I ❤ JustinBieber

While I couldn't disagree with you more about the racist bit the rest was right

My measures would by and large not affect the general poor, I am not advocating cuts in payment rates My measures are designed to stop money going to those that don't really need it, those that are trying it on, those that are not searching hard enough for work and those who have never paid into the system.

Means testing child benefit would save billions while at the same time ensuring help goes to only those in the greatest need, many the slightly wrong side of the threshold would feel hard done by but no matter what threshold is set that would be the case Stopping immigrants from getting welfare payments of any kind until they have paid tax for 5 years is a common sense measure too, again it would save a lot of money and no immigrant is forced to be here Time caps on claiming JSA makes sense too, capping it at 12 months gives ample time for the claimant to find a job, it is for their good too as it means a life of welfare is not a career option plus it saves the treasury billions Curbs on housing benefit means that housing benefit claimants can start being a bit more realistic about the places they live and again saves money Tough checks and medicals on those that are claiming disability and incapacity payments would help weed out the fraudsters and chancers, there are 4m in this country who claim those benefits, the idea that there are 4m people that are physically or mentally not capable of work is pure fiction My measures would save billions from the welfare budget

The welfare bill and its continual increasing was responsible for much of the debt, the explosion in the welfare budget under labour played a huge part in the government debt crisis it is in now It is right to get that under control and bring it drastically down to size money wise. Inevitably in doing so some maybe even many will suffer but it is the right thing to do

I am in favour of a number of things that help the very poorest and most vulnerable I am in favour of free gas and electricity for the elderly in winter I am in favour of state subsidised private sector care homes to prevent pensioners having to sell their homes I am in favour of increased pensions and increased payments to the disabled and mentally handicapped but those things can't be afforded without cuts in other areas of welfare, those 3 groups are the ones that deserve the money the most so banning immigrants from welfare, means testing child benefit, time limiting unemployment benefits, a severe crackdown on fraud, limiting housing benefit etc would save billions upon billions which would be able to be used to target extra money for the REAL vulnerable in society

I stated my opinion earlier on in the thread I am totally in favour of windfall taxes on banks who pay out bonuses instead of lending to businesses I am totally in favour of ending tax loopholes that are exploited by the wealthy to avoid tax We are all in this mess together, rich, poor, in between, I have nowhere stated that it is purely the poor that should suffer, I am happy to clarify again that I am in favour of bank windfall tax and closing tax loopholes

How many of the "poor" do Tescos employ ? hundreds of thousands of them, the amount of tax that Tesco's generate for the economy way way outstrips several times over any tax breaks that they are given The country should be grateful to the likes of Tesco's, also the CEO of Tesco is a working class lad from a Liverpool council estate who started as a shelf stacker, he is not some ivory tower ex public school boy who got the job through a funny handshake or jobs for the boys Eton networking, he knows what it is like to be poor and to have nothing, he should be admired not sneered at I do believe that the poor should be inconvenienced by the cuts, the country simply can't afford to just go handing out welfare money willy nilly it is not affordable, not practical, not sustainable, welfare has to go back to basics and be a safety net for the elderly, the disabled and the handicapped with a temporary safety net for the unemployed.

I don't consider £30,000 to be poor, it is borderline middle class and certainly above average earnings, £30k does not get you far in London but move up north it buys a damn comfortable lifestyle, I seriously question whether someone on over 30k a year really NEEDS child benefit The gravy train has hit the buffers, the state (taxpayer and government) can't afford to just throw free money away to all and sundry with national debt so high, money needs to be accounted for and targeted at those in DESPERATE need, I don't consider £30k+ as being desperate need.

Your situation is unfortunate but policy can not be changed nor can opinion based on the unfortunate circumstances of one individual No matter what threshold is set it is inevitable that some borderline cases will lose out I can't make decisions based on the individual circumstances of BJ members, no room for sentiment It would be like saying I should not replace my car or take a holiday because a BJ member can't afford one

I think having the same threshold as EMA would ensure it goes to those that need it the most, while it can't be merged with EMA as that only applies to over 16's I do think that the thresholds are pretty spot on

I see nothing wrong in the welfare state being focused on those in the greatest need, those being the elderly, the disabled and the mentally handicapped, more money should be spent on people in those 3 catergories and less spent in other areas such as housing benefit, child benefit and tighter controls on unemployment related benefits. Restricting child benefit to those under a certain income, weeding out immigrants who have never contributed a penny from the system, time restrictions on unemployment benefits, taking those off disability benefit that are not genuinely disabled, restricting housing benefit etc would save several BILLION which could be diverted to providing more to the catergories above who I deem to be in the greatest need. I see nothing wrong with what I am suggesting.

Even if only 1000 above 40k claimed it that would still be 20k a week and £1m a year, that £1m could buy a lot of school books and pay for 50 new police or nurses, I don't have the figures but I would say as a guess off the top of my head that more like 100,000 claimed it so now we are talking £100m a year, serious money. I see nothing wrong in stopping everyone over a certain income claiming it. I have no objection to anyone having kids be it 1 or 10 so long as they can afford to pay for the kids themselves

Whether its 30k, 40k. 50k or whatever there still needs to be a cut off point so that child benefit is only going to those that really need it, I said 30k off the top of my head as that is roughly where the cut off for EMA is I think so I would link child benefit to EMA thresholds, John Terry's wife is entitled to child benefit, a surgeons wife is, the Duke of Westminster's wife is entitled to it, it is ridiculous that in a time where money is tight that those that don't need child benefit can pick it up. I think limiting it to 1 child is fair too, might make people think twice before dropping their knickers and spawning kids they can't afford to fund, am not talking about your family I am talking about chavs

We are after Young so could be that Word I am hearing is that he resigned because Lerner accepted a bid from Fulham for Brad Friedel, this comes from a journo acquaintance.

No way would they appoint someone without a fair bit of experience tbh, look at what a flop Keane has been as a manager bar getting Sunderland promoted after spending massive amounts of money so I think Giggs or Scholes would need to learn their trade at smaller clubs Moyes or Jose are good shouts though

I think O Neill would be quite low on their shortlist tbh, good manager with under achieving clubs and reviving sleeping giants but I think he would not be a Utd level manager. Also his style of football is sleep inducing which wouldn't go down well at Utd. I think Queiroz is nailed on to replace Fergie and if he doesn't get it then would be someone like Mourinho or Hiddink, don't think they would go for O Neill

Curbishley is the fave atm along with Slaven Bilic, Jol is a 20-1 outsider My hunch is Bob Bradley, American owner at Villa and all that

Must be a row over money, not being allowed to spend the Milner proceeds I guess Good news as it weakens one of our big rivals for 4th

I kinda agree with this Campbell is a very unsavoury character but I can barely remember well things that happened 13 weeks ago let alone 13 years and her life is a damn slight more hectic than mine

Even I could have got the guy acquited as his defence lawyer the case was so weak thanks to the dodgy pathologist, probably my 14 year old nephew could, there is not a hope in hell he would have been convicted regardless of whether there was a conspiracy by the CPS or not (that is pure speculation). I am not saying anything to wind anyone up just dealing in legal realities. The only hope if anything happening to him is him being investigated by the police themselves and him getting sacked

I want the money to go to the right people at the moment it is not It is going to millionaires in child benefit, it is going to immigrants and home grown spongers who haven't paid a penny into the system, it is going to chavs who get pregnant after a few drinks and have no idea who the dad is, it is going to people who don't want to work, it is going on people who live in mansions at my expense While at the same time elderly people are freezing to death in the winter, elderly many of whom liberated this country from the nazis are having to sell their homes to pay nursing fees and care homes, wheelchair bound people are being stripped of their independence and dignity because of lack of money. Now who is more deserving of our money ? Get rid of the first lot from the system and that frees up money to pay the heating bills of pensioners in the winter, it frees up money to pay for their residential care, it provides a greater standard of living for the handicapped and disabled.

The welfare state is a monster that is totally out of control, a rampant beast that is eating away at the financials of this country and eating away at the morals of this country, the monster needs taking down It has become a way of life, a career option for many and that is utterly wrong and unacceptable to me. The welfare state should be there to help the elderly and the disabled and offer a temporary safety net to those who have fallen upon hard times because of losing their job, a safety net to stop the person starving until he has found a job Instead it is a haven for fraudsters, career spongers who see welfare as a career, feckless chavs and housing benefit fraudsters, the whole system needs overhauling. I think pensioners should get MORE money, I think that the genuinely physically and mentally handicapped should get MORE but that means ripping out the welfare state from top to bottom and weeding out the career scroungers, feckless chavs, fraudsters etc. Welfare should not be a way of life or a career for able bodied people of working age it should be a temporary safety net.

China is only now starting to develop as an economic powerhouse, give it 5 years the greed is good culture will spread through China like wildfire and the top bankers will be on salaries that would make American's envious, China is a developing economic powerhouse, capitalism will be rampant through China before too long. In terms of your other point maybe not but I doubt basic salary has risen by 12 times in that time, share options, performance related pay, profit sharing etc have all boosted what CEO's are taking home.

But things are cheaper and the cost of living so much cheaper in China than in America/UK

With my example of the surgeon, the surgeon who did my knee earns in the region of £350,000 a year through NHS and private work, if you make him earn 6 times more than say a guy working in McDonalds getting £200 a week then you are effectively telling that surgeon that he has to earn £60k a year instead of £350k which is unfair on the surgeon