General Chat

I'm not a very politically minded person to be honest, so my feelings are mixed.


I don't think ANY particular party has all the answers to the problems within society, they all make promises which are not always kept.


We live in a very firm labour stronghold and I have been engaged with the labour council for several years re support for those with autism. The people are lovely, but we are constantly re-inventing the wheel and getting nowhere fast. The council people seem to move from meeting to meeting without much work showing for it from what I can see. A lot of talk but little action.


The problems aren't just due to government cuts either. We have to face the fact that some people are inefficient in their posts, we are strangled by red tape and, too often, we hear of corruption within the powers that be, affecting all parties.


No one party would please everyone and I doubt any party would get everything right. :-D

It began yesterday -

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/hours-after-the-election-the-dwp-says-it-is-looking-to-cut-a-disabled-access-to-work-scheme-10237191.html

I'd like to hear/read the opinions of the men and women who regularly sleep rough in squats, tents, cars, parks, bins, flimsy sleeping bags in shop doorways – all unimaginable spaces in our capital city and beyond.

.....and the number is set to increase, Dermot.
On top of that, Mental Health funding has been cut, and living like that must surely affect a person's mental health.

sadly, mental health care has always been at the bottom of the pile :-(

I am not a political animal, but am slightly pleased that the tories won, as I'm an old fashioned prudence person.

Seems to me it will be a case of pain today (Tory cuts) or pain tomorrow when labour borrowing would have come home to roost, causing trouble for all our children.

I am sorry Nigel didn't get into parliament as he is one of the few who says pretty much what he thinks, and would have rattled a few cages.

Best wishes to all. Happy days

And just to show how out of touch I am, must say I am sorry for all the losers who put their heart and soul into the elections, nationally and locally, and who will not be rewarded by European posts and a place in the house of lords.

I thought I had had it easy and now I know.

Luckily, Fred had his stroke under a Labour government but, as soon as the co-alition/Tory government came into power, there was a revue of his services and I was told that, although they could not realistically cut his provision, he would not ever be able to get any more than that.

It was enough, we coped but that poor woman in the article will be doing what she does until her boy is a strapping eighteen year old. I so feel for her.

Those who work as carers are paid so little and some don't even get mileage because there is not the funding for them.

It was probably very optimistic to expect that having a prime minister who had a disabled son, who he had treated on the NHS, would have any benefit for the disabled. After all, when we had a woman for prime minister, we still paid VAT on sanitary towels!

Harry,I am with you...I am old enough to remember having to work and not expect any benefits.
I know that it doesn't always go to the right people,but there are folk out there who know how to work the system ,but unfortunately some people,like the lady with the handicapped son are the victims of cuts.I don't think you can blame the Prime minister,but some of the local councils who have the say.
I live in Wales and we are ruled by Labour....the Health service is in crisis here,,cuts galore.they are shutting down the Maternity units in our big hospital so they will have to travel miles in emergencies.nurses are leaving because they are unhappy with conditions.
I know the buck stops at the top..just as it does in all aspects of life...football being one....but Mr Cameron's job is one that is unenviable...and we have to balance the books.
The poor lady with the poorly son is only one of those who suffer with lack of help..but there are many more who get benefits when they don't really need them...I know a few who seem to get help and could get out and find some work..
Let's give the new government a chance and see if they can get the country back into Great Britain!

Harry reflects our views - we knew that who ever got into Power last time round was being handed a poisoned chalice.

We aren't out of the woods yet - if Labour had been able to form a Government they would have hit the wealthiest earners by raising the income tax. They, who are often major employers, would have up sticks and left the country. 50% of nothing is still nothing.

Unless there is a major upheaval during the course of the present term, the economy will be on a sounder footing which Labour (or possibly another Party) will inherit.

DOWN THE ROAD AGAIN
OF THE RICH GET RICHER
BY TAKING FROM MY PURSE
TO GIVE TO THOSE WHO DON'T
DESERVE IT OR EARNT IT.

I agree with you Brenda.

I have always voted Tory but up here where I live the SNP rule! I work in education and have not had a pay rise for 6 years! That is not DC's fault.

A lot of cuts etc are controlled by local councils.

Yes I absoultely feel for the lady with the disabled son, but when my daughter was registered disabled for a whole year until she recovered from her illness, I got over £700 per month for the highest rate of severe disability allowance as well as £46.00 per week in carers allowance(obviously gone up since 2003). So surely she must be entitled to that as well? Yes it's jolly hard being a carer.

I use to have to check on her drip feed every hour, also change her 2 hourly and administer meds and nearly always strip her bed at least twice a night so I really do sympathise.I was told the allowance was to be used to help in any way. So I could pay someone to look after her for an afternoon so I could get a break etc or go and do my shopping.

Anyway, which ever party rule, there will always be something we dont agree with. Can anyone honestly say, there has ever been a perfect government that keeps everyone happy?

For me I am anti Europe, anti Euro and anti independance, so the only party for me is the Tories.

Florence
in the hebrides :-)

I was on before & deleted .I have strong views about disabled people & folk with Mental Health issues .they don't get near enough help .lets see what the Tories do as DC says he is going to be giving out more benefit ? Give him a chance Hello Florence :-)

I voted with my head and not my heart this year and am glad that the Tories won.

I wasn't sure who to vote for but I knew for certain what and who I didn't want for the country I was born and live in so voted accordingly ;-)

I agree with Harry about spending - which part of 'no money' do people not get? I feel for the lady caring for her son and don't know why she doesn't get help, but too many people work the system.

I didn't want the country to be in a worse state for my children and grandchildren to have to live with and pick up the pieces. I don't want our country to be the next Greece.

I have been on disability living allowance now for nineteen years I was told I would be on it for life has I would always have this problem now the torys have brought in something else to replace the DLA but because it I was not 65 before the replacement came in I have reply for it again and may not get it

I know a lot more people who are not getting help that they should get, than I know people who are working the system...

I have no problem with those who DO work the system being caught out...but it shouldn't be the ones who do need help AND who have worked all their lives who suffer in the meantime.

For example of someone I know, an OAP, has multiple health problems ( some caused by medical negligence) she gets the lower rate attendance allowance, which I believe is, quote "£55.10 if you need help in the day or at night"...all well and good, but the only help she gets is half an hour per day when she has someone come in to put a frozen meal in the microwave...that half hour costs her £8 a day.... so that attendance allowance is gone just like that. Without the kindness of neighbours who shop for her and take her to hospital etc she would be in a desperate state.

And she is not the only one..... Care is a lottery, it depends where you are, it is also affected greatly by the private care companies who charge ( and I know this because I worked for one briefly) over £16 an hour minimum to the 'client', roughly half of which goes to the care giver, the rest is split between admin and profit to the franchisee.

Just because some people can "work the system" doesn't mean that those in need should be just left to struggle, surely.

I cannot understand that attitude. People are in real need of help and support through ill health and some others are so poor that they are having to use food banks. All this in the 6th richest country in the 21st Century.

We should be ashamed of that, I know I am.

I don't need more tax relief. Give it to those who really need it.

Chase those avoiding tax not penalise those trying to find work or too sick to work.

I have no faith in Cameron to look after the weakest in our society, on his past record.

'Rare are the individuals who will step back from their own narrow interests & focus on the big picture that makes their narrow worlds small by comparison'.

(*Excerpt from 'Tomorrow's World Magazine' - May/June 2015).

If you mean my attitude Guinivere I have not said that the lady caring for her son should not get help.

I did say I didn't know why she doesn't get it, I haven't said anyone in need shouldn't get help. In fact when I was working I helped many to access funding for their care needs. Sadly I have also known many who work the system - that is wrong.

I also should have known better than to comment on a political thread.

Guinevere said

"Just because some people can "work the system" doesn't mean that those in need should be just left to struggle, surely.

I cannot understand that attitude. "

Lyndi, she did NOT say she could not understand YOUR attitude she said she could not understand THAT attitude.

Lyndi,

This isn't really a thread about politics,,

It's about will people benefit/more money in their own pockets..

Personnally my view is that it will only be the rich that will benefit and those on DLA,carer's allowance,working tax credit will be worse off.

I was in Wetherby the other day when who should turn up like a bad penny but DC with his side kick Alec Shelbrooke MP.

The only reason he turned up here was because the Tory's were running scared of losing this seat in parliment.

And DC was saying that the carer's allowance would be coming from the local councils in future NOT the government.

A woman went to town on him as she was badly disabled more than I am and tore him off a strip.

That's why I asked the question on here..