woolybananasbrother

And dont spend loads on Amazon[6]

Yes you can live on that, many do. Once you have got things set up. But dont buy a house or car that require loads of expense, budget hard for the basics. Dont offer free hospitality to scroungers. Dont set out to have a four star luxury lifestyle. The earlier posts are right though. Try it out first.

Noone has a problem with the genuine claimant ali-cat, but the benefit has been abused to the extent that it is no longer reliable and, let's face it, is badly in need of reform.

Inherited my dear, inherited the IB[6]

But they don't have a soft spot for cold blooded reptiles, do they?[6]

Yes, I've had IB for it for years.

I am going to start a charity guys. Cats seems as good as any. Hoddy, charities have been as bent as brushes for years. What's new? Maybe he really loves pussies.

RH, your brackets sum it up entirely. But also remember that the throw outs are probably computer driven, so the criteria include potential income too.[6]

Exactly. Why the he§§ do people think that banks are a charity?[6]

Tony, we can all quote individual cases and I am sure yours is tough to say the least. However my experience of IB dished out to teachers and lecturers, for example, on the grounds of stress and breakdown, is that they were by and large (excepting a very few cases) a bunch of skiving gits who were /are quite capable of doing a decent job of earning a living in a different field. And that they should not be subsidised in their life of ease and nonsense by the taxpayer.[:@]

The French are rich and do not worry about money.

Banks are there to make money and that only. If you do not generate enough profit for them why should they keep you as a customer? Don't be sentimental people, banks are in the same league as pimps and drug dealers.

I real feel sorry for Sarko. Hook line and sinker caught by the gills.[6]

Maybe they should not become MP's until say 35 minimum?

There are as many MP's who come from the public sector and only the public sector if you look carefully, who also can be said to have no experience of the real world or earning a crust. I would advocate that all MP's should have paid employment and interests elsewhere. That way they could be paid a reasonable salary which is a multiple of average wages. With full accountability, not partial as proposed by Gorbals Willie. Some might say that this would not lead to getting the best into Parliament. Well, we dont now as real power lies in Europe anyway.

Could it be that the restrictions on Sunday opening and lack of student jobs are forcing ambitious students from poor backgrounds to turn to selling themselves to pay for their studies, or is the book itself designed to pay the fees?[6] http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3213049.ece

Never, never ask what food is, just go by taste.[6]

Hoddy I couldn't agree more that the process is hideous. And I have great sympathy for those who deserve and need and should have through a gentle, caring process. However as things stand now, IB is a scroungers charter and should be totally rebuilt.

There are those who genuinely deserve some support. Others however....[6]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=4G12W424LRHZPQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/02/02/nbenefit102.xml I wonder how many here in France will be reviewed.[6]

Société Générale[6]

Abuse of public funds is a European wide disgrace. Elected reps seem to think that they have a right to help themselves to the open purse. But then any branch of government which is not open to scrutiny (with a few exceptions and they are dealt with otherwise) will always be in danger of being abused.

Have you tried stamping your feet in the Marie?

Thats the bloke. And yes many are unhappy.

"We've just bought a property in France"[6]