Obmutescent, obedible, omphaloskeptic ovines...

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Silent, docile navel-gazing sheep (OK, not sure sheep can do that easily!). We are become...nothing. 

All very depressing. The Naked Emperor's latest "A Picture is worth a Thousand Words": Or a survey result...yes, polls are notoriously more shite then ever but this definitely rings true, and in such a short time (2016-22):

Look at the wording, "definitely should...". We are lost. 

'To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.' Robert Louis Stevenson

Objurgation of Osborne...

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...but he's right. The real debate begins...again! Some tried make political gain over the death of children recently by claiming that George Osborne was trying to make political gain (many thought so but as usual they didn't read what he said or how he said it and in answer to a specific question, they just immediately believe 'accusations')...if you see what I mean.



Today we get 'Northern Labour leftie talks sense shock!'; Simon Danczuk (Labour MP for Rochdale) in today's DT. Added to Harpie's straight-faced (hilarious) 'epiphany' over the weekend it seems Labour have realised the danger of them losing the Welfare debate!




And there's definitely someone who has benefited from doing nothing recently!

Objurgation of Osborne...

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...but he's right. The real debate begins...again! Some tried make political gain over the death of children recently by claiming that George Osborne was trying to make political gain (many thought so but as usual they didn't read what he said or how he said it and in answer to a specific question, they just immediately believe 'accusations')...if you see what I mean.

Today we get 'Northern Labour leftie talks sense shock!'; Simon Danczuk (Labour MP for Rochdale) in today's DT. Added to Harpie's straight-faced (hilarious) 'epiphany' over the weekend it seems Labour have realised the danger of them losing the Welfare debate!

And there's definitely someone who has benefited from doing nothing recently!

Osborne's opportunity...

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As usual we are told what a politician will say in the future. This New Labour habit hasn't gone away: is it media management mayhem or Media managing ministers?...but I digress: what GO will say is quite important with all the welfare reform going on. "Trials will begin in four London boroughs of a £500-a-week per household benefits cap and a new Universal Credit system due to replace a raft of other benefits nationwide later this year."...500 quid...a week.



This is the new cap, hardly unfair. If those trials get anywhere near working in London then they are a dead cert for anywhere else in the UK. Now, the criticism from churches and charities and, naturally, the opposition is totally misplaced, as all they do is harp on about it being unfair because the top level of tax is being cut. I've posted the image on the left before but it's worth a good look (click to enlarge).



Update: actual speech text HERE and word-cloud (hat-tip Guido) HERE.

Osborne's opportunity...

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As usual we are told what a politician will say in the future. This New Labour habit hasn't gone away: is it media management mayhem or Media managing ministers?...but I digress: what GO will say is quite important with all the welfare reform going on. "Trials will begin in four London boroughs of a £500-a-week per household benefits cap and a new Universal Credit system due to replace a raft of other benefits nationwide later this year."...500 quid...a week.

This is the new cap, hardly unfair. If those trials get anywhere near working in London then they are a dead cert for anywhere else in the UK. Now, the criticism from churches and charities and, naturally, the opposition is totally misplaced, as all they do is harp on about it being unfair because the top level of tax is being cut. I've posted the image on the left before but it's worth a good look (click to enlarge).

Update: actual speech text HERE and word-cloud (hat-tip Guido) HERE.

Obverting offerings...

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And we wonder why the government has no money (well it doesn't, it's our money but you know what I mean). Guido writes that the Centre for Policy Studies has found that 53.4% of UK households receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes; this is a very high figure.  "These trends are unsustainable – particularly given the ageing profile of the UK population", said Tim Knox, Director of the CPS. Of course, you may say, as this includes all pensioners the number is skewed; so looking at the study [PDF], even without "retired households" the total is still a horrendously high 40%! In 1979 31.7% of non-retired households were net recipients of the state and by 2000/01 this had fallen as low as 29.0 per cent,"However, over the past ten years to 2010/11, the proportion of households who are now net
recipients of the state has increased to 39.6 per cent." Ryan Bourne, Head of Economics at the CPS said:

"These data show that even before the financial crisis, the Labour government was ramping up spending on cash benefits and benefits in kind without corresponding increases in taxation. This was not redistribution from rich to poor, but redistribution from the future to the present. It felt good at the time, but given the government doesn't have its own money, was unsustainable."

Obverting offerings...

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And we wonder why the government has no money (well it doesn't, it's our money but you know what I mean). Guido writes that the Centre for Policy Studies has found that 53.4% of UK households receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes; this is a very high figure.  "These trends are unsustainable – particularly given the ageing profile of the UK population", said Tim Knox, Director of the CPS. Of course, you may say, as this includes all pensioners the number is skewed; so looking at the study [PDF], even without "retired households" the total is still a horrendously high 40%! In 1979 31.7% of non-retired households were net recipients of the state and by 2000/01 this had fallen as low as 29.0 per cent,"However, over the past ten years to 2010/11, the proportion of households who are now net recipients of the state has increased to 39.6 per cent." Ryan Bourne, Head of Economics at the CPS said:

"These data show that even before the financial crisis, the Labour government was ramping up spending on cash benefits and benefits in kind without corresponding increases in taxation. This was not redistribution from rich to poor, but redistribution from the future to the present. It felt good at the time, but given the government doesn't have its own money, was unsustainable."