snowychap Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 housing benefit rates went UP between Feb & July 2010??? why the hell did happen during a recession? Benefit rates change each April, based on inflation rates the preceding September. Housing benefit/LHA will not be changed in line with CPI until 2013/14. To answer the first question, my belief is that the LHA rates are set by the median rent for private rentals (excluding those that are funded by housing benefit payments) in a BRMA (broad market rental area), i.e. the change in the rent for a period drives a change in the LHA rate in a subsequent period (this can be an increase or a decrease). Edit: Having checked quickly, the rates are updated monthly. There might well be a problem, however, with the figure of 'an average weekly award' under LHA as it would suggest this is what the claimant receives and, though the LHA rate forms the basis of the award, the actual amount received would be less than that if the claimant's income is above the relevant applicable amount. Effectively, the LHA rate is the maximum that can be received in a specific area for a specific house size (by beds). As housing benefit is means tested, the amount received is docked by 65% of any money received over a threshold (which differs for different people). What did you expect 'in a recession'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 housing benefit rates went UP between Feb & July 2010??? why the hell did happen during a recession?.05% over 6 months is not an increase - it's a fluctuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 housing benefit rates went UP between Feb & July 2010??? why the hell did happen during a recession?.05% over 6 months is not an increase - it's a fluctuation. i had assumed (wrongly as it turns out) that housing benefit didn't fluctuate, but was a set amount for the year. which is why i was surprised that it had changed during the year. but as you & others have pointed out, it does fluctuate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 The Irish crisis is hardly thought of as material for poetry. Still, I happened on this in the Guardian comment section, and since it's not a bad poem and also a good comment on the situation, thought I would spread it more widely: Not with a bang but a whimper Came the end of a sovereign people At the hands of Biffo & Bertie, Fitzgerald & McCreevey; slick-tongue Lenihan saying black is white Read my lips, there is no bail-out Just a refusal to tell you the truth In everything we do. Now **** off We have pensions to spend Millions to squander on ourselves Just like great uncle in the post office, on whose memory we piss Pretending we're just like him Who knew hardship and hunger; Had grandparents thrown onto The roads of Bohola for being Skint; just like us, the smiling Piss taking assassins of your Sovereignty, dickheads. Have a lovely day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Lord young wades in For The Win!! Knockout Blow: Nutter Lord Young apology over 'never had it so good' remarks Lord Young of Graffham said he regretted his comments Continue reading the main story UK Economy: The RecoveryUnemployment in graphics Private sector's role Retail sales see sign of pick-up UK borrows £10.3bn during October The Prime Minister's enterprise adviser has apologised after saying British people had "never had it so good" despite the "so called recession". Lord Young of Graffham told the Daily Telegraph the Bank of England's decision to cut the base rates to 0.5%, meant many homeowners were better off. But he later stated that he had written to David Cameron apologising for his "insensitive and inaccurate" remarks. Downing Street said that Lord Young's comments were inaccurate and offensive. In the Daily Telegraph interview, Lord Young said: "For the vast majority of people in the country today, they have never had it so good ever since this recession - this so-called recession - started..." Lord Young, a former trade and industry secretary during Margaret Thatcher's government, added that many people found their monthly mortgage repayments had decreased by up to £600 each time. He suggested the government's cuts, outlined in last month's spending review and totalling more than £80bn over four years, would just take state spending levels back to what they were in 2007 - a time, he said, when people were "not short of money". He said: "Now, I don't remember in 07 being short of money or the government being short of money. "So, you know, I have a feeling and a hope that when this goes through, people will wonder what all the fuss was about. "Of course, there will be people who complain, but these are people who think they have a right for the state to support them." 'Protected pound' He said that the forecast of 100,000 public sector job losses a year was "within the margin of error" in the context of the 30 million-strong job sector. He also suggested that the coalition government had overemphasised the impact of the cuts to "protect" the value of the pound. "The fact that we seemed to be going through such big cuts really meant that the pound was saved, so far," he said. Lord Young was given his unpaid role by Mr Cameron at the beginning of November. His comments echoed those made by Tory Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1957 who also said: "most of our people have never had it so good". Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote I should have chosen my words much more carefully” End Quote Lord Young Mr Macmillan had painted a rosy picture of Britain's economy during the speech to fellow Conservatives, while calling for wage restraint and making warnings that inflation was the country's most important problem of the post-war era. But Lord Young, whose comments differed to the restrained public statements made by senior government ministers, and Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg, later apologised. In a statement published on Thursday evening, Lord Young said he had played no part in the spending review and was not a member of the government. He said: "I deeply regret the comments I made and I entirely understand the offence they will cause. "They were both inaccurate and insensitive. "Low mortgage interest rates may have eased the burden for some families in this country. But millions of families face a very difficult and anxious future as we come to grips with the deficit. I should have chosen my words much more carefully." Last month, the prime minister had told the Conservative conference that "reducing spending will be difficult", while his deputy, Nick Clegg has also maintained that the cuts were to be "difficult and painful." Labour Treasury spokeswoman Angela Eagle said the original claims made Lord Young were "insulting". "People worried about their jobs will be disgusted by Lord Young's insulting claim that 'they've never had it so good'. "No wonder the government has no plan for jobs and growth - the man that David Cameron personally appointed as his adviser on helping small businesses thinks that the loss of 100,000 jobs a year is no big deal," she said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I think what Lord Young meant to say was that the vast majority of his friends have never had it so good. No point apologising for being a dick now, old boy. What a word removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 The Irish crisis is hardly thought of as material for poetry. Still, I happened on this.... Have a lovely day. One from the Torygraph comments section that summed it up for me.. oh ireland denies this and ireland denies that... ireland denies it will be damaged by the global credit crunch ireland denies there's a toxic asset problem within its banks ireland denies there's a problem with liquidity in its banking system ireland denies it will have to bail out its failing banks ireland denies it will have to bail out its failing banks again ireland denies it will have to bail out its failing banks again ireland denies it will have adopt austerity measures to pay for its banking bail out ireland denies it will have adopt more austerity measures to pay for its banking bail out ireland denies it will have adopt even more austerity measures to pay for its banking bail out ireland denies its attempts to stem collapse through taking austerity measures will fail ireland denies it needs a bailout from the ECB ireland denies it needs a bailout from the ECB and the IMF ireland denies that a bailout from the ECB and IMF will mean loss of soveriegnty ireland denies it is in denial An interesting (by interesting I mean terrifying) graphic below showing the exposure of European banks to "Eurozone peripherals", i.e Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Sovereign = Irish govt or Irish Govt guaranteed debt, plus the same for Portugal and Greece. Periphery loan= Private businesses. TNAV = Total Net Asset Value Leaving aside Lloyds, 'we' the tax payer own RBS so the UK is faced with: 1)Bailing out the PIG countries (and the Euro) to prevent our banks being wiped out. 2)Taking a massive hit on RBS. The former is basically propping up a currency structure which is fundamentally flawed and cannot survive in the long term, the latter would involve either bailout II or letting it go to the wall and losing most of what we spent on bailout I. I'm not sure we can afford the failure of RBS without sending us over the edge completely but there is an old phrase used in the military that states you should not reinforce failure without expecting an even greater loss. Now who I wonder, is going to bail out the UK if (but more likely, when) the time comes? Not the EU, as Sarkosy has already made clear and that leaves the IMF and the one world govt crew. We should have let the banks fail the first time around and replaced them with new, clean banks, seeded with capital from the State. All we've acheived is the transfer of the bankers failure to the State and that (it seems to me) has pretty much insured that whole countries will go down instead. It would have been painful for sure but the alternative road we took now seems even worse. 2007/08 = 1929. 2010/11 = 1931. We have been failed comprehensively by the current system with bankers and politicians leading the way. Time now to start thinking about what comes after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidlewis Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 never had it so good if you are on a tracker mortgage, other than that you're still **** because the banks are selling mortgages at boom interest rates in order to pay us back. so they pay us (the taxpayer) back, with out money at higher interest than they borrowed it? that right? words removed the lot of them. There should be some kind of regulation to cap what interest rates can be on top of the base rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I think what Lord Young meant to say was that the vast majority of his friends have never had it so good. No point apologising for being a dick now, old boy. What a word removed. The problem Cameron perceives is that Young made the remarks, giving people an insight into what he thinks. The problem I perceive is that the remarks accurately reflect what he and others running the country really think. If it helps people understand that particular worldview, then carry on, your lordship. After all, we're meant to be starting a "transparency" project, I understand. A bit more straight talking instead of soothing platitudes would be good. Next up: "Actually, we're not all in this together"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 An interesting (by interesting I mean terrifying) graphic below showing the exposure of European banks to "Eurozone peripherals", i.e Ireland, Portugal and Greece. Sovereign = Irish govt or Irish Govt guaranteed debt, plus the same for Portugal and Greece. Periphery loan= Private businesses. TNAV = Total Net Asset Value Not sure those numbers are all accurate or up to date Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 After all, we're meant to be starting a "transparency" project, I understand. Yes, I wonder whether they'll actually publish how much peerages cost for donors, after all, it seems like it's business as usual. Next up: "Actually, we're not all in this together"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 More **** disgusting behaviour from this awful Gvmt that we now have. The arrogance of Lord Young and the fact that Cameron will not sack him shows Cameron's ideals at face value. Add to that the abomination of the new Lords, and the continuing gerrymandering show what little regard they have for this country and more about their desire for absolute power. Working Peers list Conservative Party * Tariq Ahmad - businessman and former Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party * Sir Robert Balchin DL - Pro-Chancellor of Brunel University * Elizabeth Berridge - Director of the Conservative Christian Fellowship * Sir Michael Bishop CBE - career in civil aviation, Chairman of The Michael Bishop Foundation a charitable foundation * Alistair Cooke OBE - career in education, authorship and politics * Sir Patrick Cormack - former Conservative MP * Michael Dobbs - author, presenter and adviser to Margaret Thatcher and John Major * Robert Edmiston - businessman and charity campaigner * Sir Reg Empey OBE - Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party 2005 - 2010 * Andrew Feldman - businessman and Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party * Julian Fellowes DL - actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter * Stanley Fink - Chief Executive of International Standard Asset Management and Chairman of Earth Capital LLP. Treasurer of the Conservative Party * Howard Flight - career in finance; held various positions in Conservative Shadow Cabinet, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party 2004 -2005 * David Gold - senior litigation partner at Herbert Smith LLP * Michael Grade CBE - past Chief Executive of Channel 4 Television and former Executive Chairman of ITV plc * Rachael Heyhoe-Flint OBE DL - past captain of England women’s cricket team, currently public relations and sports marketing consultant * Anne Jenkin - charitable and political work for the Conservative Party * Sir Michael Lord - former Conservative MP and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons * Rt Hon David Maclean - former Conservative MP; held a number of Ministerial posts; Opposition Chief Whip 2001 - 2005 * George Magan - career in finance; former Conservative Party Treasurer and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Foundation * Sir Bernard Ribeiro CBE FRCS - retired Consultant General Surgeon; member of the Health Policy Research Advisory Board of the American College of Surgeons * Fiona Shackleton LVO - lawyer specialising in family law * Richard Spring - former Conservative MP * Tina Stowell MBE - former Head of BBC corporate Affairs; past Deputy Chief of Staff to William Hague as Leader of HM Opposition * Nicholas True CBE - past Deputy Head of the PM’s Policy Unit; former Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords; Leader of Richmond Borough Council * Patience Wheatcroft - Editor-in-Chief of the Wall Street Journal Europe * Gordon Wasserman - internationally recognised expert on management of police forces Liberal Democrat Party * Dr Sarah (Sal) Brinton - Executive Director of the Association of Universities in the East of England * Dee Doocey OBE - Chair of the London Assembly * Qurban Hussain - Deputy Group Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Luton Borough Council * Judith Jolly - Chair of Executive Committee of Liberal Democrats in Devon and Cornwall * Susan Kramer - former Liberal Democrat MP * Raj Loomba - businessman and campaigner for widows’ rights * Jonathan Marks - commercial and family law QC with specialist interest in human rights and constitutional reform * Monroe Palmer OBE - Liberal Democrat Councillor and Chair of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel * Jenny Randerson - Liberal Democrat Member of the National Assembly for Wales for Cardiff Central, former Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government * John Sharkey - Chairman of the Liberal Democrat 2010 General Election campaign * Nicol Stephen - Former Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2005 - 2007) and leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (2005 - 2008) * Ben Stoneham - Liberal Democrat HQ Operations Director * Mike Storey CBE - Primary School Head teacher, former Leader of Liverpool City Council, Liberal Democrat Councillor and former Lord Mayor of Liverpool; * Paul Strasburger - businessman and philanthropist * Claire Tyler - Chief Executive of Relate Labour Party * Dame Joan Bakewell DBE - writer and broadcaster * Ray Collins - General Secretary of the Labour Party * Maurice Glasman - Senior Lecturer in political theory at London Metropolitan University and for his work with London Citizens * Jonathan Kestenbaum - businessman and Chief Executive of National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts * Oona King - Head of Diversity at Channel 4 Television and former Labour MP; currently journalist and presenter * Ruth Lister - Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at Loughbrough University * Eluned Morgan - former Labour MEP representing Mid and West Wales; currently Honorary Distinguished Professor at Cardiff University and for her work on low carbon energy * Sir Gulam Noon MBE - Chairman and Founder of Noon Products and of the Noon Foundation * Stewart Wood - former Downing Street and HMT special adviser, lecturer at University of Oxford; previously Fellow of Magdalen College and co-founder of Nexus * Bryony Worthington - career focusing on promoting environmental and social change Plaid Cymru * Rt Hon Dafydd Wigley - former Leader of Plaid Cymru; Honorary President of Plaid Cymru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Both parties are as bad as each other when it comes to gerrymandering Ian, even you must see that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 A couple of things then Mart, the Tory led Gvmts promised reform, the new Lords are full of political donors, how exactly is that reform? Unelected again other than by dipping in a few tax avoided pounds into the coffers of the political parties. The changes in the number of MP's is nothing more than a clinging to power by the ConDem's - a scandalous thing that they have no mandate for and will never be held accountable. People talk about the last Gvmt and boundary changes, but these were proven to favour the Tory party! This is a sordid Gvmt with little in the way of any sort of values other than me me me. A return to Thatcherism is here and is sitting in your favourite comfy chair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringo Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Oona fecking King - the people have rejected her twice and so the party machine puts her into a position of power anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted November 19, 2010 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2010 Lord Young resigns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 That's a real pity. I was looking forward to a few more frank comments made after a good lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc89 Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Labour leading in the Voting Polls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 This is a sordid Gvmt with little in the way of any sort of values other than me me me. A return to Thatcherism is here and is sitting in your favourite comfy chair Sadly, I think you're bang on the money there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Labour leading in the Voting Polls. How long did the "Honeymoon" Period last exactly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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