’t begrudge her any of it and wouldn’t trade places, but it’s not just a story of bad luck.

I’d love to see more programs that are aimed at fixing the root cause of poverty in my country. I’d start with prenatal care which is abysmal.

I personally don't care what people buy with SNAP cards but have been stuck in groceries lines with people who do as my local supermarkets don't have self-check.

One of the reasons that governors from other states are bussing their asylum seekers to NYC is because NYC was legally obligated to provide shelter and benefits. This had become a source of controversy:
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/migrant-crisis/nyc-right-to-shelter-rule-settled/5228845/#:~:text=The%20right%20to%20shelter%20has,its%20right%20to%20shelter%20laws.