The Politics Thread

[Lost Leopard Spot]

if you understood it was a ratio - why did you ask for a unit? that confuses a mathematician such as me...

A ratio is a comparison of two units. One of the units quoted is, as pointed out, meaningless, which is why I asked for clarification of the units involved in the computation of the ratio...

if it is a measure of earnings - then the unit will be the currency of the particular country in question. i think that's fairly self explanatory. it'll be the same unit of currency that the benefits are paid in - again - different for each country. when you make a ratio out of both of those numbers - the unity becomes meaningless - because it is a ratio.

I'm disappointed... you are clearly not seeing the chaos in you defined units.
Let me ask you this, how much do you think anybody earns in their last full year of UNEMPLOYMENT?

[Lord Kangana]

The way we give benefits away, you'd have to think it was at least a 6-figure sum.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

The way we give benefits away, you'd have to think it was at least a 6-figure sum.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Plus, although this wasn't my original point (which still stands). Why wouldn't somebody whose ratio was 1:1 (especially when the actual payment was, say, 20p) not move to a country where the ratio was 1:0.2 (when the actual payout was, say, 10,000 x the amount in his own country)?

[thebish]

I'm disappointed... you are clearly not seeing the chaos in you defined units.

I can only conclude that you are very, very easily disappointed. Life must have been hard!

[Prufrock]

Plus, although this wasn't my original point (which still stands). Why wouldn't somebody whose ratio was 1:1 (especially when the actual payment was, say, 20p) not move to a country where the ratio was 1:0.2 (when the actual payout was, say, 10,000 x the amount in his own country)?

Haven't you read the papers? They are! Or aren't. It does seem so far like they aren't. From my own sample. They probably all got off the bus(es), took one look at the weather, and went back.

[Hoboh]

Just what planet are our Politicians living on?
We have spent £20 million on interpreters to help people claim JSA since 2010 and it is expected to rise considerably, just how the feck are they going to answer job advertisements, attend interviews and successfully gain employment if they cannot speak, read, or write English? Apparently in nearly every other EU country the claimant would have to fund interpreters themselves so why are we different!
Now Gorgeous George wants to stop housing benefit for under 25’s so does that mean parents are supposed to keep them until then or are we going to see British versions of Roma camps around the country?
A lot of the country is suffering from flood damage and sea defences are being ripped apart, Government answer, cut jobs in the environment department!
One answer to cut benefits would be to raise the threshold on earnings before tax making it not an option to live at state expense, of course this costs some money but it would be a worthwhile investment.
Don’t forget Daft Dave and crazy Clegg are proud we are going to spend £11.2 billion on foreign aid this year, I wonder were that money could be better spent……..

[Prufrock]

There's a dangerous amount of that that's not nuts! I mean, some of it stilll is, obviously, but bloody hell Hoboh.

What the feck is that no housing benefits for the under 25s?! Pure politiics. They don't don't vote, so f*ck em. Meanwhile, yet again pensions are fine. Wonder why?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Plus, although this wasn't my original point (which still stands). Why wouldn't somebody whose ratio was 1:1 (especially when the actual payment was, say, 20p) not move to a country where the ratio was 1:0.2 (when the actual payout was, say, 10,000 x the amount in his own country)?

Haven't you read the papers? They are! Or aren't. It does seem so far like they aren't. From my own sample. They probably all got off the bus(es), took one look at the weather, and went back.

It wasn't anything to do with newspaper stories, or Romanians: just a bit of maths banter

[thebish]

There's a dangerous amount of that that's not nuts! I mean, some of it stilll is, obviously, but bloody hell Hoboh.

What the feck is that no housing benefits for the under 25s?! Pure politiics. They don't don't vote, so f*ck em. Meanwhile, yet again pensions are fine. Wonder why?

indeed... though George denies it, the younger generation is being screwed.... not just pensions - but a whole phallanx of universal pensioner benefits... (whilst - of course - there is always an argument to be made about the prohibitive expense of means-testing relatively small amounts...)

the "never had it generation" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03nt9wd

[Beefheart]

There's a dangerous amount of that that's not nuts! I mean, some of it stilll is, obviously, but bloody hell Hoboh.

What the feck is that no housing benefits for the under 25s?! Pure politiics. They don't don't vote, so f*ck em. Meanwhile, yet again pensions are fine. Wonder why?

indeed... though George denies it, the younger generation is being screwed.... not just pensions - but a whole phallanx of universal pensioner benefits... (whilst - of course - there is always an argument to be made about the prohibitive expense of means-testing relatively small amounts...)

the "never had it generation" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03nt9wd

The logic behind the move being that 'if you can't afford to move out you should carry on living with your parents', the sad reality is that this not an option for a lot of people. Most obviously, but by no means exclusively, those coming out of the care system.

[Athers]

Must say I am surprised there are supposedly housing benefits available to someone earning £65k per year??

Seems daft for a top rate taxpayer to receive help with their rent, but I'm not sure how many people this actually refers to, probably very few.

[Beefheart]

Must say I am surprised there are supposedly housing benefits available to someone earning £65k per year??

Seems daft for a top rate taxpayer to receive help with their rent, but I'm not sure how many people this actually refers to, probably very few.

I don't think it's that they are receiving benefits, but are living in a council house and paying the rent themselves? Does seem odd but I doubt there are a lot of instances of this.

[thebish]

Must say I am surprised there are supposedly housing benefits available to someone earning £65k per year??

Seems daft for a top rate taxpayer to receive help with their rent, but I'm not sure how many people this actually refers to, probably very few.

I don't think it's that they are receiving benefits, but are living in a council house and paying the rent themselves? Does seem odd but I doubt there are a lot of instances of this.

the queen??

[Hoboh]

There's a dangerous amount of that that's not nuts! I mean, some of it stilll is, obviously, but bloody hell Hoboh.

What the feck is that no housing benefits for the under 25s?! Pure politiics. They don't don't vote, so f*ck em. Meanwhile, yet again pensions are fine. Wonder why?

What bits are nuts?
Truths are sometimes painfull. 'fraid I differ with you on pensions, these people have 'paid in' all their working lives and are entitled to it, rich or poor. That is not to say however that heating, bus passes, free tv licence's etc should be universal same as child benefit shouldn't.
The youth of this country are being f*cked over by cheap imported low skill labour as used by glorious little tax paying, multi nationals.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

If we're relying on me to do it on here I wouldn't be holding my breath!

Seriously, no-one on tv, in the papers, anywhere seems to ask that question. Plenty try to argue that 'social' stuff some people say is bad for the economy is actually good, but no-one ever seems to say 'screw it, what if it's only a bit bad for the economy, but actually, life would be a lot nicer if we did it?'.

Are you writing for Farage now?!

This was him on the Today prgramme this morning:

"“If you said to me: ‘Would you want to see over the next 10 years a further 5m people come into Britain and if that happened we’d all be slightly richer?’, I would say: ‘Actually, do you know what: I’d rather we weren’t slightly richer and I’d rather we had communities that felt more united and I’d rather have a situation where young unemployed British people had a realistic chance of getting a job’”

“So yes, I do think the social side of this matters more than pure market economics,”

[Lord Kangana]

I'm not sure that completely capping immigration would lead to that anyway, would it? Purely hypothetically, of course, as complete control is utterly impossible.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I'm not sure that completely capping immigration would lead to that anyway, would it? Purely hypothetically, of course, as complete control is utterly impossible.

I bet you there aren't any illegal immigrants wandering the 'streets' of North Korea. Never underestimate what is possible...

[thebish]

A lot of the country is suffering from flood damage and sea defences are being ripped apart, Government answer, cut jobs in the environment department!

according to the environment secretary we are spending more on flood defences than ever before...

it seems this is a best, not true..

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/flood_de ... ding-29313

[Lost Leopard Spot]

A lot of the country is suffering from flood damage and sea defences are being ripped apart, Government answer, cut jobs in the environment department!

according to the environment secretary we are spending more on flood defences than ever before...

it seems this is a best, not true..

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/flood_de ... ding-29313

You mean the barstewards are lying to me?