The Ranting Room

True - there appears to be a perception that there is a difference between benefit fraud and creative accounting when they are the actually same thing - taking money that isn't yours.

 

Tell me about it!

 

Try getting a half decent job in the UK when you're 51. It's minimum wage plus working tax credit - if you can find 30+ hours a week of course, or the Nat King Cole (dole). Sixty quid a week when you've worked all your life and paid God knows what in NI. Rant Rant Rant

 

Re the bold part - yes you're absolutely right - I actually saw Martin Bell on TV this very morning saying just the same thing.

 

Only trouble is, you need the money for the deposit, a decent car to get around your prospective constituency plus the gift of the gab to put it into practice. And, perhaps, hide like the proverbial rhino. I don't really fancy remortgaging on the off-chance I might appeal more to the voters than the 'professionals' do!

 

Re the other comment - yeah, this was my first post on this thread and I thought you could let off steam. I must come across as a bit sore but I've been lucky enough to have decent jobs all my life and now I can't get Jack - and IMO it really does seem to be 'cos of my age (51).

 

For what it's worth I don't actually sign on - YET - but I had to pick up on Dean's comments about the average wage 'cos i think he's right.

 

Btw I worked as a chef on minimum wage + wtc until the owner went bust - now I can't even do that

 

That's the great thing about the UK ... you can do anything... in theory 

It really wouldn't matter how many of them there were - even if they were a "majority" they could not form a government so they would be worse than useless. The possibilities of corrupting these Independents by professional politicians and lobbyist would be endless and impossible to monitor or police. They would be so centred on getting their pet causes noticed they will be able to be bought and sold by the major parties like prawns (sorry pawns) while being fed with empty promises. Should it ever occur to them that as an unofficial party of independent MPs they actually could wield true power, the practicalities of organising a disparate bunch of newly elected non-politicians into a cohesive unit would be gargantuan task that if anyone could achieve it they would have to be so charismatic and persuasive they would effectively be a messiah figure of such impressive stature as to be positively terrifying.

 

Point taken but if Labour came to power less than 100 years ago if there is sufficient depth of feeling then anything can happen. Personally I don't think much will work cos we are stuffed.  We have devastated so much of the Earth's equilibrium that pretty soon it will be unrecoverable and local bickering will be pointless. A global solution is the only answer - but those that have stuff will not be prepared to sacrifice anything.