tegwini

http://www.blinkx.com/video/benefit-fraud-on-the-rise/hMtvFMRjPJyTlMSrMCx06A on the increase of benefit fraud. Tegwini

Lots of IB fraud about- even this useless government now admits it- and their spokesman recently spoke about the amount not known about as similar to the iceberg below the surface. No one disputes those who DO deserve it, but the increasing numbers of fraudsters warrant an absolute reform of the system.   And UK tax payers strongly object to benefit fraud.    Categories of claimants have also increased - drug addicts, obese people,  people with excema the depressed & stressed - many of whom could work in some kind of job.  But as I mentioned before,  the benefits often exceed the amounts such people could ever earn - understandable many battle to get on IB and  GPs are pressurised and even threatened to comply.  Tony- it doesn't take any medical training, but rather common sense to be sceptical when someone supposedly too ill to work can extend & renovate his home; & another one I know of manages to garden for others, and do admin & etc for the church:   another one  with 'back problems' manages play golf daily with a golf handicap of  2;  an ex-employee of OH had a wife with a 'problem back' & was on IB for 15 years and fit & healthy managed many activities requiring a level of fitness not many have, and  even managed to have a new Volvo estate on IB funded by the state- a newer, better car than her husband's professionally qualified employer !   I also knew a rep on IB, he travelled extensively for Woods of Windsor - car also funded by IB. I suppose he was at least working,  perhaps paying tax,   but how illogical is this ?   He was even proud to show his IB parking badge- major advantage that,  for a rep.  The link below also of interest here. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7358878.stm Tegwini

Hi Russethouse I am still working (although should be retired) part- time in education.  Working  full-time at present,  and in the holidays.   OH was self-employed for years, so I have seen both sides. Not sure why, but in Wiltshire, near Salisbury,  there seems to be loads of IB claimants that I know about,  none of whom are remotely deserving of the funding they get.    And, they do get hundreds per week if you add it all up. Regards Tegwini  

So you can't even quote Charles Dickens ( the law is an ass) here- or talk about a horse/donkey mix ??!  I rather think the censor 'thingy' must be American, ass is not bad language in English. Regards Tegwini  

The full amount for IB can be substantial when everything is added up & included - it NOT just £80 + pw, but can amount to a few hundred  pw with all the allowances etc.  Many work full-time for less. Some IB claimants are unemployable after being on benefits for years - or decades, and would need at least an after-tax and NIC senior management or professional  salary/position to receive the same amount of tax-free money. Most were not capable of such a job to start with. How can this be defended ?  How can this be fair ?   Tegwini

Thank you WB Those of us living in the UK & paying UK tax do have a right & an interest in the UK government not wasting any more than they presently do.    Goodness knows what the national debt will be once this useless government is gone. And, the percentage is high for fraudulent IB claims - difficult to put a figure on it, in fact the OP who stated that it was tiny can only be guessing, do the fraudsters perhaps confess ?   I accept that some, a tiny few, are discovered, but the number of fraudsters is rather like the iceberg equation - most you do not see!  The total cost is  £12.5 billion pa and increasing year by year - a massive increase in the last decade.   2.64 million claimants - clearly many are valid and the public would always support them,  but a large number of young claiments now, and many do not have a valid claim.  I know more fraudulent claimants than honest ones - one I met some years ago had a bad back- supposedly, and played golf daily & had a single figure handicap.  He was on a permanent holiday.   And is probably on full pension now, his NIC also paid for by the taxpayer.  Many  honest workers not managing to get a full pension. Unfair, to say the least. Tegwini

In my small Wiltshire village I know of 2 families on IB - for decades. And, enough money for a detached house, cars, caravan & often away on holiday.   The details given of a smallish amount weekly forgets the extras-  council tax reduced or not payable, and this can be as much as £200 pm, children with f.o.c. bus passes to school (we paid £5.50 daily aged 15+ 3 years ago), free specs/dentist bills, free prescriptions, full EMA - £30 pw for children 16-18,  mainly free parking, 'carer's allowance, car allowance- almost foc car &  lots of others too.       The IB claimnants with 'stress' ,'back ache' , spots, 'depression' & so on, know how to claim the full range of allowances.   The total amount is now billions - a huge percentage of the UK GNP. I've even met one in France with 'depression' funded from the UK, but well enough to be involved with a house renovation. Here people are really fed up with all this waste of tax  taken from working mugs like me - now that's depressing! Tegwini

Yup,    have read about murderers getting less - is the law an ass?? Tegwini

Crumbs- moaning about food in France! And moaning about the lack of vegetarian food too... I get by - pastas, pizza, omlettes with a variety of fillings,  veg curry,  veg cottage pie,  & we now find some veg pies eg tarte au poireau (leeks) initially thought of  as pears.  And we have found so many treats that we take back to the UK - creamed spinach (much much cheaper); jam (better quality); Atlantic salmon (much cheaper) for OH;  larger choice of fruit and vegetables  and so on ... Not so many vegetarians in France so you have to cook & not expect stuff in a box. Regards Tegwini     

Yes ErnieY But after a day with teenagers with attitude, and about 30 at at time and in a hot classroom, a bit of near mindless stuff does calm the nerves- either that or booze which isn't my thing.  I leave that to Mr T. Here you pay quite a bit more, AND to attempt to declare that you don't have a TV I hear is almost impossible. Regards Tegwini

Thanks Willow I will have another attempt once back from France,   off to France tomorrow - leaving before dawn! Regards Tegwini

Hi Dick Not bitter:    cynical maybe;   realistic - yes;    relevant- definitely;   useful- obviously,   and in my opinion correct on the damage that political correctness is doing to many western countries. Regards Tegwini

Thanks Willow I have downloaded it & clicked on 'run' when told to, but where is it?  I expected it to appear on the side of the screen, but nothing there.  I know how to use the insert facility, but can't see anything has changed - what next ??? Regards Tegwini

Thanks Dick Bill Gates was quoting C J Sykes,  but relevant - plus ca change ... Regards Tegwini ps how do you do French accents on this site?

  Hi ErnieY Also really fed,  up & being a boring old git I miss 'Weakest Link' & & 'Eggheads'.  And, unlike many we are forced to pay for this sport.  The BBC wastes lots of the enforced  tax we pay it,  & I also object to its left-wing bias.   And, licence fee now £158,  and doubtless increases planned. No choice here- they can send around the baliffs to you or even put you in prison for not paying the licence fee,    but presumably not in France ?  Link below of interest.   Regards Tegwini http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article2324240.ece

Whether  you like Bill Gates or not...this is pretty cool. Here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished out at a high school speech about 11 things they did  not learn in school. He talks about how  feel-good, politically correct teaching has  created a full generation of kids with no  concept of reality and how this concept  sets them up for failure in the real world.      RULE 1      Life  is not fair - get used to it.      RULE 2      The  world won't care about your self-esteem. The world      will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you  feel      good about yourself.      RULE 3      You  will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out      of high school. You won't be a vice president with      car phone, until you earn  both.      RULE 4      If  you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a      boss. He doesn't have tenure.      RULE 5      Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your      grandparents had a different word for burger flipping      they      called it Opportunity.      RULE 6      If  you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't      whine about your mistakes, learn from them.      RULE 7      Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as      they are now. They got that way from paying  your bills,      cleaning your clothes and  listening to you talk about      how cool  you are. So before you save the rain forest      from the parasites of your parent's generation, try      delousing the closet in your own room.      RULE 8      Your  school may have done away with winners and losers,      but life has not. In some schools they have  abolished      failing grades and they'll  give you as many times as      you want to  get the right answer. This doesn't bear the      slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.      RULE 9      Life  is not divided into semesters. You don't get      summers off and very few employers are interested in      helping you find yourself. Do that on your own  time.      RULE 10      Television is NOT real life. In real life people      actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to  jobs.      RULE 11      Be  nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for      one.   Useful also for UK kids I believe. Regards    Tegwini  

I've tried soot & bits of ash from the barbeque- they do seem to work, and holly likewise - a bit easier since I have lots in a hedge - I just snip bits off & surround special plants. Snails can be picked off & thrown onto the road   (or next door?!)  slugs I often throw onto the driveway hoping the birds will get them.  I do sometimes wonder if slugs are really tasty to them. So many slugs & snails around now with all this rain, difficult around vegetables, it is a  real problem to protect them.  With flowers  it's diffucult if you are a bird lover..   I have used slug pellets, but feel guilty using them-  I worry that my bird-brained feathered friends may decide to eat them,  but I doubt that dogs would. Regards Tegwini

Hi Kathy Yes I agree that children should walk to school etc -  this would reduce the number presently overweight.  I certainly always walked and then biked, and  occasionally got very wet, or skidded on ice  in the 50s.   These days we certainly think twice before going out via car, & nowadays combine various tasks when out in the car.   And,  we don't have a gas-guzzler of any kind.  I really can't understand why diesel costs so much more in the UK,  since I am told it costs less to produce. BUT, we surely deserve better than we have ?  - potholes, gridlock and cones and more cones,  and loads of stress and tension.  The crux of the problem is that the UK is  so overcrowded & it seems to be the government's aim to allow the number living here to increase further by another 17 m  by 2050.  That's one reason many of us have homes in France. I can't imagine what it will be like here in a few decades, but then I probably won't have to drive by then - or be able to!  I know what you mean by 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' - but  then they would probably be a Telegraph reader. Regards Tegwini      

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/fair_deal_for_drivers/2017868/The-end-of-the-road-for-British-motorists-as-cost-of-petrol-hits-new-high.html Old news perhaps, but important  for those in the UK and obliged to drive.  And for those in France - enjoy your first world roads. Here in rural Wiltshire our roads are appaling - pot-holded, crowded, mini-landslides if wet (and flintstone rips tyres as I discovered recently),  and forever covered with a multitude of cones and stationary  'work' men.  All these delays,  jams,  and road chaos costs, and must have a huge effect on UK Plc. Downton, just down the road,  has had a bridge  re-built over the Avon, more a stream here not a river, and this road was blocked for about a year as they re-built the bridge.  And,  grim conditions on the detour roads.  At times the alternatives were flooded  The new bridge is nothing special.   The Tarn viaduct went up in three years.  Some contrast!  This clearly proves the tolerance & complacency of UK motorists.  The French would not put up with this.    It does convince one that  UK state & local politicians have no respect whatsoever for motorists. for example: Britain has built fewer miles of motorway in the past 40 years than any developed country, with the result that the narrow, inadequate motorways we have inherited are more congested than any in Europe (and, consequently, are in constant need of the repairs that cause even greater congestion). Only a British government could have countenanced the further narrowing of the M4, one of the capital's vital arteries, with the introduction of the preposterous and maddening "Prescott lane" for buses and taxis. Spain has built tens of thousands of kilometres of superb new motorways in the past 20 years. Ireland, Italy, France and Germany have all benefited from improved motorway networks, which appear to have been largely funded by the EU. The UK has 8,000 cars for every kilometre of motorway. Germany has half that number. Spain has a third. and: A culture of hatred towards the car has been engendered that is unique to Britain. Nowhere else in Europe is the ownership of an expensive car such an active hazard.   So enjoy your driving - those who are in France, here in the UK we drive with gritted teeth. Regards Tegwini  

I like Chipping Sodbury (in the Cotswolds) Hope this won't be deleted by the censorship machine! Tegwini

Dankie Mrs P! I tried to post some pics to cheer gardeners up on a cold, wet, grey weekend (it's rained cats & dogs here in Wilts), but I couldn't manage to do that. Somehow I managed the flowers here,  the 'avatar' but they are not vygies but are Livingstone daisies,(Dorotheanthus bellidiformis) very pretty, but not as tough as vygies and are annuals.  I hope not to spend too much on vygies & am considering asking  Mother-in-law to bring some cuttings.  Hope sniffer dogs don't think she has some dagga or something!!!    They will cope with the cold in the hold. Either that or seeds.  I'll let you know if I have any success. Making billies is supposed to be easy- the drying bit is most important.  I don't eat it any more, but husband is a right glutton  & can't get enough of it.  He's hoping his Mum will bring some from Kimberley where she lives.  She thinks 22c is cold! Keep well Tegwini

I agree with Cooperlola - never heard of  'wont',  it does need an apostrophe. I have a super little book, I've had it for decades and find it invaluable in checking points of grammar, puctuation, and so on.  It lists commonly mis-spelt words, spelling rules, words often confused eg affect/effect, of/off as well as notetaking, summarising, letter writing and so on. It's out of print, but it's possible to get one second hand on the net from various sources. Michael Temple  Get it right.  London: John Murray, 1978  ISBN 07195 3507 7 and  07195 3508 5 There are many more, and I have quite a few, but I find 'Get it right'  the best one I have because it is very easy to use. Regards Tegwini

Spot on Gluey I am reminded of a  recent BBC programme on Chinese school children.   They were so determined, hardworking and knew they had to do well at school to get into a decent University/college.  Many  were at school and studying at home for 18 hours each day.    No doubt more coherent & literate than many children in the UK - in English!   Major contrast with UK school children. Yes,  it does not bode well for UK Plc. Regards Tegwini

Thanks Mrs P I intend to have a go in the Vienne which I think is colder in the winter....But they are tough, and will have some shelter from trees, and their proposed home is on a slope so that should create the dry soil environment they need.   I have also a large box of daffs which I plan to plant too.   A bit unorthodox here too as I recently dug them out, probably too early, but had to, and will cross fingers that they will eventually flower. Great surprise to hear of so many hairy-backs & 'when we's' in France.  We usually have a braai & often take wors to France too. I still plan to post a picture & have some info from Clair, but like you I am still uncertain if it will work. Lekker blaie! Tegwini

Yes Gluey Kids are let down- it's awful since they have only one chance.    So many initiatives, changes and so-called improvements - and to what result!  When I was teaching in Oxfordshire, in the early 90s,  in a large comp/ex-grammar school, which was then considered a good school,  some senior staff  were sent to spend a day in all our feeder schools.    In my own village primary they were allowing the children to         'do their own thing' and work on projects.  No structured lessons at all.  The teachers were supposed to be monitoring, and hence educating them individually and claimed that the children made progress.   Even with me in the classroom it was very obvious many were wasting time and messing around.   It was common knowledge that this school produced children whose children had reading etc ages were well below their chronological age, and some never caught up.   The National Curriculum at least put a stop to that, likewise            SATS exams. The UK model of always shunting children ever upwards, every year is,  in my opinion, one of the weaknesses of the system.   I shall doubtless get shouted down for this.  Rights and all that, and the little dears feeling uncomfortable  will be  the complaint of some.  Exams and tests and the possibility of staying down does concentrate the mind, and is the norm in many advanced countries, but not the UK. Trouble is, lots of problems ahead for illiterates in the real world! Regards Tegwini