People's Assembly Against Austerity

I fear that some parents will now be denied legal aid in custody battles - which partner is likely to be in a better position to fund their own legal expenses? Will children simply go to the richer parent? When my daughter had to sue her surgeon for clinical neglect she was told she would not qualify for legal aid because she had some equity in her house, but she was not able to remortgage as she was not working. She was desperately ill and could not possibly have managed to sell her house and move. The surgeon had the might of the Medical Defence Union behind him. In the event, she had no option but to use a 'no win/no fee' solicitor.
I believe legal aid is not available to sue for libel, or to defend a libel accusation. Once again, the rich and powerful can ride roughshod over the poor. Surely justice should be available for all.

I just can't keep up with the number of 'initiatives' to save money, so many of which seem to have been dreamed up by an intern on the back of an envelope. The gap between the remumeration of the top earners and the lowest is one of the highest in the world and is getting greater, I believe.
Wake up, you government supporters, before all the humanitarian gains of the last 100 years are whittled away. Of course, some of you might be quite happy to see the 'undeserving poor' getting their comeuppance and feel that you are in a positon to judge who they are.

HMRC has thrown away millions by allowing some businesses to pay the minimum of tax or interest. Perhaps the new Head will be different from the last, but I am not holding my breath. This is quite separate from the subject of legal tax avoidance schemes. (And one of the men who was at the forefront of devising such schems is now a government advisor on tax avoidance - you couldn't make it up!)

I know that it will make no difference how often we give the correct statistics - they will be ignored in favour of tabloid headlines designed to scare the middle classes into accepting anything the government comes up with. Beware - you could be next. 'They came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did nothing.........'

I am too angry to be tongue in cheek in my posts, BAnana. If benefits are designed to keep people just above poverty level, then presumably the minimum wage was designed to do the same, but food, petrol, fuel, etc. have risen sharply so it follows that some people will now have fallen below the level at which civilised life can be preserved.
I don't want to get into the tired old public sector versus private sector argument again but I note that all public sector salary increases are frozen for the foreseeable future at 1% while inflation is above that, so they will be sharing in the general reduction in income. (Not we pensioners, of course - we are sacrosanct.)
Please do not allow one section of society to be set against another which would play into the government's hands.

I now await the usual insults - loonie leftie, bleeding heart liberal, do gooder, etc.

And as an addendum to the points you make so cogently, Greatnan, the nonsense is that these so called money saving measures will in fact cost much more.

Two examples:

The bedroom tax. If people are forced out of their, for the most part, modest houses, they will be have to go to much more expensive private accommodation where the landlord will be subsidised by 'the taxpayer' (BTW according to the Condems people in social housing don't pay taxes) and in addition to that, uprooting families will certainly cause social unrest and will have economic consequences in increased illness, crime and anti social behaviour.

Legal aid. If a person appears before the court who is inarticulate or who has a poor grasp of English, or appears in the Family court without legal representation, the only consequence is poor justice with the CPS putting their case and the defendant struggling to manage the complexities of the system as well as state their case. Or becoming so emotional that family tensions become even worse with malign consequences for the children.

Court time will be doubled, appeals will increase dramatically, and family disputes will cost the state much more.

Thank you, Micelf - it is good to hear from someone who sees what is happening in the system.

Greatnan three cheers! Having watched Ken Loach's 'Spirit of 45' when, on times I was moved to tears, I couldn't agree with you more. My GC are due soon, I shall do what was suggested at the end of the film and tell them of our hopes (and fears) for the future. and

i heard John Humprhys trying to get an answer out of Iain Duncan Smith this Morning about the welfare benefit cuts. IDS totally ignored the point made by JH about the lack of one bedroom rented accomodation in relation to the numbers needed.

www.scotsman.com/news/uk/bedroom-tax-iain-duncan-smith-defends-reforms-1-2870419
I quote.

" ^Labour has concentrated its fire on the so-called “bedroom tax” - and today produced figures showing there was suitable alternative housing for fewer than one in 20 of those affected.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne said answers to freedom of information requests from 37 local authorities showed a huge shortfall in smaller properties.

In total 96,041 households faced losing benefit in the areas but there were only 3,688 one and two-bed homes available, they suggested.

The National Housing Federation - which represents housing associations - has warned the cut could actually increase the cost to the taxpayer if people are forced into private rented homes.^"

The conservative party are or so out of touch with reality of life on a low income.

Sorry for any errors. I pressed post not preview.

He (or one of his henchmen) said today that he believed most people in Britain agreed with what they were doing - I can only assume that they are relying on the selfishness or lack of vision of the majority to see through their concerted attacks on the most vulnerable people.

Aren't there supposed to be civil servants and advisors to advise the government in power what is feasible and what isn't? I despair at the lack of common sense,logic and foresight of these supposedly intelligent people running our country.

Joan , have you ever thought of living in the UK ?

Ian Duncan Smith said that "he could live on £53 a week if he had to" Here is a link to a petition started today to challenge him to do just that.

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/iain-duncan-smith-iain-duncan-smith-to-live-on-53-a-week

Yes they are supposed to nfkdumpling but i understand that ministers are not keen on listening. "attention span of a gnat" is the phrase i have heard. If people who understand the issue get to speak to a minister they get about 15 minutes if they are lucky and the minister will probably talk more than listen.
Career politicians have never run anything (scary that you could get to be PM having never run anything - they don't even organise their own local elections) and most civil servants have never run anything other than bits of the civil service. Insulated from the real world I'm, afraid

Miceelf , what wonderful words ,

Had to go and look them up.

Addendum
Cogently

Love it to death .,

blueskies I'm going to the People's Assembly conference - would like to meet up on the Friday with whoever else is going.

Stansgran You state that Tony Benn is a hypocrite because he is "comfortably off" and yet he still supported the introduction of comprehensive schools. In fact, Tony Benn came from a very wealthy family and was not dependent on his children passing the 11 plus to get a good education - he could easily educate them privately. In fact he removed them from private education and sent them to comprehensive schools.

You and some other gransnetters feel that the grammar school/secondary school system was a good one but there are also people who feel equally strongly that it was not. A selection process at the age of 11 determined whether young people would receive an academic focused or a trades focused education. There was a huge inequity of provision of grammar school places in different areas, far more resources allocated to grammar school, and massive gender inequality - there being, very significantly more places for boys than girls. The fact that your relatives benefited from a grammar school education does not really provide grounds for retaining a selective system.

Bedroom Tax. The "under occupation charge" is presented as restoring "fairness" - those that have a spare bedroom should make way for those who live in over-crowded accommodation. However, there is not enough one and two bedroom accommodation available for "under occupiers" to move into. So it will basically be a means by which money can be extracted from poorer people, citing "social justice", rather than cost-cutting, as the reason. Clever marketing.

How did we get into this state? Or has it always been this bad and we weren't mature enough or had the time to notice.

(Signed the petition - he won't do it of course, but it makes a point)

44,000 people have signed, so far, in the first day. This is good going.

JessM Have signed - thanks.

Signed and spread to friends and relatives.

Nonu

No need to be embarrassed, Micelf, for using perfectly normal words.

Of course, it is easy to live on a small sum for one week - but what about when an electric bill comes in, or something breaks down, or you need new shoes? I would like to see the people who think living on benefits gives you the life of Riley to try it for a year.

Normal words , doh !!

Repeat , love it to death , laugh ..

Nonu - it would be really good to hear your thoughts on the subject of the thread. I am sure you have something very insightful to contribute.

Me to know , you to find out .Laughj

Have a wonderful ,wonderful evening , whatever you will be doing , I surely will be .

Whilst everyone would love to fully support the level of benefits this country has enjoyed in the past, the sad fact is, we can't afford it. Germany, the one European country which is economically viable doesn't provide anything like the benefits we enjoy. Wanting something and being able to afford it, are two different things. Who pays?

I agree with you about insightful, if only I knew what it meant