Is this good news (budget)?

Have just watched this.

thebiggive.org.uk/

That was me when I was in primary school. I had books to read and newspapers to take me away from that world.
I thought we should have moved on from then.

Ever thought about the "problem" families that are shipped out to other councils, and the knock on effect that has on existing residents?

Petallus, this in Cameron's own county. Over 10% of pensioners live in poverty.

"Age UK Oxfordshire estimates that 14,000 of the county’s 120,000 pensioners are now living below the poverty line. They said: ‘Rising costs degrade the quality of life for people…Older people face a squeeze…Energy costs are rocketing, food does not get any cheaper.’ Many pensioners living in areas of Banbury and Oxford are officially classified as ‘deprived’ while nearly half of those living in rural Oxfordshire are in the worst 10 percent in the country in terms of accessibility of services.
Young people’s lives blighted by stress and cuts: Teachers say services are ‘at breaking point… The budget-cutting austerity agenda has reduced both staffing and resource levels in schools, placing increasing pressure on teachers to achieve more with less.’

Gina, disability activist: ‘I'm living on noodles, the belt won't go any tighter. As a wheelchair user who needs kidney dialysis, I'm terrified. I depend upon DLA and I face the capping and taxing of DLA and the axing of Carers’ allowance’. Gina, an activist with DPAC, will be speaking at the Unite Against Austerity demonstration on Saturday 30th May, Bonn Square.

Homeless and vulnerable people are being sent to live in Birmingham, Cheltenham and Cardiff by a council who’ve consistently failed to provide housing support in high-rent Oxfordshire. High levels of nurse vacancies have led two community hospitals in Oxfordshire to shut beds."

We bought the Kindle for my husband's 65th birthday, and put lots of books on for him. It was because he enjoyed reading but was having difficulty holding a book and turning pages because of his ataxia. He could also alter the size of lettering to make it easier to read.
After he died six months later, I never touched it for a year. Then we started using it again for my grandson.
Then Amazon tax problems surfaced, so we stopped using it again.
I must admit I buy books and DVDs,etc., from places like www.hive.co.uk in order to support the small local bookshops, like you, GT. Their ebooks do not support kindle. That's the only time I will use Amazon.
Like someone else said, now all we need them to do is pay their workers a decent wage.

Thing is dj I am now so used to sourcing things elsewhere and finding bargains whilst supporting small independents that I don't think I'll go back - haven't got a kindle though... anyway don't really trust Amazon, they'll find a new tax dodge

There you are, GrannyTwice. taxresearch praises us as well.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/05/23/amazons-going-to-pay-uk-tax/

Dj.

Not called GrannyTwice for nothing.

We're a strong force, we boycotters. Now for the rest!

Oops

Yes it's true dj I knew my boycott would work

Yes, it's true dj I knew my boycott would work

I think they're already doing it, so feel free...

When they do, I'll start using my Kindle again!

But at least Amazon has agreed to start paying UK taxes!

One less thing for you to be campaigning about, durhamjen

www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/we_are_not_in_this_together_welfare_cuts_will_hit_the_most_vulnerable_hardest

A good article about what to expect - and what not to - from the cuts. Says what you said, petallus, about leaving the pension alone.

I am very much at the stage of wait and see what is to come.

DC is boss of GO as far as I am concerned.

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/20/income-poverty-third-uk-population

And it's actually George Osborne who's in charge of the budget, soontobe.

'messes up' or 'sorts out' soon?

Come on, this was in the Guardian!

It's like believing an article in the Daily Mail about Labour!

I think that if DC messes up the welfare budget much more, he wont get away with it at the next election. He is skating on thin ice in my opinion.

As no one has answered my question, I will attempt to do so myself.

Child poverty

The current government definition is “children living in households with needs adjusted (‘equivalised’) incomes below 60 per cent of the median income….
Income is adjusted for different need (so called ‘equivalisation’) on the principle that the same income will stretch further in a smaller family than a larger one”.

So as the median income of the UK is around £27,000 p.a., any family with a household income of less than £16,200 (after housing costs) is classed as being 'in poverty'.

I don't think DD earns much more than that, and she has two children to bring up. No wonder so many families fall into that category.

Hello!

I think more people are getting PIP than was expected. Rumours are going round that the 'with an aid' descriptors will go for a start.

Child benefit, disability benefits and tax credits are all soft targets. I doubt he'll deal with the tax avoidance schemes that big business get away with.