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Reply | Why can't the UK
at 22:10 26 Mar 2025
I agree with your comments about the tax system and some paying a lot less than they ought to, I also agree with you that the tax system and benefit system need an overhaul, it canāt be right that generations of families can freeload off the state without putting anything back in, or hobble without recourse.
In terms of benefits for the rich, would you classify the state pension as a benefit? Child benefit is targeted and āhigh earnersā lose it. The targeting is very crude though and unfair. I know a guy who was a senior grade manager in a big organisation, he was married (wife didnāt work) and they had 2 kids. He earned slightly over the Child benefit cap and lost the benefit. Two of his under managers were married, they had 2 children between them and as they both individually earned slightly under the threshold they retained the child benefit entitlement even though collectively they earned about Ā£40k more than the senior manager. The system defo needs looking at. |
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Reply | Why can't the UK
at 13:53 26 Mar 2025
Based on what youāve said thatās a shocking set of circumstances and should never be allowed to happen, if they are fit enough to drive they shouldnāt be eligible for additional funding for dementia. |
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Reply | Why can't the UK
at 12:38 26 Mar 2025
Thatās a fair point.
On the one hand weāve complaints about poor services, complaints about cuts to services, complaints about cuts to benefits and on the other hand complaints about paying too much tax! There had to be a balance which I think most people agree on, but the question of where the balance lays is where it gets tricky and not everyone is going to be happy.
Do we need to cut benefits? Absolutely because less people paying tax canāt be expected to bail out more of those who donāt work, but the question is how do we do it? As unpopular as cutting benefits is, at least weāre seeing some positive action taking place and itās well overdue because thereās plenty of people out there milking the system. The key to getting it tight is to take a pragmatic sensible approach and to sort the workshy out.
I donāt believe benefits like the WFA should be distributed to every pensioner, instead it needs to hr targeted to those who need it, but the threshold thatās been applied i.e. pension credit is much too low. Iād like to see the tax threshold which was frozen by Sunak and subsequently extended by Hunt unfrozen and increased to provide relief to pensioners and those who work thereby encouraging more people to get off their backsides: |
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Reply | All this Budget Speculation
at 22:12 25 Mar 2025
I donāt condone Reeves taking the freebies (in fact I donāt condone any MP from whatever party taking freebies) and she shouldnāt have taken the tickets, however the reference to security is a fair shout. Reeves, like other prominent politicians/ royals will have their own protection teams and some of these will be armed.
Looking after a politician in a large crowd is going to be fraught with danger, factor in the darkness, strobe lighting etc, presence of firearms and it becomes a nightmare. |
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Reply | Wales least affordable part of Britain for first-time buyers
at 11:32 25 Mar 2025
To be honest Iām not convinced it was a genuine offer from Boris, but we should have accepted it. Then weād have either had the cash and the new road, or called his bluff and been able to call him out for being a liar. As things stand now weāll never know.
Drakers and the WG need their backsides kicked on this. |
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Reply | Wales least affordable part of Britain for first-time buyers
at 11:13 25 Mar 2025
I see that the Westminster government has today has approved the construction of an Ā£8bn tunnel underneath the Thames which will link Essex and Kent and will cost Ā£8bn. Although itās another investment in the South East, itās something they desperately need - whilst here in south east Wales weāve got a bottle neck at peak hours which nobody is doing anything about - it makes my blood boil.
I think itās worth pointing out the consultation for the new tunnel cost around Ā£800m. |
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Reply | Wales least affordable part of Britain for first-time buyers
at 23:19 24 Mar 2025
Lots of good points from all sides here, Iām no Labour voter but it seems they are damned whatever they do and on occasions when they donāt do something.
Thereās most certainly an affordability issue in most of Wales, but Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire are amongst the worst areas. When the WG introduced legislation to enable councils to charge second home owners more council tax to try and alleviate the affordability issue they were criticised, but theyāre also getting criticised for the current situation weāre in.
Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire are very popular with people east of the dyke (particularly retirees) and thatās pushed up property prices while a lack of quality jobs means locals canāt compete with the prices incomers are prepared to pay.
In the past weāve seen governments targeting funding in to the areas their where their supporter bases are strong, after the 2019 GE Boris created a levelling up fund to build on his success in the āred wall constituenciesā but a fair proportion ended up being spent in Conservative seats (particularly marginals) and levelling up didnāt really improve the lot of people in the red wall. Labour are no different.
Someone made reference to Bristol / Avonmouth earlier in the thread, the development taking place there ( albeit some of it is likely taking place in the free port) is impressive, failure by Labour to sort out the Brynglas tunnels is shameful as is the increase in AM numbers.
Someone made mention of the inward investment and Scotland securing double of that of wales - well thatās not surprising given their economy is over twice the size of ours and they have a bigger population.
Wales has deteriorated after suffering from 14 years of Conservative government who would have been focussing their resources and investment in blue areas because thatās where they draw their support from and they werenāt about to āwasteā money on non conservative areas. During the Brexit negotiations we saw the concessions and resources the Unionists were able to extract to benefit their citizens.
Iām in favour of devolution, but we need an influx of new blood in to Cardiff Bay and to be rid of the old guard just as weāve had with Westminster. No Brynglas bypass, 20mph speed limits almost everywhereā¦.. itās nuts. |
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Reply | š“ó §ó ¢ó ·ó ¬ó ³ó æ Wales v š°šæKazakhstan: WCQ Match day thread
at 20:12 23 Mar 2025
I was at the game and havenāt seen a replay of the penalty or the foul on Connor Roberts, but I 100% agree with you about the flicks and gifting possession away. Another thing that really annoyed me was the tendency to play the ball backwards when there were attacking options available, Dan James was often stood on the touchline and open for a pass but all too often it was played back across the defence and momentum lost.
All that said, it was 3 points in the bag against a very defensive team who all too often had 10 behind the ball. |
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Reply | Starmer in Barrow
at 17:55 21 Mar 2025
Do you have proof that he failed most of GCSEās?
Heās got A levels in Maths, Physics and Music and studied law at a Russel Group University back in the day when only the top students went to Uni. Heās also been to Oxbridge, even today thatās pretty good going. [Post edited 22 Mar 1:28]
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Reply | Starmer in Barrow
at 11:38 21 Mar 2025
Maybe, just maybe the sub station that went up in flames today could well have been a case of sabotage by a clandestine group. Itās brought part of the country to a halt and weāve been sing attacks on energy infrastructure elsewhere. |
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Reply | All this Budget Speculation
at 08:24 19 Mar 2025
When I was growing up, my father worked full time while my mother didnāt work, and when she did work it was part time and we were old enough to sort ourselves out. The big difference between own and then was the cost of housing, when my parents bought their house what they could borrow was limited to 3.5 times my fathers salary and other costs were cheaper. Houses these days are much much more expensive and the average house is 7.5 times the average wage hence the requirement for both parents to work.
Weāve got politicians going on about the falling birth rate, is it any wonder when havin* a child is so expensive. |
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Reply | All this Budget Speculation
at 23:18 17 Mar 2025
Absolutely.
Wifey has a relly who is cohabiting with his Mrs. Said couple reside in social housing, have 3 kids, she is on disability, thereās a decent haul of benefits coming so they get a lot of things paid for and for hood measure a stonking 4x4 on motorbility. Both could easily hold a job down if they wanted one. |
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Reply | The Rugby Regions in Wales
at 23:09 17 Mar 2025
As you say it was the Neath Swansea Ospreys, the kit was black and white and if I remember correctly the reference to the Ospreys was something to do with Swansea RFC back in the day, but I can say that with 100% conviction.
Aberavon and Maesteg were also in the Ospreys area, but were very much on the outside - well thatās the way it appeared to many. When Ospreys players were allocated to Premiership teams for development purposes, for a long time it seemed that only Swansea and Neath benefited, but then things changed when there was some difficulties between Neath and the Ospreys and Aberavon came more in to the fold and began to receive players. If you look at the current allocation of Ospreys and Ospreys academy players, Swansea get the lions share, then itās Bridgend who came in to the region when the WRU shut the Celtic Dragons down and then itās Aberavon. Iām known to partake of the occasional Aberavon game, as youāve said a few of their fans wouldnāt cross the road to watch the Ospreys. I think thereās a few in Neath who now feel the same way. |
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Reply | The Rugby Regions in Wales
at 17:48 17 Mar 2025
But Parc Y Scarlets was a a much better ground than the project the Ospreys have in the pipeline and it will have a bigger capacityā¦..
I think we have to lose a region and in terms of chimneys etc it makes sense to lose the Scarlets, but if weāre being honest the Scarlets have produced a lot more internationals in the last 15 years (as have the Ospreys) than the Dragons or Cardiff. Iād axe the Dragons, but thereās a huge risk that this will disenfranchise a lot of fans. |
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