pap

I don't think there has ever been a case where the onset of dementia has been so positive for the individual concerned.

Well, intrepid reporter pap is back on the scene in NC. Nothing huge to report, although a sign at Piedmont Triad International made me laugh. "Carrying concealed weapons in the airport is prohibited", with a nice little gun sign. Sort of "taken as read" in UK airports.

The funny thing is you don't even know you'd be getting the 5%.

Not one of mine, but apt after comments about the "feckless".

Depends on how you see it. I like the original principle of universal child benefit, the idea that we think new British kids are a good thing. This "ooh, those bastards have got that! let's remove child benefit" amendment, not so much. I mean, we had rich people back when Child Benefit was introduced. Why do you think it was made universal then?

Impossible! I haven't linked Clarkson Island yet. [video=youtube;DMuO-8S_0Wg] Now we can wrap this shít up.

No, Torres is attempting to keep us talking about that. Others, bletch included, are grasping bigger parts of the nettle.

Yeah, they'd be for the people that lack cooking facilities and crockery, etc.

Like having loads of kids? I'm not sure you realise how much they cost, and take it from me, it doesn't get any cheaper when they bugger off to Uni.

Fair dos; I actually meant one child families, which alluded to your £20/week payout. If you've got a large family, and you've made the entirely reasonable decision to have one parent stay at home to look after the kids, then anyone earning the higher rate is going to be hit. Those people should not be queueing for a stupid bank. And my points about cherry-picking still stand.

Come off it, Torres. You've picked on the one point you felt you could tackle, narrowed it to one parent families, and still haven't convinced me.

Clear links to Coalition(Tory) policy. See my later post.

There are clear policy decisions which have led to this. Benefit sanctions, overall 26K benefit cap, the HB cap, removal of Child Benefit for anyone paying tax at the higher threshold (yeah yeah, I know they shouldn't need food banks, but weigh in the amount of consumer debt we have and we all know it happens). I've agreed with quite a bit of what you've written lately, Special K. We differ on this. There is a clear link between those policies and the unprecedented rise in the use of foodbanks.

You're asking me to relate the collective experience of everyone who has ever run out of cash? Well, I can't do that, but I've often said that when money runs out, those that are already criminally disposed will do more of the same. That's more dealing, more choring, more whoring, more of whatever. And I'm sure that is still happening. What should be of concern here is the huge rise. 41 thousand to 1.5 million people, or if you wanna denominate, 1500 thousands. Those are scary numbers, both a damning indictment of the indifference of Tory policy and the self-blinkered citizenry that pretend it's not happening (so they can cheer for their favourite team n May without feeling especially guilty).

I think not. What we've been discussing is the rise of food banks between 2009 and 2013. 1.5 million people now rely on them. That's up from 41K in 2009. Look it in the eye, trousers. This is a direct consequence of Conservative Party policy. 36 times more people use foodbanks.

If someone wanted to avoid looking the issue of food banks in the eye, would they address the issue or create a hypothetical that doesn't have any bearing on the real problems people face?

Who knew? A little bit of shame is the precursor to a fully-loaded and original trousers opinion. I may try that more often! Take the map as it is. Those local authorities didn't have food banks in 2009. They do now. I find it amazing that proud Conservative citizens are on-board with seeing their fellow citizens beg for food. It really isn't us.

Found it on a FB page, skip. I did actually try to track it for you, but couldn't find anything more substantive. He is, but then to be fair, he probably had to start somewhere. And I'm not really that far off the mark, am I?

2015: Vote UKIP. Don't let all those foreigners take your jobs. 2011: English people is shít, innit. I employ loads of foreigners to do their jobs. No you wouldn't. You're saying "I would like to ignore people starving so I would prefer to pretend that they are all feckless smokers and alcoholics, and are using the food banks to ensure they don't miss out". Sparkling self-destruction as always, UJ. "I would like to feel better about the foodbank situation, so instead of concentrating on what has happened here and here alone, I want to know that we're eating better than French and Germans. I won't feel as guilty about tucking into this steak if I just know that there are kids that are eating less and housed worse, somewhere else in the developed world. Because that's relevant to the UK".

This may be relevant. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gavin-barwell-conservative-mp-blunder-1772319 Basically, SaintJackoInHurworth, Google thinks you love the Tories.

Look at that (food bank) growth!

Conservative Manifesto: "Mother of all lies" - former Tory Peer The Conservatives have continued to spin their familiar yarn of having rescued Britain from ‘Labour’s Great Recession’. This, as they must know, is the mother of all lies. The Great Recession was caused by the banks. Governments, the Labour government included, by bailing out the banks and continuing to spend, stopped the Great Recession from turning into a Great Depression. Yet practically everyone seems to believe that the Great Recession was manufactured by Gordon Brown. The Conservatives claim that ‘by halving the deficit we have restored confidence to the economy’. This cheerfully ignores the near academic consensus that their deficit-reduction policies over the last 5 years have made the British economy between 5 and 10% smaller than it would have been with more sensible policies. According to the Conservative manifesto ‘more borrowing – and the extra debt interest that brings – means that there is less money to spend on schools and hospitals’. But if less borrowing reduces the size of the economy – and therefore of government revenues – there will be even less to spend on schools and hospitals. ‘More spending means higher taxes for hardworking people’ – not if it causes the economy to grow more than the spending. Failure to control the national debt would be a ‘moral failing’ by ‘leaving our children or grandchildren with debts that they could never hope to repay’. How many people realise that over 60% of the holders of British government debt are British residents, for whom it will be an asset to leave to their children and grandchildren? The Conservative narrative has become the Overton Window of our day, outside of which policies are unthinkable. But sooner or later reality will break in, and what is now unthinkable will become sensible again. But not in this election. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/former-tory-peer-calls-conservative-5525765 http://www.skidelskyr.com/site/article/conservative-election-manifesto/

A leftfield choice. I reckon Whitey would love Myleene.