tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post5280487013604607297..comments2023-12-09T07:21:51.160+00:00Comments on The Druid: Fighting for Anglesey: Reforming Welfare (UPDATED)Paul Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01021606156107333019noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-48476276295321723552010-08-05T22:37:05.676+01:002010-08-05T22:37:05.676+01:00Stop breeding for benefits, sterlise single mother...<i>Stop breeding for benefits, sterlise single mothers when they have had their first child, it will stop thee culture of benefit breeding.<br /><br />Men who breed for a roof over their heads and a cushy life breeding, should be castrated.</i><br /><br />And raving right wingers like you should be pelted with dung in the streets.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-29500923555414552352010-08-05T18:31:51.200+01:002010-08-05T18:31:51.200+01:00Stop breeding for benefits, sterlise single mother...Stop breeding for benefits, sterlise single mothers when they have had their first child, it will stop thee culture of benefit breeding.<br /><br />Men who breed for a roof over their heads and a cushy life breeding, should be castrated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-3353274710264951542010-08-05T16:52:57.454+01:002010-08-05T16:52:57.454+01:00As Puck says, any chance someone could put up a s...As Puck says, any chance someone could put up a summary?<br /><br />In fact Druid, any chance you could stick it up as a blog?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-40995431933286202262010-08-05T16:14:22.434+01:002010-08-05T16:14:22.434+01:00The Welsh book shop in Llangefni sells Glowg. Its ...The Welsh book shop in Llangefni sells Glowg. Its out today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-7001267046510732472010-08-05T15:01:12.220+01:002010-08-05T15:01:12.220+01:00Errr .... A summary then ... please turn the ligh...Errr .... A summary then ... please turn the lights on .... I can see ... take me with you ....Pucknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-15315890051327585722010-08-05T11:49:59.167+01:002010-08-05T11:49:59.167+01:00No copies at Asda, Llangefni. Maybe the Council b...No copies at Asda, Llangefni. Maybe the Council bought them all?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-41108459659175157242010-08-05T07:43:15.743+01:002010-08-05T07:43:15.743+01:00"I found Golwg360 on-line but couldn't se..."I found Golwg360 on-line but couldn't see anything there about IOACC. (Plus it would take me all day to translate)<br /><br />Can you give a summary on here?"<br /><br />For commercial reasons, Glowg - the magazine - will contain the juicy stories they report on first. Most of the site is agency news and articles from past editions. It'll take a week or so for this week's stories to appear on the web edition, although not all stories do appear there.<br /><br />Guess a trip to Asda is on the cards for a lot of us today, then?The Great Councillininoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-47817516458612619602010-08-05T01:28:47.729+01:002010-08-05T01:28:47.729+01:00I found Golwg360 on-line but couldn't see anyt...I found Golwg360 on-line but couldn't see anything there about IOACC. (Plus it would take me all day to translate)<br /><br />Can you give a summary on here?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-69424786052943419162010-08-04T23:28:58.237+01:002010-08-04T23:28:58.237+01:00Clive McGregor has gone off on the sick.
After th...Clive McGregor has gone off on the sick. <br />After the editor of Golwg tried to interview him on Friday he shit himself, went home and reported in sick, not to be seen since.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-29729471289605807412010-08-04T19:56:55.138+01:002010-08-04T19:56:55.138+01:00GOLWG.
NOT TO BE MISSED. Read the article on Angle...GOLWG.<br />NOT TO BE MISSED. Read the article on Anglesey County Council in tomorrows GOLWG.<br /><br />An excellent and very under-promoted weekly magazine that publishes when the big boys shy away under threat from councillors' solicitors. The editor should be given a civil award, really.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-45838613108211748432010-08-04T19:55:22.236+01:002010-08-04T19:55:22.236+01:00And what of the comparison between tax or benefits...And what of the comparison between tax or benefits fraud against the cost of enforcement? I seem to recall that the Child Support Agency (i.e. benefit claims avoidance agency) used 80p to chase each £1 not paid. That is absurd, and I wouldn't be surprised if the figures for benefits and tax enforcement were similarly unsustainable in their present form.The Great Councillininoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-40208330867696699482010-08-04T18:39:52.934+01:002010-08-04T18:39:52.934+01:00GOLWG.
NOT TO BE MISSED. Read the article on Angle...GOLWG.<br />NOT TO BE MISSED. Read the article on Anglesey County Council in tomorrows GOLWYG.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-44392329710304531272010-08-04T17:12:00.159+01:002010-08-04T17:12:00.159+01:00If anyone is guilty of illegal Tax avoidance/evasi...If anyone is guilty of illegal Tax avoidance/evasion then they should face the full force of the law in the same way that people who commit benefit fraud.Ok the amounts are usually smaller but it is still fraud and they should pay the penalty.Old Monanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-5605258548921643032010-08-04T15:00:20.367+01:002010-08-04T15:00:20.367+01:00Interesting post Druid.
Governments of all colour...Interesting post Druid.<br /><br />Governments of all colours have always manipulated figures for their advantage, but that’s not to say there is not a lot of ill health in many Valleys communities as a result of the Coal and Steel Industries that you wont find elsewhere. However rural Wales has its own problems in creating employment around transport and other infrastructure issues that haven’t been addressed by previous Government’s either so it’s difficult to compare areas directly.<br /><br />One of the reason why Incapacity or Sickness Benefit was created by the Thatcher Government was to move the medium term unemployed in post Industrial areas of Britain that subsequently became and remain high unemployment areas from the Official Unemployment figures to prove that there weren’t as many on the dole as many politicians, economists and welfare experts claimed at the time. <br /><br />Those same reasons still apply today as they did in the 1980’s and 1990’s for any Government, after all even if you accept that half the people claiming IB are capable of doing some type of work then you would suddenly have unemployment rates of 18, 20 of in some cases more than 20% unemployment in many parts of Wales. That is politically unpalatable whatever your leanings and it would also highlight the failures in economic and employment policies for Wales over the past 30 – 40 years that no party will acknowledge.<br /><br />As I and others knew even before we carried out a major piece of research recently, until long term investment in individual support, training and sustainable job creation in areas of high benefit dependency is a serious proposition then most benefit reform will help a few, but on the whole costs more than is actually saves and amounts to little more than administrative and bureaucratic changes to make politicians of all stripes feel as if they are doing something and getting tough on the so called scroungers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-27816582823416098142010-08-04T14:38:26.034+01:002010-08-04T14:38:26.034+01:00Maybe low earners could band together under the um...Maybe low earners could band together under the umberella of a large organisation, then they'd be eligible for obscene tax breaks, much like the Barclay Bros, Paul D'Arce, that nice Mr Desmond (prop. porn UK) and other worthies who complain so bitterly about the poor in our national press.<br /><br />Pass them apples.Pucknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-26256141661065750442010-08-04T14:30:27.551+01:002010-08-04T14:30:27.551+01:00Can anyone post the figures for the cost of benefi...Can anyone post the figures for the cost of benefit fraud against the cost of tax avoidance/evasion?<br /><br />Then we can see who milks the system, those who receive little money or those who are reluctant to part with a little money.;-)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-87538756312396737182010-08-04T11:38:45.873+01:002010-08-04T11:38:45.873+01:00Same old Tories? At least they won't be in pow...Same old Tories? At least they won't be in power after this Parliament.<br /><br />So the 'Great' Councillini shows his true colours. He obviously lives in a pampered world.<br /><br />I am unemployed as of 6 weeks ago, I am not claiming benefits and I work at whatever comes along(legally). I ran my own businesss until 3 years ago which unfortunately collapsed and we lost everything. I did not go on benefits but went out to find a job and survived.<br /><br />Despite my situation I believe the Government have no option but to get this country back on its feet after the vast amounts of our money that the last Govt spent which will put the country in debt for generations to come. This Govt are doing its best to remedy that situation and whilst I might cringe at some of its desicions, they have to taken and people will have to make the best of it.<br /><br />Whilst there are people like his/her neighbours who get caught up in the system there are also thousands of people who are milking the system and are basically commiting fraud with our money. <br />Despite peoples preconcieved ideas about the Tories which eventually become left wing myths the Tories have always been a compassionte Party but have had to take desicions that are best for the country as a whole and not just for a select few.Old Monanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-46796935336752639392010-08-04T09:44:28.601+01:002010-08-04T09:44:28.601+01:00Same old Tories? At least they won't be in pow...<i>Same old Tories? At least they won't be in power beyond this parliament. The Lib. Dems? They won't get my vote ever again.</i><br /><br />And do you really think Labour will reverse any of this? Currently the ordinary electorate don't blame the tories for doing the cuts - they blame Labour for causing the reasons. The LibDems were always going to struggle no matter who they went into coalition with. It is myth they are left wing. They themselves are a coalition of right wing 'Orange Book' liberals and left wing Social Democrats.<br /><br />What is clear is that even if the electorate decides to keep First-Past-The-Post as opposed to AV, the redrawing and balancing of the constituencies will still go ahead and will be in place by the next election. That in itself means that invariably we will have a Coalition and invariably the largest party in Westminster will probably be the tories. It will also make England the key battle ground with Wales and Scotland merely sideshows as both will have fewer MPs.<br /><br />David Milliband will win the Labour leadership and Labour will drift further right than under Blair. They will also lose the next election quite badly. Proposed funding changes will also seriously damage them as they are already in a oprecarious financial position and rely entirely on the goodwill of the banks.<br /><br />And I say that as someone who has been a Labour member for over 30 years. Labour's core support wants a more openly left wing party and they are not going to support this New Labour style rubbish any longer. What will happen is they void those voters leave will be filled by social democrat ex LibDems which in turn will drag Labour more rightwards and probably see the end of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-9500407662708558382010-08-04T08:29:14.074+01:002010-08-04T08:29:14.074+01:00If it is true that there was a statistically-motiv...If it is true that there was a statistically-motivated switch to an alternative benefits system, then there should be evidence for that, either obvious or less so. I'm sure it could have happened, but is there any genuine evidence for it?<br /><br />Certainly, there are factors, already noted, that could lead to significant differences in genuine incapacity levels, so there is perhaps a need to consider those in more detail rather than asserting the rate should be even everywhere - that is overly-simplistic in my view.<br /><br />It seems to me that in high unemployment rate areas, there is, understandably if there is no work, a feeling of despair which leads to a 'search' for a way out of the misery of poverty. It seems clear to me that local doctors, largely unaccountable to anyone, have in some cases willingly cooperated in helping people get incapacity benefits. You can look at this as fraud, or you can, to my mind more realistically, look at it as a professional person using his/her position to help the community. We can criticise from a position of middle-class comfort, but if you've no work, things are grim, no matter how low your aspirations.<br /><br />IDS has shown some left-leaning compassion during his time with a think tank, so perhaps he might transfer some of this thinking to government. Then again, I'm not persuaded that the Tories have moved away from smacking the working class over the head as much as they possibly can. <br /><br />And of course, there is a need to consider genuine cases of incapacity. My neighbour has two very obvious and serious conditions, both of which carry constant life-threatening effects. I understand that she has had to recently undergo a tough interview, which was very difficult for her given a twice-weekly hospital schedule, in order to prove her incapacity. There is a need for demonstrating incapacity is genuine to the state where benefits are being drawn, but I'm not sure that an administrator, who is not a qualified medical person, is the right way to do this; it does rather make a mockery of professional medical staff, whose opinion is effectively ignored. It's too much like 'you can't walk? Let me take those sticks off you and see if you can still stand. Now dance!'<br /><br />Same old Tories? At least they won't be in power beyond this parliament. The Lib. Dems? They won't get my vote ever again.The Great Councillininoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-815996036572513552010-08-03T23:02:43.711+01:002010-08-03T23:02:43.711+01:00I think it was Maggie Thatcher that transfered peo...I think it was Maggie Thatcher that transfered people from "the dole" to Invalidity Benefit (as it then was) in the South Wales Valleys at least, so it must have happened elsewhere, and it was definately to massage the unemployment figuresAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-74139509034125329462010-08-03T22:28:43.999+01:002010-08-03T22:28:43.999+01:00I have my doubts that people coming off (or forced...I have my doubts that people coming off (or forced off) IB will set up as self-employed. They will have precious little cash backing them and the current banking climate - which will last at ;east a decade - precludes any chance of overdarfat and makes start-up loans highky unlikely unless you have something to offer as collateral - such as a house - which is highly unlikely. Government grants will also be far less readily available than they have been for some considerable time to come.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-33412538988445884692010-08-03T21:59:09.924+01:002010-08-03T21:59:09.924+01:00I believe that when people were switched from unem...I believe that when people were switched from unemployment to incapacity benefit that the rate of benefit was about the same, so it didn’t cost the state too much and people didn’t complain because they weren’t losing income. Now the situation is different with IB paying more than IS (income support or whatever it is we have now), so a switch would save the government money but hurt people financially.<br /><br />I would have thought that what will happen is that those who are capable will set up as self employed and claim tax credits (or whatever replaces it), which probably will be a good thing overall, (esteem, self discipline, self generated income). My concern would be for those who have a real difficulty (social, medical, educational reasons) in getting useful work or setting up a small business and what will be provided to enable those who find themselves in that position.Prometheuswritesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-90978819209537119482010-08-03T21:30:46.478+01:002010-08-03T21:30:46.478+01:00It's well established that from the mid-1980&#...It's well established that from the mid-1980's right up to present that in areas of high unemployment amongst older workers, where there was little likelyhood of a big improvement in prospects, then in order to keep the figures down long-term unemployed were switched to Incapacity thus removing them from the figures.<br /><br />Lies, damn lies and statistics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-35807595886697261432010-08-03T20:52:52.525+01:002010-08-03T20:52:52.525+01:00That should read 'more illnessess in 'Meth...That should read 'more illnessess in 'Methyr Tydfil'Prometheuswritesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130000348899973408.post-45735838489226183652010-08-03T20:48:30.066+01:002010-08-03T20:48:30.066+01:00Re: Update
One explanation could be that Merthyr ...Re: Update<br /><br />One explanation could be that Merthyr Tydfil is an urban industrial and mining area whereas Ceredigion or Monmouthshire are primarily agricultural and rural, which would result in more illnesses arising from dust, chemicals & unhealthy heavy industry work environments.<br /><br />However I fear you are correct and that there is a manipulation of 'out of work' categorisations and a selective interpretation of statistics.<br /><br />What are the 'other out of work' in the graph? (the red bar)Prometheuswritesnoreply@blogger.com