Labour supporters may be ignorant.

It was, and remains, a right that if you live more than 3 miles from the nearest secondary school you are entitled to free transport.

I know it is now, hadn't realised the same applied in those days.

I just checked - 2.9 miles! But there was no bus even for those who lived much further out, we all caught service buses. Perhaps those living further away from school got a bus pass.

it just felt like miles on a bike on a cold October morning.

Free bus pass as it was two buses, one to city centre and one out, and took at least 45 minutes depending on timing.

Same for me exactly, two bus rides and at least 45 minutes to get to school.No free bus pass!

Yes, two buses for me, or else a bus into town and a good walk out of town the other way.

Or my trusty bike.

It was between 3 and 4 miles from my house to the school, but the weird thing is it wasn't even my nearest school. The catchment area must have changed later because my youngest brother went to the closer school. I don't think it was even 2 miles away. I would have had to get a bus in to town and out again, but the bus stop was almost a mile away from the school anyway. I used to walk with my brother and meet up with my best friend half way which was fine, but it was miserable in bad weather.

trisher that list of things that the LEA had to provide is interesting and a sign of the times. I remember when I worked for Social Security on the means tested benefit section (Supplementary Benefit or Supp Ben) in the late 70s early 80s, there was a similar list of what the benefit was supposed to cover. This stuck in my mind because the cost of a daily newspaper was on the list. The important thing about the list was that in theory you could tot up the cost of the things on the list and get a rough idea of how the rate of benefit was calculated. In 1988 Supp Ben was replaced with Income Support (or IS) and a similar list was never published.

IS was part of a major benefits reform programme intended to simplify the system. It also brought huge job cuts - tens of thousands of jobs. I have always believed that was the turning point for means tested benefits and Social Security benefits in general. That same level of consideration of what the benefit was supposed to cover was never again even a factor in developing the new benefits.

"Labour supporters may be ignorant". What a very nasty OP. Applying the CRAPPE test to the sources quoted might have been useful. Just a couple would tell you the first article does not stand up as a reference.

What knowledge is it that LP supporters are supposed to lack? Was it the fact that the writer did not only support the Iraq War, he advocated it. Was it the fact that he is a known critic of "Stop the War"? Knowing that would mean we could judge the likelihood of this man writing in a reasonably unbiased way - he isn't going to is he?

He has also written a book called "How the left lost its way" so I imagine he is hoping to get more buyers on the back of this article. Reading anything of his soon shows you that, like the OP, being personally rude is about the level of his argument - as it seems to be of some who have agreed with his nastiness on this thread.

Thanks Wmkf I think it is so interesting to look at how things once were. There is a lot made of how much money people get now, but in the past there was less money and more support in different ways, that's all gone now.

Was x amount included for weekly savings for Christmas Trisher?

Sorry Annie your post is completely incomprehensible. Would you like to explain when and what you mean?

Sorry Trisher , meant Wilma