Heating allowance

[MARK.B.]

We can all do our bit and plant a few trees and help save the planet,but they take a long time to grow.
The sad truth is that trees are being cut down and burnt far faster than we can plant and grow them.

 

[Geoff_S]

The problem with means testing for the heating allowance is that it may lead to means testing for your pension.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

We can all do our bit and plant a few trees and help save the planet,but they take a long time to grow.
The sad truth is that trees are being cut down and burnt far faster than we can plant and grow them.

We should all plant Paulownia trees - they grow up to 6 metres in the first year (!), and are mature and ready for harvest in 5 or 6 years. Lovely straight wood, nice and strong, and light as balsa. Also very pretty when in flower. I imagine a paulownia grove would be more aggressive than lelandii when it comes to annoying your neighbours. Unfortunately they don't like a high water table.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I'm doing my bit. I've planted a 3-way Family Apple tree (Bramley, Christmas Pippin and something else, I can't remember. Scrumptious? I have a Conference / Concorde pear tree ready to plant just as soon as the "garden" gets a bit drier than an Olympic swimming pool, and yesterday I took delivery of a cherry tree.

And Lurker has offered me a Yellow Plum.

I also have some scions which I bought from Portugal as Red William Pear. They have arrived, but are only labelled as Pera William, no mention of the Red, which is what I really wanted. I plan to graft them in the spring. The trouble is, I shall only find out in a few years time whether or not they are actually red.

The Garden of Eden in Kirkby-in-Ashfield. Whooda thunk it?

 

[Logger]

My dad contacted dwp when he started getting fuel allowance a few years ago. He asked if his could be donated to more needy people, but was told it would cost too much to do that so he has to receive it. He donates to a charity.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Garno]

And Lurker has offered me a Yellow Plum.

I had one of those once, the pain was unbelievable, and as for the swelling .............. apologise to Lurker for whatever you have done to deserve this and he may not carry out the threat :shock:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I toyed with the idea of putting my £200 towards a new chainsaw but having no legs I suppose the two I already have are probably enough.

 

[Andy Kev.]

Apart from the cost of means testing, it seems a lot of people in need don't apply for the money they're due for various reasons including pride and presumably competence. Some things are very fundamental needs and the state's right to make those automatic/ non-means tested - the reality is, for whatever reasons, lots of people would suffer if they didn't.

Apparently in 2016 'analysis of last year’s Department for Work and Pensions by Church Action on Poverty revealed that between them, working age families and pensioners are failing to claim more than £10bn a year in benefits. Others suggest low income households are missing out on £15bn in benefits and tax credits.'
https://www.independent.co.uk/money/spe ... 85166.html

Your post goes to the heart of the relationship between the state and the private citizen and it does of course question the competence of the state.

The very idea of a universal benefit is nonsense if you think about it because a benefit is designed to remedy a specific want. How likely is it that all people have that want (fairly likely e.g. all people want to heat their homes)? How likely is it that all people cannot meet that want out of their own pockets? Highly unlikely as people have differing levels of income both when in work and when in retirement.

To introduce a benefit which universally targets a specific need is to demonstrate the incompetence of the state. If there were really a need which all people could not meet, the logical thing would be to increase the rate of the universal OAP. To claim that it would cost too much to carry out a means test (a dubious claim as it could surely be done in the last couple of years before retirement and if the state can cope with the complexities of an annual tax return then a means test should be a doddle and a one off event) simply underlines the incompetence of state bureaucracy.

As for "unclaimed" benefits: does this not also indicate the incompetence of the state i.e. the inability to estimate the amount of money which should be set aside for benefits. Just because it has not been claimed does not mean that it all should have been claimed. And of course the unclaimed money is essentially begging to be used to fund the means test.

It's also worth remembering that there is no such thing as "government money". It is all the taxpayers' money or more accurately a mixture of the taxpayers' money and the debt which the politicians have taken out on the taxpayers' behalf, usually in order to buy the voters off with spending promises at election time.

 

[thetyreman]

why is this thread allowed? lots of political discussion, it breaks the rules, specifically rule 6a.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I toyed with the idea of putting my £200 towards a new chainsaw but having no legs I suppose the two I already have are probably enough.

I am reasonably confident that you can never have too many chainsaws. Everyone needs an extra chainsaw. I don't think they are pedal powered, so you should be fine

 

[lurker]

why is this thread allowed? lots of political discussion, it breaks the rules, specifically rule 6a.

Where is the politics no one has mentioned any party nor their policies.

 

[sploo]

And Lurker has offered me a Yellow Plum.

I had one of those once, the pain was unbelievable, and as for the swelling .............. apologise to Lurker for whatever you have done to deserve this and he may not carry out the threat :shock:

"Doctor, can you keep the size and colour, but just take away the pain?"

 

[RogerS]

Being just up the road from Bob (Lons), I can tell you that the rains (hyperbolic plural) here are biblical over the last week in particular, the last fortnight in general. We have a low cloud base - think rose bush low - and the dreariness of the place is quite depressing; I'd give a lot for a drop of sunshine!
All that Bob said above re age and heat I concur with. In my old profession, the grandparents doing 'the school run' was definitely a high percentage of what tried to run me down as I cycled up the drive in the mornings...

Sam

Told you you were going too far East :lol: We've had lots of sunshine here Even shadows....remember those ?

 

[SammyQ]

Yeah, 'course I do. Hank Marvin, Jet Harris and....and....Somebody Welsh? Crackin' bass Grommitt!

Sam

Edit: Bruce!!

 

[Lons]

We've had lots of sunshine here

Beautiful clear blue sky here this morning but crikey what a heavy frost anyway Sam can get some sun on his face today.

 

[SammyQ]

Yup. S.A.D got temporarily banned; managed a trip out in the novelty of direct sunlight 8) .

What I wouldn't have given though to be on the Fiacaill Ridge,

on the way to the top of Cairn Gorm, crackin' ascent in this dry, clear weather. Then down the Goat Track to the car park. Today, it might just have been clear of snow.

Sam

 

[Garno]

-3 here today, seen some very unhappy brass monkeys all speaking soprano :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

+9c, 90% humidity. Positively tropical.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

-3 here today, seen some very unhappy brass monkeys all speaking soprano :shock: :shock: :shock:

A smug 20°C today, but before you get too envious, we have had a nasty outbreak of mosquitoes. Not just a few - clouds of the things. Insane hordes f blood-sucking mayhem. We are all counting lumps and comparing extensive texts written in Braille on various body parts.

Desperate for some cold to kill them all off. If you could organise a swap...

 

[Steve Maskery]

I hope you are not looking for sympathy...