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May 21st 2011
The Financial Crunch at the bottom of the Pile
Much was made by the Government of their help for those on lower wages. The rise in the threshold at which tax is paid was part of the LibDem manifesto and was raised this year starting April.
So this should be something to cheer about? Well not quite. NI was increased, VAT was increased by 2.5%, travel costs went up and food prices rose by 7.8%, the net affect can be seen below – £11.54 less.
Minimum wage Weekly For a Single Person
| YEAR |
2010 | 2011 |
| WAGES |
£222.38 | £222.38 |
| TAX & IN |
£25.73 | £31.93 |
| FOOD |
£76.15 | 82.09 |
| RENT |
£80.00 | £80.00 |
| TRANSPORT |
£32.20 | £31.60 |
| TOTAL |
£214.08 | £225.62 |
| BALANCE |
£8.30 | -£3.24 |
So after all the talk, the bullshit and spin, those at the bottom of the pile, who do the most menial work, the jobs that others do not like to do but the very jobs that keep this country ticking over are getting screwed big.
There was a commitment to raise the threshold to £10,000 before paying tax. But it seems that the idea is to raise it every year a little, and each year , NI and other taxes will go up and so there is no real benefit.
That is what one get when one elects 3 five years to the play ground at Downing Street.
May 16th 2011
The Silent Coup D’état
We have all been focused on the recent AV referendum, Yes or No and who cares? Yes would have been a step in the right direction, on the path to a more balanced democracy. Certainly when someone is elected with only 30% of the vote, there is something wrong!
But quietly behind the scenes of this great sleight of hand called a ‘referendum on AV’, David Cameron has pushed through his plan to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600. His rational is to make Parliament more efficient and MPs more accountable, although the reality is that this move will benefit the Conservatives by redrawing boundaries, etc.
However, this move is nothing more than a silent Coup D’état, a disenfranchising of the British public of their right to a proper democratic system. In the 1960’s the number of MPs was raised from 630 to 650. In the intervening period of time the population has increased by nearly 10 Million. This means that there should be around 725 MPs in Parliament at the very least. Now many people are so sick of the recent batch of MPs and their antics that a reduction of their number would seem to be a blessing; it is however not. Merely because we had a bad bunch doesn’t mean we strip down the process and mechanism. We do need to attract more people, the common man and not the TRAPO (Traditional Politician).
By increasing the number of MPs we create more constituencies and abetter ratios of constituents to MP. This will aid the smaller parties to gain few seats, but alas will not give them a truly proportional representation.
THE LORDS
The idea that the upper chamber, The House of Lords should be fully elected sounds on the face of it a good idea, after all the US has that system… but wait hasn’t that worked well for the US? Not really! If everyone is sick of the politicians we elect in the Commons, why one would want to elect another bunch in the Lords!
No, I like the idea of having members of the Lords being appointed. They should come from a cross section of society, with different, skills, talent and life experience. Skills needed to counteract the appalling lack of everything and anything displayed by the current members of the Commons.
Who should appoint these new members of the Lords? Ah well, that is of course another question. Should there be a limit on the numbers in the house? Yes, in direct proportion to the size of the population.
Commonsense seems to evaporate when talking about such issues, partisan politics stubbornly gums up the works. Things will not change until Parliament gets a smack on the head!
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