Cameron: "Cuts will change our way of life"

[Rico1304]

Yes, you're calling me a loon for not believing what an MP is telling me.

 

Basically, you're approaching this with all the intellectual weight of ten year old.

 

For future reference to help you get through life, sometimes politicians aren't entirely honest. Maybe don't take everything they say as fact.

So your basic stand is never to believe anything any MP tells you? Or do you have some past experience that this particular MP is a liar, or, like most people had you never heard of him before? His statement isn't trying to hide anything, he's opened himself up ridicule and if anything he's been too honest.

 

You are my favourite loon, thank god for the internet - before it you'd only have a corner of a tap room to pontificate too, now you've got the world!

[stringvest]

I don't know many people who would take anything an MP said at face value.  I certainly wouldn't.

[Rico1304]

I don't know many people who would take anything an MP said at face value.  I certainly wouldn't.

You believed this one though.

[stringvest]

I didn't.  He's handed his notice in.   He says he wants to spend more time and money with his family.  The point I was making was that you can't slag off anyone for wanting to change jobs to improve his and his family's life.   For all we know, he could just be about to be exposed as a paedo as well as a cunt.  

[Creator Supreme]

Enters thread, sees SD and Rico still talking out of there arses and acting like cunts, exits thread.

[Rico1304]

Enters thread, sees SD and Rico still talking out of there arses and acting like cunts, exits thread.

Oh, trying to impress the older, cooler kids? Well done, they might not nick your dinner money now.

[Rico1304]

I didn't.  He's handed his notice in.   He says he wants to spend more time and money with his family.  The point I was making was that you can't slag off anyone for wanting to change jobs to improve his and his family's life.   For all we know, he could just be about to be exposed as a paedo as well as a cunt.

 

So you believed his reason then, your first thought wasn't he was lying?

[stringvest]

Listen Columbo, you're not catching me out on this one.  I used his stated reason to make a point of principle.  

[Liverpool lad]

We having a whip round for this MP then?

[stringvest]

I've already left a deposit with his wife.

[Rico1304]

Just one more thing...

 

But if you'd not believed him surely you wouldn't have defended his principle

[stringvest]

Just one more thing...

 

But if you'd not believed him surely you wouldn't have defended his principle

 

it's not his principle, it's mine.  He could be leaving for more money, I'm not interested.  What I was interested in is the kerfuffle raised by people screeching that people should not leave such a job to further feather their nest.  I thought that was hypocritical as surely its something most people would do.  

[Strontium]

Rico, why do you believe this Tory MP and not Bob Crow,who wasnt even paid by the taxpayer? Surely its both or none?

 

I believe him, because if you're going to lie, you'd tell a lie which didn't result in you getting slagged off by all and sundry.

 

 

 

Oh, trying to impress the older, cooler kids? Well done, they might not nick your dinner money now.

Please don't quote people on my ignore list, they're there for a reason; in the case of Creator Supreme, it's because he has literally nothing to add to a discussion except abuse :)

[Stu Monty]

So your basic stand is never to believe anything any MP tells you? Or do you have some past experience that this particular MP is a liar, or, like most people had you never heard of him before? His statement isn't trying to hide anything, he's opened himself up ridicule and if anything he's been too honest.

 

You are my favourite loon, thank god for the internet - before it you'd only have a corner of a tap room to pontificate too, now you've got the world!

Would you like to explain to me how doubting an MP's word makes me a loon, you spectacularly tedious cretin.

[Stu Monty]

 

I believe him, because if you're going to lie, you'd tell a lie which didn't result in you getting slagged off by all and sundry.

 

Unless you wanted to make a particular point. Or miscalculated. Or didn't particularly care if some people, not all and sundry, moaned a bit then forgot about it.

[Creator Supreme]

Oh excellent comeback Rico, I've got no dinner money left once I've paid your company's extortionate charges.

 

Enjoy sucking the Tory teat!

[Thomo123]

I'm not sure if you are joking or not. If you aren't then in sure most Tories would agree that if you can't afford to have kids you shouldn't, or the state shouldn't be expect to pay for them.

A deeper question would be why is it so fucking expensive to have kids? Child care, toys, clothes even fucking baby milk cost a fucking fortune. As one of humanities basic fundamental needs (the need to procreate) surely it shouldn't be so fucking difficult if you have one reasonable income to be able to afford a liveable home and the means to raise a child.

[Thomo123]

Every time I come on this thread it makes me despair a little bit more. Not just in the content but in the views expressed by some on it.

[Reacher]

So this week we've had David Camereon talking about how he is going to start to think more about how families are affected by the Tories polices. Only today I heard on the radio that close to half of local councils are having to top up the free school dinners budget up with their own money.

 

He won't even pay to feed some of the lesser paid families children whilst they are at school and need nutrion to grow and learn but we are supposed to believe he's only now after his first term is nearly over going to start to think about Britains families.

 

Is this right? There are a lot of people on this site that know a lot more about politics than me.

[stringvest]

A deeper question would be why is it so fucking expensive to have kids? Child care, toys, clothes even fucking baby milk cost a fucking fortune. As one of humanities basic fundamental needs (the need to procreate) surely it shouldn't be so fucking difficult if you have one reasonable income to be able to afford a liveable home and the means to raise a child.

 

This is true, and you're right, it is a fundamental question.  Why is it so expensive?  Because of the inexorable shift of wealth from the many to the few.  Without trying to sound melodramatic, the masses are slowly being enslaved to line the pockets of the few.  Working hours increasing, disposable income decreasing, essential services being priced out of reach for some.  These cunts need sorting out.  

[Skidfingers McGonical]

A deeper question would be why is it so fucking expensive to have kids? Child care, toys, clothes even fucking baby milk cost a fucking fortune. As one of humanities basic fundamental needs (the need to procreate) surely it shouldn't be so fucking difficult if you have one reasonable income to be able to afford a liveable home and the means to raise a child.

 

The funny thing about this Tory MP was he was geting at least £65k a year salary, his missus was getting £25k a year and then on top of that they were getting £27k a year living expenses.

 

All paid for by us. I have no issue with anyone wanting to better themselves and getting what they can salary wise.

 

How he can he cry like he has done about not being able to afford to live with his family on that sort of money really fucking irks. Especially when people in this country have to provide for their family on a hell of a lot less than £117 grand a year.

[Thomo123]

This is true, and you're right, it is a fundamental question. Why is it so expensive? Because of the inexorable shift of wealth from the many to the few. Without trying to sound melodramatic, the masses are slowly being enslaved to line the pockets of the few. Working hours increasing, disposable income decreasing, essential services being priced out of reach for some. These cunts need sorting out.

The fundamental questions are too hard to answer and solutions seem to difficult to even contemplate. Thus we end up skirting around the periphery talking about the latest 'fashionable' issues and nothing really changes......bit like politics really.

[Thomo123]

The funny thing about this Tory MP was he was geting at least £65k a year salary, his missus was getting £25k a year and then on top of that they were getting £27k a year living expenses.

 

All paid for by us. I have no issue with anyone wanting to better themselves and getting what they can salary wise.

 

How he can he cry like he has done about not being able to afford to live with his family on that sort of money really fucking irks. Especially when people in this country have to provide for their family on a hell of a lot less than £117 grand a year.

For me it's all about value for money, if they expect the people they serve to sweat for every penny then they should judge themselves on those standards.

[Thomo123]

Plus at least he had the option to quit......I can't imagine to many have that possibility available to them.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Spending watchdog accuses DWP of hiding universal credit's failings

Public accounts committee says that categorising the scheme as 'reset' may have been to prevent scrutiny and hide problems

 

Parliament's public spending watchdog has today accused ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions of hiding the failings of the coalition's troubled universal credit scheme.

 

The public accounts committee said the decision to devise a new category of "resetting" projects could have been a way of preventing scrutiny and obscuring problems.

 

Universal credit is the £2.4bn centrepiece of Iain Duncan Smith's reform programme and involves merging six different benefits, with the claimant receiving a single monthly household payment.

 

Ministers started implementing it three years ago, but have been criticised by successive watchdogs for failing to come clean about the problems the DWP has experienced with the technology.

 

The assessment comes in a report by MPs on the Major Projects Authority, the government watchdog responsible for assessing the scheme's implementation.

 

According to the report, the DWP, in consultation with the MPA, published their delivery confidence assessment of the universal credit project as "reset" in September 2013. It was a new term that appeared to have been devised specifically for the the new programme, committee members said.

 

"We are particularly concerned that the decision to award a 'reset' rating to the universal credit project was an attempt to keep information secret and prevent scrutiny," the report said.

 

"The 'reset' category was introduced for the 2013-14 report and was only applied to this one project. The MPA confirmed that the decision to give universal credit a reset rating was ultimately made by ministers," it added.

 

The decision to devise a new rating for the project meant that it was not given a rating by the MPA on its five-tier traffic light system, running from green to red, in this year's annual report and that there will be no assessment of its progress until after next May.

 

"This is a long time to wait for an update on a project as important as universal credit," the report conlcuded.

 

Margaret Hodge, the chair of the committee, said that the problems within universal credit could have been exposed if the MPA had published data showing how much money had been spent and on what as the process continued.

 

"The MPA should publish more information on each project, including the amount spent to date, even if this means reviewing the government's transparency policy. We are particularly concerned that the decision to award a 'reset' rating to the universal credit project may have been an attempt to keep information secret and prevent scrutiny," she said.

 

In evidence to the committee, John Manzoni, chief executive of the MPA was asked why the new category of "reset" had been invented for the purposes of assessing universal credit. He replied: "I would say we do not invent new categories lightly or willy-nilly. In fact, this one of course had significant ministerial discussion and in fact was ultimately a ministerial and a government agreement to say, 'That is what we are going to call it'."

 

The IT challenge of creating universal credit is considerable. It requires different payments to landlords, more online claims, and merges in-work and out-of-work benefits, requiring new definitions of benefit conditions for those in work. It also requires close co-operation between the DWP systems and tax officials at HM Revenue & Customs.

 

In the original business case for the project, the DWP estimated substantial savings – a net benefit of £38bn by 2023.

 

Asked last week whether the project had been signed off, Duncan Smith told the Guardian that Treasury officials were now assessing the project in incremental stages, and that this will process continue over many months. "They are signing it off, section by section … It is back on track," he said.

 

The report is also critical of the powers that the MPA has been given by the government, saying that it is not being allowed to protect the interests of taxpayers.

 

The MPs said the MPA's chief executive should have a formal mechanism available to set out his position if a project proceeds contrary to the authority's advice to cancel or change.

 

The committee said the Treasury should take responsibility for overseeing the £488 bn portfolio of major projects, including programmes such as HS2 and the new aircraft carriers, rather than treating them as individual schemes.

 

It also recommended the MPA should focus on departments such as health and defence, where there were a number of risky projects.

A DWP spokeswoman said that universal credit is being rolled out in a careful and controlled way. "It is already transforming people's lives and is available in a growing number of areas, including 39 Jobcentres, and we have started taking claims from couples too. By the end of this year, around 1 in 8 Jobcentres will offer universal credit," she said.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/19/universal-credit-failings-pac-accuses-dwp