Sandro Raniere

Exactly, pensions need to be ringfenced Which means out of work benefits, in work benefits and child benefit need radical reform 1) Only pay child benefit for 1 child 2) No child benefit for anyone earning over 26k (the average wage) 3) Capping welfare payments at a maximum of someone earning minimum wage 4) Ban on immigrants claiming benefits till they have paid 3 years NI 5) Hostels instead of social housing for unemployed people 6) Time limiting JSA to a maximum of 3 years These measures would save billions

How :unsure: 1/3 of all government spending goes on welfare, it is the single biggest reason that the deficit is so stubbornly high

The IPSA are giving their final verdict in January i think, so when that happens, it automatically becomes cast in stone as MPs currently do not have a vote on whether to accept it So with new legislation there can be a vote whether to accept it or not, and those that choose to accept it will in many cases be signing their political death warrant, a number of MPs from the expenses scandal lost their seats in 2010 and the mood of public anger is probably even stronger than over expenses

Cameron should bring in emergency legislation that enforces a free vote on whether this decision of the IPSA is binding Those MPs that vote in favour of it can then be named and shamed, and be forced to explain to their constituents why they think they are worth 11%, while the constituents are barely getting any pay increase at all

The only things that will get the deficit down are : 1) Increased tax revenues 2) Heavy reductions in the welfare budget Job creation, something we are doing very well atm at will help with 1 and make some progress in 2 If we heavily reduce the tax burden on the well paid this will increase tax revenues as fewer need to resort to tax avoidance And if we heavily slash welfare this will get the budget down on welfare. The welfare cap should be bought in at what a person on full time minimum wage would earn before tax, about £15,000, the cap is far too high still, bringing in measures like restricting child benefit to 1 child would reduce welfare too Only the tories can rein in welfare and create jobs, labour would just write a blank cheque to serial baby breeders

After the expenses scandals MP's need to rebuild public trust, being seen to have their noses in the trough while troops and nurses are getting effectively pay CUTS and most people are struggling with the cost of living will further drive a wedge between MPs and the people who elect them Compared with a nurse or a soldier an MP has an easy life, its so hard choosing between caviar and foie gras in the heavily subsidised house of commons restaurant while teenage troops are getting their legs blown off by landmines MPs need to reflect the mood of their constituents and the overwhelming majority of the public (the MPs ultimate boss) do not want to see this rise happen

Absolutely not They are public sector workers so should get the same pay rise as the rest of the public sector (nurses, soldiers etc) 1%

Just not my genre, no desire to see any of them, am not a sci fi fan at all, exceptions being The Matrix, Terminator 1+2 and Robocop I rarely watch films at all that are not action/police/mafia/gangster etc

I have seen none of the Star Wars movies LOTR trilogy Casablanca Gone With The Wind Star Trek movies Superman movies Spiderman movies Inception Its a Wonderful Life

I am seeing her tomorrow at Jingle Bell Ball (only reason i am going) Can't wait to see her perform again, she will be sensational

Its a city, we never do well in cities, a tory in Liverpool for example is as rare as rocking horse poo but we do well in areas like Wirral, likewise with Newcastle no one would vote for us but we will win Hexham and areas like that, same with Blackpool we would win nothing but go out a few miles to Lytham etc and its a sea of blue There is little point in Crosby fighting in inner cities, any success will come in rural/urban areas of the north and midlands that we dont already hold

People have to take responsibility for their own actions though Someone i have on Facebook has just taken out a wonga loan to get the new X Box, when he cant keep up with the payments it will be hard to have any sympathy for him, he didn't need an X Box it is not a life essential, he bought something he cant afford outright at ridiculous interest Sadly there are a lot like him out there

All governments can do is set market conditions, what consumers do is then their responsibility, it seems to be human nature to live on credit and debt, its a whole mindset that will probably never change

Carney has said that interest rates won't rise for a very long time, things can change of course but he gave the impression that things will be as they are for a good few years. Interest rates are incredibly low so even if they go up slightly they are going up from a very low starting point I hope common sense prevails and Cameron gets the reforms of the EU and therefore we opt to stay in the EU If we leave it would be economic suicide no matter what the DM and Express say

The poll must have been taken before Balls's shambolic speech on Thursday, will be interesting to see the results over the coming days

Geordies would never vote for tories, I just don't see it

I would not say anywhere is booming bar London and say 40 or 40 miles around it but one area that is doing very strongly atm is manufacturing, especiallly the car manufacturing industry, and the South/West/East midlands is a manufacturing heartland so as the economy continues to improve so there is a good chance that people in the midlands exposed to manufacturing will start to feel better off

People should not over extend themselves but if they can afford to remortgage to treat themselves or renovate their property then they are helping the overall economy and helping to create jobs The important thing right now is to create the market conditions to ensure a tory majority in 2015

Just hope she is given the Marilyn Monroe version and not the Diana one

Sam will absolutely nail her choices Nicholas will just be car crash tv

Mandela dying helped labour a lot, after Ed Balls producing one of the worst parliamentary performances in living memory and being ridiculed all across the media labour got a get out of jail free card with Mandela dying Mandela dying means instead of the focus being on Balls and labour it is on Mandela

When i was a kid old people would work till 65, get a nice watch as a leaving present and then live 5 to 10 years before they died With medical advances and greater prosperity they can typically live about 20 years past retirement In 30 years time i suspect dying in 90s or 100 will be the norm, so i dont think it is unreasonable asking people to work a few more years

The election wont be decided in the likes of Middlesborough, the key battlegrounds are the midlands, essex and the south west, the north will go red, not worth putting much effort into a campaign there

Yes but once you have a mortgage and you see prices going up you can borrow against the value of your property to buy luxury items or start a business or whatever Remortgaging and borrowing against the equity of the property is commonplace, not far off the norm either If you buy a property for 100k and it goes up in value to 120k and you have a cashflow crisis or fancy a new car or fancy starting a business you got a nice reserve of money to tap into

My evidence is anecdotal, seeing many people remortgage their properties in order to buy a new car, extension, luxury holiday or whatever I have seen family do it, friends do it, business acquaintances do it Whether i am right or not will not be provable till May 15