Originally Posted by garinda (Post 801179)

Before I'm jumped on, I would like to state he is a very good local councillor, and that's why he has been one for so long.

Historically Ossy has been traditionally Labour, like many of the other towns and villages that make up the borough.

So it's nothing to do with Ossy being some sort of 'safe seat'. It isn't.

I know lots of people who have benefited from his work as a councillor. On that level you'll rarely hear a word of criticism.

I think he's re-elected because of the man he is. A man with a proven track record.

He might be a pompous tyrant in council chambers, I don't know, but face to face he's a nice bloke.

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris (Post 801183)

...and he was a good paper boy. The people in the newsagents down Charter Street thought very highly of him (just trying to contribute to Garinda's positive assessment of him). :)

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris (Post 801186)

As for his conduct on the council, it's hard for me to judge because, as Jaysay will be the first to tell you, I live in Cheshire now. However, as I'm continually saying, perhaps if more local Tories had the bottle to join Accyweb, they'd be able to leap to his defence!

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 800655)

You just seemed, er...a little stumped, and unaware that people in work are entitled to social benefits, that your post seemed to hint were just available to those not working.

I find it hard to fathom how someone of your generation never received some social benefits in your working life.

Perhaps you were luckly enough never to have had a day off sick in those fifty years, and perhaps you weren't married, and had children, and therefore your spouse didn't receive any maternity leave, or child benefit payments, like every other parent of that generation, as it wasn't means tested, and available to all workers.

People work and benefit everyday.

People work, hoping they'll be able to carry on working, but knowing if they can't, because they lose their job, or they develop an illness etc, they will hopefully be cushioned by social benefits, that they've helped to fund.

People work and hope they don't pop their clogs before their retirement, so they can benefit from their old age pension, in later years.

There just a few benefits that are called as such, which workers in the past benefited from. Today there's a whole range more, as I linked in my earler reply, working tax credits etc.

We could also discuss worker's benefiting a from free education for their children, and a free health care system, if you wish, but perhaps we'll leave that for another day, when you've had time to realise, as a worker you might have benefited yourself, quite a lot in the past.

Originally Posted by Stumped (Post 801244)

Indeed, my good lady received child benefit for our four offspring and my ocasional bouts of sickness/injuries on duty were covered by my employers, but I maintain that I have contributed more in taxation of one kind or another and national insurance over my working life than I would ever hope to achieve in benefits. Time will tell. In the meantime I am happy to sit back and watch the prospective parliamentary candidates continue to knock lumps off each other in the unseemly fashion that they seem to relish.

Originally Posted by Stumped (Post 801244)

Indeed, my good lady received child benefit for our four offspring and my ocasional bouts of sickness/injuries on duty were covered by my employers, but I maintain that I have contributed more in taxation of one kind or another and national insurance over my working life than I would ever hope to achieve in benefits. Time will tell. In the meantime I am happy to sit back and watch the prospective parliamentary candidates continue to knock lumps off each other in the unseemly fashion that they seem to relish.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 801255)

It's a good job your children benefited from an education funded by the tax payer.

Sending four kids to Eton would have cost a fortune in fees.

;)

Originally Posted by Less (Post 801274)

That isn't the same as benefits, paid for in a completely different way isn't it?
:confused:

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 801255)

It's a good job your children benefited from an education funded by the tax payer.

Sending four kids to Eton would have cost a fortune in fees.

;)

Originally Posted by Stumped (Post 801301)

Don't I know it. Two of my kids went through university funded by ME as they were refused grants of any kind. Not that I regret a penny of it. You are quick to criticise, but families suffered hard times even in the 'olden days' of Wilson and Callaghan, which you seem to have conveniently forgotten.

Originally Posted by Stumped (Post 800628)

Maybe I just don't understand the benefits system - or rather, how to fiddle it! Having worked from the age of 15 to 65-years and having never received a penny in benefits until I drew my pension some years ago!

Originally Posted by Stumped (Post 801301)

Don't I know it. Two of my kids went through university funded by ME as they were refused grants of any kind.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 801179)

Before I'm jumped on, I would like to state he is a very good local councillor, and that's why he has been one for so long.

Historically Ossy has been traditionally Labour, like many of the other towns and villages that make up the borough.

So it's nothing to do with Ossy being some sort of 'safe seat'. It isn't.

I know lots of people who have benefited from his work as a councillor. On that level you'll rarely hear a word of criticism.

I think he's re-elected because of the man he is. A man with a proven track record.

He might be a pompous tyrant in council chambers, I don't know, but face to face he's a nice bloke.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 801313)

Again, I'd just like to point out that the majority of funding for further education, doesn't come from student tuition fees. They receive funding and subsidy from central government, which of course is funded by all those little tax payers, some of who might be childless, or whose children decide they don't want to go to university.

Such is life.

You win some, you lose some.

;)

Originally Posted by Stumped (Post 801327)

The greatest joys in my life are - and always will be - family based, and I am thankful of the benefits provided me through honesty, integrity, a long and happy marriage, and an insight into the rare freedoms that are currently being eroded on an almost daily basis by those I deem to refer to as a bunch of politically correct nerds.