Everything is wrong in this country

Most of the people slinging terms around like Marxist or Stalinist haven’t even read the Enid Blyton version of political theory. If any calls St Nigel or someone like Rees Mogg “fascist ” they would throw their hands up in horror.

Meanwhile, I’ve just read ( not reported in the r w media) that Dominic Raab has sent a bill of £2k to each of the families of the 39 Vietnamese who died in theEssex lorry for the return of their bodies. All heart those Tories.

My DD works in a govt dept and yes if not working non EU folks have to wait 2 years for benefits .But current EU folks can get benefits when asked out of interest why UK they generally say we give benefit like rest of Eu but we also give healthcare do can bring relatives over for treatment and pay the rent with free education and bonus we give any kids born here a UK passport .Also massive amount of men bring one school age child as once in school they can appeal to stay ! Quite a eye opener

Benefits - it's a myth that anyone can get benefits easily, whether they're EU nationals or British citizens. The process is so complicated and unforgiving, its designed to refuse even those most in need.

The report that growstuff posted was in fact over 4 yrs old, since that time the regulations are even tighter, bearing in mind that most migrants are doing low paid work families are likely to be claiming tax credits because housing costs are so high.

Pre-2012 academics were hard pushed to find anyone classed as destitute, except perhaps the odd immigrant who did not qualify for welfare.

In 2019 we have 4000000 people classed as destitute.

What does that mean? What is the definition of destitute the academics use?

It means a FAMILY living on £140 per week

Think of it. Not one person but a whole little family.

You can’t even begin to do a budget here.

In 2019 we have 4000000 people classed as destitute.

Could you provide the source for that please Whitewave? I've double checked and can only find the statistics from You.Gov which states 1.5 million on their last forecast, (June 2018) which, whilst an appalling number, is significantly less than your information. Can you confirm where you obtained your stats please?

Davidhs Are you aware that the freezing of Local Housing Allowance means that rent is hardly ever covered by housing benefit? Furthermore, the threshold for Universal Credit also means that virtually nobody employed and being paid living wage, especially if living in a couple, is eligible. That's true for everybody - UK nationals and immigrants. That's why the majority of families in poverty have at least one person in work. The idea that immigrants are claiming millions in benefits really is not true.

You could be partly correct Chewbacca. The most recent JRF report on poverty states that 1.5 million are destitute, while 4.1 million live in poverty. Destitution is classified as long-term and persistent poverty.

These are the headlines from the December 2018 report:

Child poverty has been rising since 2011/12;
4.1 million children are living in poverty, a rise of 500,000 in the last five years;
Four million workers are living in poverty –a rise of more than half a million over five years; and
In-work poverty has been rising even faster than employment, driven almost entirely by increasing poverty among working parents.

You can read a download the full report here:

www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2018

Susiewakie It is not true that all children born in the UK automatically receive British passports. Goodness why your daughter thinks that.

Thank you for that growstuff I took my figures from the guardian whilst eating breakfast?

It looks as though the journalist didn't understand the difference between poverty and destitution. It's a very fine line. Destitution is more serious because it's long term and there will almost certainly be reasons why it's almost impossible to escape. Poverty is also serious and means people probably don't have enough money for basics, but can be temporary - possibly caused by unemployment or serious illness.

There are other reports showing that the majority of people experiencing poverty have, at some point in their lives, contributed to the system via income tax and national insurance. National insurance was originally introduced to support people in emergencies such as unemployment, so they are perfectly entitled to benefits. In fact, UK unemployment benefits are much lower than some other countries such as Germany.

The main reason both poverty and destitution have risen over the last five years is because working age benefits have been frozen, Local Housing Allowance doesn't cover rents in most areas and the eligibility for Universal Credit means that most working people can't claim it.

Hi Chewbacca and Maizie D, John McDonnell said he would go too, so hopefully someone like Keir Starmer or Yvette Cooper will come to the fore. What is 'normal' for Labour? Not as far left as they are at the moment. To be honest, I may not like the current Labour leaders, but at least I know who they are. Johnston is not in charge. That is obvious from his inability and reluctance to take part in interviews and discussion. We were promised a university educated, classically literate leader. We can now see him for the sham he has always been. What is important for our country is that we have no idea who, or from where, the strings are being pulled.

What is 'normal' for Labour? Not as far left as they are at the moment

I'm sorry, Maremia, but that means absolutely nothing at all. 'far left' is a totally subjective judgement.

What is more relevant is what exactly do 'Labour but don't like JC' people want for the country and how they think it's going to be achieved?

What is important for our country is that we have no idea who, or from where, the strings are being pulled.

Oh, come on. It's pretty obvious that the strings are being pulled by Russia (how many £millions have Russian oligarchs donated to the tory party recently? Why won't Johnson release the Select Committee report on Russian influence?) and the USA far right. Steve Bannon anyone? Quite a good mate of Johnson and Farage...

Maizie D, agree about Steve Bannon, and raise you Arron Banks. Would be good for the country if we could read the 'ready to go' Russian dossier before the 12th of December.

The first week of the Tory election £5 million was given by 3 billionaires.

They are paying for the Tories to support their interests.

You need to get out a bit more Whitewave, stop watching C4 & BBC (both publicly funded companies with hidden agendas); read about what's happening in the rest of Europe, Asia, Africa, South America & Eastern Europe. Only then would you see how lucky we are in this country and why everyone wants to live here.....

This

This

With respect to weeds on verges, you do know, I suppose, that weeds are wildflowers and just what a large number of insect species need? Botanists are actually working quite hard to get people and councils to stop desecrating road verges when it's not necessary.

This is good thing, so you can cross that one off your list.

Opal

Something needs to be done about ragwort, though.

Ragwort's actually useful to quite a large number of species. It's only really if it gets cut and dried and mixed up with hay that it's a problem for horses and cattle.