Job Cuts

All Birmingham City, none School staff ( 26000 people ) have been formally put on notice that their jobs are not safe. Birmingham Mail today. there are to be pay cuts, redundancies and sackings. This will be a whole load of trouble for the city. SB

Yes it will SB,what a state we are all in.

When everybody is on the dole cameron will then make his cuts again,we will end up like a third world country the way we are going.

They frighten me as they are a pair of goons who in the name of keeping the bank balance in the black are prepared to see us all in the gutter................

The economic downturn is a real worry for everyone but as most of it is out of the control of the ordinary man in the street the only thing that we can each do is look after our own families and make preparations with the resources we have available for the hard times ahead.

The Daily mail has an article about rising food prices and this doesnt look good for the future either.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...costs-soar.html

Alice , I noticed when I did my food shop this week a lot of things had gone up like chicken, butter things that are essentials.

June.

Alice

It's fine for those people who are able to look after their own families and I'm thankful that I am able to do just that. Not that any of my family are not capable of looking after themselves.

But my daughter is one of those in danger of loosing her job, and I dare say it would make a vast difference to her lifestyle. But she has got me to fall back on, and there is enough of me to fall on.

But I always think of those less fortunate than myself and it upsets me to think of all the people that are going to suffer during this governments rampage. When do you think it will be the time for those who are making all the money to pay?

It is just as true today as it always has been that 95% of the wealth of this country is controlled by 5% of the population. When are the going to pay, never while this government is in power.

Phil

I know some people will think I am joking, but I can seriously see the resurgence of the trade unions, and it's not such a silly idea. I have never seen a time when there is such bad feeling towards Politicians of most parties and some incredibly unpopular political issues. Strong pressure needs to be brought to bear on our masters. No political party is capable of controlling this country, it's security and well being successfully.

SB
i don't quite see why you should think that people would think you were joking. Sounds very reasonable to me . There is one thing that i have thought would be a good idea , however. I think most people would agree that , where housing benefit is paid, it should be paid directly to the landlord, as often happens, so that control can be exercised. It is only common sense that politicians expenses should be treated similarly, purely (of course !!) to ensure that they do not suffer some scam that might otherwise be passed on to the taxpayer. Naturally , If any money was falsely claimed ( by accident of course), it could then quickly be automatically deducted from their benefits (sorry salary), thus ensuring that the taxpayer does not lose out. If there was any query as to the justification for the deductions, then this could go to appeal. possibly they might get any refunds before they are kicked out in the next election.
Mike

I do not see why housing benefit can not be paid dirct to Landlords.in fact I presumed it was.If I was in that need I would have no quibble with it.

When I worked for the council the biggest strike I was involved with was when they bought Price waterhouse in to do time and motion study.think that is what you call it.As our dept was severly understaffed and we were working our backsides off plus doing loads of unpaid overtime this really rattled me.

This was all a long time ago but I am a union person and always will be.

I agree I think housing benifit should be paid directly to the landlord.

I also think that if the government are looking at areas to cut they should be looking at policies like that of giving some benifits such as heating allowance etc automatically to everyone of a certain age and is not based on their actual income or need.

An older person who is the right age and rich or earning a very high salary has the same right to the heating allowance as a poorer pensioner on pension credit for instance. Is the heating allowance taxable?

I think that most landlords insist on housing benefit being paid directly to them. This is only done by consent of the claimant. If they don't wish it to happen then they can insist it is paid to them instead of the landlord.

I also think that it should all be paid direct to the Landlords without consultation, just as long as strict checks are kept. Do you know more money is fiddled from the benefit system by unscrupulous landlords who tenants have vacated the premises but they go on taking the rent. Than there ever is by false claims for benefit.

Once again the fault of the system and those who are running it, not the claimants who get all the blame.

Alice I also believe that there should be a cut off level for certain benefits, a friend of hers saved all her child allowance for a number of years and bought a very expensive mink coat which she stored in a cold store for years one again paid for by the child allowance. I myself put every penny of our children's into accounts in their own names which was handed over to them on their 18th birthday.

Not what the family allowance act was introduced for, I suppose many more people do and have done very similar.

Phil

I for one was very grateful for the old Family Allowance.It helped out with my budget a lot

As my kids got older it become their pocket money and they used to buy some clothes with it sometimes a treat.

I think it is a great thing to have and I would not like to see it go.

It is this kind of thing that makes our country very special.

Denise I totally agree with Family allowance, where it is needed. But as with the Heating allowance, when it is paid to people with piles of money it really annoys me. The Heating allowance is even paid to ex pats abroad.
This benefit driven society is draining the life out of this country.
I say again, when used properly it is a God send. Too often it is paid to the wrong people and for a variety of wrong reasons. SB

Denise

The last thing in the world i want to see is family allowance go. My mother would not have been able to raise us without it. Quite simply we would have starved to death.

What I think is immoral is the fact that a millionaire is as entitled to collect it as is a pauper is. Posh & Becks are entitled to collect ,there has to be something wrong with that. There should be a cut off point at say £50k a year or thereabouts.

Phil

The whole Government spending issue needs looking at. Last week a Government minister said that the amount of foreign students coming to Britain was unsustainable. This in a year when our Universities are refusing places to our own Students. This is Madness. When we then can't find qualified people to to certain jobs, we then have to import foreign workers who were probably trained here in the first place. SB

Posted by Sheldonboy

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All Birmingham City, none School staff ( 26000 people ) have been formally put on notice that their jobs are not safe. Birmingham Mail today. there are to be pay cuts, redundancies and sackings. This will be a whole load of trouble for the city. SB

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Well I hope it is refuse collectors that are looked at first.
In Birmingham, we are all entitled to DOORSTEP collection of garden waste and other recyclables. In our part of the road we haven't had a garden waste collection for about 12 weeks, the four regular layabouts turn up to look at it and then drive off again. We have had two special collections and now, after 6 weeks of not collecting on our side of the road at all, a truck has just pulled up, the driver threw the bags of what is now well rotting waste into the back as if he was in a hurry and in the process split one of the decomposing green bags wide open, spilling a load of rotten apples and grass alll over the road, he looked at the houses to check no one was watching then got back in the truck and drove off. While I am typing this an 87 year old man has gone out to sweep the road.
It doesn't take any intelligence to collect garbage so how come some of them can't even get that right?
The guy in the mini road sweeper, on the other hand, is worth 20 green bag men, he is persistent and does an excellent job. He looks after his vehicle and has no hesitation in getting out and picking stuff up that won't get swept up. Perhaps he should be in charge.
Voltman