GINGE CALLED ME A WANKER!

I went to my local shop this morning to purchase a daily newspaper. Something I do every morning because.
               a) I like my daily paper
               b) I have a bit of banter with the guys in the shop and usually come away smiling.
               c) It is set in a row of shops, food outlets etc, which serve the estate on which I live. I  
                   usually meet some of my friends and we have a bit of a natter, share local gossip and news
                  and generally put the World to rights.

However, this morning I happened to ask "Ginge", the shop assistant, if he was going to vote for UKIP in next years Local County Council Elections.
"I have never voted and never will. They're all a load of wankers!"
"Tell it like it is, Ginge". I replied, somewhat taken aback.
It wasn't what he said, it was the way he delivered it. Eyes alive, head thrust forward and then a verbal salvo directed straight at me.

"Hang on a minute there Matt (his given name), I'm standing next year as the UKIP Candidate for this Ward. Does that make me a wanker?" I asked.

"Will you be able to change anything? No!"
"Will you make a difference to me and my wife? No!"
"Once your feet are under the table, will you be the same as all the other wankers on the Council?  
  Yes!"

I came away from the shop with a lot more than my daily newspaper to think about. The first thing that I realised was that 'Ginge' was not alone in his thinking and that I needed to get out and about to test public opinion. Even the fact that I would be standing as a UKIP candidate didn't sway him from his core belief. In his words;
"Unless you get a majority on the Council nothing will change, so why should I vote?"
"Because." I said. "If you don't vote nothing will ever change, that is the whole point of the Democratic process."

I live in a Close which has thirty dwellings, made up of one-bedroom bungalows and one or two-bedroom flats. Some are single occupancy and some are dual occupancy making a population for the Close of forty seven people. We are all retired or, just coming up to retirement and incomes vary according to circumstance. My wife and I have only lived there for a short time so I thought that it would be an excellent place to take a 'straw poll'. So, having dropped my newspaper off at home I went out to do some research.

We all know of each other but, we do not know each other so it was refreshing to go out and introduce myself properly to my neighbours. The next three to four hours were very productive and enjoyable. Apart from my research, I garnered invites to six barbecue's, four coffee mornings, a birthday party and a car boot sale.

On a more serious note, my Local Council is lead by a coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The breakdown is thus:

• 24 Conservatives
• 5 Liberal Democrats
• 28 Labour
• 1 Democratic Labour party
• 2 Independents.

The Labour Party are about to make a bid for control after the Bank Holiday by putting forward a vote of No Confidence in the ruling ConLibDem coalition. The decision as to who will hold power come down to the DLP and the 2 Independents.
I mention this because I felt that I needed to be armed with as much information as possible when I did my survey. It is also worth noting that UKIP contested eight Wards in 2012, managing to make their presence felt  but, as you can see, failed to take any seats. However, in next years CC Elections UKIP will hope to contest all twenty Wards. 

Of the forty seven people whom I spoke with, seven people said that they would not be voting next year. The reasons that they gave were interesting. Two said that the Local Council was run from Westminster and no matter what or who they voted for the Councillors would toe the Party line and so, in their opinion it was not worth voting.
Three echo'd "Ginge" and the remaining two declared that as the Tories always won this Ward what was the point of voting?
The frightening thing about those seven people is that they represent 15% of the target group.
Of the rest,
23 said that they would vote Conservative.
9   said that they would vote Labour.
7   said that they would vote UKIP.
1   said that they would vote Liberal Democrat.

The other frightening thing of course is that I only have eleven months to convince the people in my Close to vote for me and the United Kingdom Independence Party.

However, they only represent 0.32% of the population of my Ward so I have a real battle on my hands between now and next May. This Ward is a traditional Tory stronghold but the turnout for Local Elections has dropped dramatically over the last ten years, it was less than 30% in 2012.
That said, I'm helped by the fact that the ruling coalition in the Council are doing badly and are seen to be doing badly since they came to power in 2012.  I believe that my biggest enemy will be the postal vote.

However, I do not intend to let that deter me. Just over twenty years ago I set up a business in commercial and industrial glazing and prior to that I had spent many profitable years selling double glazing as a door-to-door salesman. Door to door salesmen got a lot of bad press but, despite that, some of us sold an awful lot of windows. It is all about turning a disadvantage into an advantage. The first thing that you need is a strong belief in your product and your industry then comes knowledge, in that instance it was product knowledge and I knew all there was to know about the product that I was selling, not only that, I believed that it was the best on the market. Knowledge is confidence and people relate to confidence because confident people exude sincerity.

I strongly believe in UKIP and the vision the party holds for the future of Britain, that is why I became a Party member. The important lesson I learned when running my business was to not only know my product but also to know all there is to know about the product and services of my opposition.
This is true in local politics and so, I am in the process of learning the policies of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats on Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. Not only the policies but the failures and the controversial projects that they have agreed to undertake. All handy ammunition for the doorstep challenge.

My main task over the next couple of months is to turn 'Ginge' into a voter and from there into a UKIP voter.

Watch this space!

CALL ME DAVE? CALL ME DESPERATE!

If ever there was proof that this country needs a complete change of Government, the price fixing debacle with regard to Oil pricing is surely it.
The rot goes through every Government Department be it Ministerial or non-Ministerial.
When I say, 'change of Government', I mean complete change! LibLabConDem have had their day. How much longer do we, the British Public, have to put up with being lied to, stolen from, defrauded, spied upon, and, in some cases killed through lack of care, before someone has the guts to say: "Enough is enough!"

The OFT gave the Oil Industry a clean bill of health only five months ago. Did any of their investigators get close enough to even sniff oil let alone a conspiracy? They are totally useless and a complete waste of time. It is obvious, even to a blind man, that if oil prices are rising across the World at the same exorbitant rate, month in month out and the selling price is the same from country to country then something is drastically wrong. My first question. Where is the competition?
The difference in 'end-product' price can be explained by Government taxes as differing World Governments have varying tax rates. However the rapid rise in petrol prices over the last decade cannot be justified. Especially when the Oil Industry has made a profit over that period of around £300billion. That is profit not turnover!

As usual a big scandal, such as the rigging of oil prices, has been deliberately put on the back burner. This time by the Tory infighting that is taking place because of same sex marriage, Europe and Call Me Dave's ability - or not - as leader. 
Norman Tebbitt is even considering marrying his son in order to avoid death duties. Has Cameron been on the 'Loony Juice' or, is he now so aloof that he needs oxygen? To put into perspective just how loony Cameron has become, another quote from Lord Tebbitt sums up the latest debacle superbly.

‘I said to a minister I know: “Have you thought this through? Because you’re doing the law of succession, too.”

‘When we have a queen who is a lesbian and she marries another lady and then decides she would like to have a child and someone donates sperm and she gives birth to a child, is that child heir to the throne?’

I think that this typifies this Coalition Government. Lack of connection with grass root support and the public, lack of innovative ideas, lack of direction, lack of leadership and, pretty soon, lack of members. UKIP are now only 2 points behind the Tories, according to the latest poll, so its no wonder that they are running around like headless chickens, begging support from Labour whilst ignoring the obvious.

'The obvious', for any lame-bellies out there, is that the Tories have lost the trust of the British people. This is not 'mid-term blues' as they would have you believe. Not even a 'grey' revolt; it is the voice of a people woken up from twenty years of politically induced apathy. This country is in a mess, we can see it, we feel it, we live it! We no longer believe the Harmans, Cleggs, Camerons, Clarkes, who come out and spout lies about the benefits of belonging to the debauched EU.

As the immigrant population rises whilst the unemployment queues rise  proportionately we have to wonder why? What have we, the British people, done that is so wrong that we deserve this punishment?. The answer is, we have all suffered from a bad attack of gullibility. Thankfully, people are now waking up and this is  good for the country but bad for the 'old school', LibDemConLab Parties. Especially for Teddy Milidew and his insidious Labour Party, which is why they have been so quiet lately. 

Don't be fooled into a false sense of security by this paucity of noise from the Left. You can bet your life that the script writers at the Labour Lie Factory are hard at it as we speak, furiously scribbling new lies with the aim of creating as much plausible deniability as possible. 

Back at the Tory Twilight Home For The Bewildered the infighting still goes on. Laugh as we may at their disarray we also need to realise just how serious this really is. If they collapse and a General Election is called then we have the very real prospect of the inmates taking over the asylum, just as they did in 1997.

Clegg is useless and only interested in keeping the LibDems in power through the misfortune of others. 

At the beginning of this blog I stated that this country needed a complete change of Government and, I stand by that. However, in the short-term, the Tories need to sort themselves out and quickly or, God forbid, we have the spectre of Miliband and his Union Barons ruining the country.

E:R CORRECTIONS AND NOTIFICATIONS

I'm Off!

Just how cowardly is our Prime Minister? Or was it desperation or a smattering of both which made him high-tale it out of the country leaving his MP's a free vote on sections of the Queens Speech. A speech, I might add, of which he was the principle author.

I get it that through fear of the United Kingdom Independence Party he felt it necessary to give his Party a say on whether or not a referendum is held on our position in the EU. That is to say, an in/out referendum. Truer to say, an in/out joke,  because that is what it amounts to. He has already admitted that his hands are tied by the nefarious Nick Clegg and his band of others, not-withstanding that the EU partners will not allow him such a vote. As for a renegotiation, it would be easier to get an extra pension from Iain Duncan Smith!

Cameron has done that many triple Salko's of late that it is a wonder he hasn't fallen over and broken his neck. What of his partner, the nefarious, duplicitous Nick Clegg? Ed Balls aside, he must be the biggest chancer in politics. He even has a slot on Local Radio in London whereby he does a weekly u-turn under the guise of, 'I'm the man-of-the-people'.  Crap!

Talking in sugary tones to radio listeners over the airwaves is as cowardly as his boss nipping out of the way and leaving the real issues to his underlings. My only surprise is that the strains of, ♬It wasn't me♬, are not playing in the background as he spouts his LibDem rubbish.

Hands up if you feel sorry for Nadine Dorries. Idiots! She was taken back into the Tory fold only because they thought she might come over to the light and join us in UKIP. In doing so she would have become the first UKIP MP. My only surprise here is that she decided to run back to Dave, I quite expected her to once again throw herself into the limelight by declaring undying allegiance to UKIP. 

Flash! Over her Nadine, smile - flash! Put your arm around Nigel - flash! - Take a sip of his pint.... Fuck off Dorries!.

Sickening Yeugh! Yeugh! Yeugh! Thank God she is as thick as her "Get Me Outa Here" persona.

Finally, we have the ever fragrant Ed (I-think-I'm-In-Charge) Miliband. Didn't he show his true socialist 'fuck the people' colours this week? "Britain needs the EU and therefore I, and my Party, will vote against a referendum" Since at least one third of idiot Labour voters think you are, quote: 'nice but dim', who cares?

With a bit of luck the good people of this country will see through the lot of you within the next eighteen months and ensure that neither your Party or the Tories will have absolute power again.

Clegg? Maybe he get a job as anchor on Radio Shetland.

  

THE PARTY"S OVER

The parties are over, the hangovers are, hanging over and reality is setting in. Hello brave new dawn!

What have we done? Well, we have upset Call me Dave for a start or, have we? Normally when you rattle someones cage you get a response, usually dependent upon the voracity of the rattling. In Dave's case, nothing! It would appear that his biggest achievement since coming to Office is to redefine lethargy.

In contrast, his backbenchers have been kicked into action almost to a man. They have even come up with a novel idea to spike the guns of the dastardly UKIP. They want a referendum on a referendum. In their collective wisdom they believe that by holding a referendum before the next General Election on the platform, should Cameron or shouldn't Cameron  renegotiate our Terms in the EU, it will somehow buy them time and get themselves another Term in Office.
Back at Tory headquarters, The Twilight House For The Terminally Deluded, they are actually congratulating themselves for coming up with such a spiffing idea. Theresa May was dispatched to calm the Peasants, She assured us that she and her colleagues were listening to the grass roots.
You are ahead of me, I know, you too are picturing rows of Tory Ministers with their ears glued to the lawn at the back of No 10 patiently waiting for a sign whilst music from the 60's drifts from the Committee room window. Notably, "I can hear the grass grow", by The Move.

Meanwhile, sitting outside the Dog and Duck, Nigel Farage sparks up a duty free and takes a leisurely sip from his pint of Spitfire, safe in the knowledge that the real fruitcakes, clowns and loons are happily playing "Pretend" while his Party bask in the sunshine and ready themselves for the next offensive.

The media, to a man - and in some cases, to a woman - are all eagerly grabbing politicians for an opinion.
Media Person:   "Mr Labour, what do you think has caused the sudden rise in popularity for UKIP?"
Mr Labour:        "That's two questions, let me answer the first one first. I haven't seen any great rise in UKIP and secondly I don't think that you can say that they are more popular than the Labour Party.
However, I do believe that the results show that they are more popular than the Conservatives and this will be a headache for Mr Cameron."
Media Person:    "We will now go over to our outside broadcast unit and our Political Editor, John Noseworthy. Can you hear me John? What is the mood of the Tories?"
Noseworthy:      "I haven't got a clue, not seen one since Thursday night. The rumour is that they are all listening to the grass roots. Never mind, I have here a LibDem Spokesman. Mr Waffle what is the mood of your party given your poor showing in the Local Elections?"
Mr Waffle:        "As you would expect, given the results, buoyant."
Noseworthy:     "Buoyant?"
Mr Waffle:        " Of course, you have to remember it is mid term and people are more interested in the deficit than Local Politics. Trust me, we will be back in two years time."
Noseworthy:     "Back to the studio"

Media Person:   "There you have it, UKIP are a flash-in-the-pan Party and will be disbanded by 2017."

This is what we are up against, lying politicians and a hostile media. We need to take it seriously even if the opposition don't. I didn't join UKIP with the sole aim of changing the direction of the Conservative Party. I joined because the Three Main Parties, LibLabConDem, have no longer got the interests of the British people at heart. They are self centred surrender monkeys at the beck and call of the ever expanding European Union. I want to see this Party, UKIP, become a major force in British politics. I certainly do not want to stand by and watch as it is melded back into the Conservative Party, as happened with the Reform Party in Canada.
I read somewhere that Senior Tories are comparing UKIP policies to those of the Conservatives during the nineteen eighties. I see nothing wrong with that, the point everyone of our critics is missing, deliberately in my opinion, is that when the despicable Labour Party took over in nineteen ninety seven there was a negligible deficit. Do they argue that, that was a bad thing?

So, the parties are over. Now the real hard work begins. It is already being said in some of the tabloids that the best that we can hope for in the European Elections is second place behind the Labour Party.
It is our duty to prove them wrong and sweep the board.
The same tabloids are also predicting that come 2015 the UKIP vote will evaporate and we will disappear into political history. Again, it is our duty to prove them wrong and get UKIP Members of Parliament.

Mr Noseworthy:   "Nigel Farage, why did UKIP do so well in the General Election?"
Nigel Farage:        "Easy Noseworthy, we tell the truth!"

OH DEAR, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE?

What, indeed! This must be the question resonating around Tory Party Headquarters at the moment. The LibDems have proved to be more of a hindrance than a help, Ken Clarke is proof positive that MPs should retire at the age of sixty five and the leader of the Party is deaf and blind to the patently obvious. They are stuck in a quagmire of their own making. To blame the previous Administration for the ills of the country just will not wash anymore. Sure, they may have fed the fires of the fiscal malaise but the Tory medicine seems to be ineffective at bringing down the fever.

Similar concerns must be bouncing of the walls of One Brewer’s Green, in London. The Labour Party completely failed on Thursday to capitalise on the misery of the Conservatives and LibDems at the Local Elections. The whole Opposition Front Bench refused to acknowledge the anger of the Electorate. Like the Conservatives, they had the numbers and percentages from their experts and blindly carried on, telling the Public how well they had done and how much better it would be under them. 

“Let’s face it, the figures show an increase in support of x%.... waffle, waffle, waffle”

Who cares? They fail to realise that we are sick and tired of being treated  like idiots. Sick and tired of being lied to and sick and tired of pointless rhetoric. Ask a modern-day politician a question but don’t expect an answer. Here is an example of what I imagine to be the situation should you be unfortunate enough to have to ask Nick Clegg the time.

Me: “What is the time Mr Clegg?”

Clegg: “We, in the Liberal Democrat Party, have constantly argued that Greenwich Meantime be universally accepted and not tampered with by outside forces.”

Me: “Yes, but what is the time, Mr Clegg?”

Clegg: “As I said, we have constantly argued....’

Me: “I’m sorry Mr Clegg, but I’m running late. Just answer the question. What is the time?”

Clegg: “Well, that is what I am trying to do. We are to the West of the International Date Line and this has great bearing on the time in the UK....”

Me: “Thank you Mr Clegg, you have been most obstructive!.”

I singled out Clegg but I don’t necessarily think that he is the worst culprit. They are all at it and it must cost millions of hard earned taxpayers money to train these people in 'non-speak'. Which is just another way of lying to the Public. A classic example being Cameron's 'cast iron guarantee of an in/out referendum on the EU if the Conservatives come to power in 2010.' 

Complete tosh! As was his reason for not giving said referendum. The man simply cannot be trusted. Which leads to the bigger question, can he be trusted to lead the country? I think we all know the answer to that but now would be a disastrous time for a Tory leadership battle. Disastrous for the Conservatives and disastrous for the country.

The people have made it quite clear that they want change and are tired of being short-changed by a political elite who have self-interest at heart. Using the infamous non-speak the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat Party will point out that UKIP only gained 25% of the 30% who voted in the Local Elections. Making great play on the fact that only one quarter of the votes went to UKIP and that it was a low turnout. They will however admit that lessons will be learned whilst not intending to do anything.

Non-speak, the first lesson and they have yet to learn it! 

Call me Dave has now decided that we, in UKIP, are not loonies, fruitcakes or clowns. Probably because he was on the receiving end of a right Royal bollocking from Norman Tebbit. Non-the-less we in UKIP should not be complacent. There are lessons which we have to learn now that we are considered to be a force on the British political scene. Not least from Canada and Denmark. Both countries had a major shift in politics driven by the perceived staleness of domestic policy and abject political arrogance. 
The Reform Party of Canada and the Dansk Folkeparti of Denmark were both formed on a right of centre platform. As such they split the Conservative vote which gave the Opposition Parties of both countries a golden opportunity to gain and, remain in power longer than they would normally be expected to.
This is where we in UKIP need to box clever. Undeniably we have split the Conservative vote and, in many areas, decimated the LibDems but we should be wary of the elephant in the room. Miliband may be a bad choice as leader of the Opposition but he and his cronies would be disastrous as the Governing Party in this country. 

What am I saying? I am saying that I am advocating caution, the thought of another Labour Government bent on destroying our identity and kowtowing to an ever expanding EU makes me sick to my stomach. There is an awful lot of hard work to be done between now and 2015 and along each step of the way there will be distractions. Hurdles put there by a political elite who are skilled in deception, dirty tricks, subterfuge, etc. 
One of the hardest tasks will be to convince die-hard Labour voters to switch to UKIP. Next will be to convince the apathetic voter to vote for UKIP. This may prove to be harder than persuading the Labourites to switch. New Labour under Blair realised the importance of a small Electorate and he fostered voter apathy because of it.
Above all we have to get our own house in order, stop the in-fighting, vet new members and weed out existing troublemakers. Publish policies that will stand up to Public scrutiny and promote a positive message to the young, the next generation of voter. They will be our sustainability for the future.

The media, by and large, are still wary of us. 'Fly-by-nights', 'flash-in-the-pan', I think we can live with that. For now at least!. We must never forget though that we live in a digital age and news - good and bad- can go around the Globe in seconds. We need the media on our side and for that we need good PR. Remember, 'clean' is not sensational, 'dirt' sells advertising space and newspapers. The biggest slur against us is that we are racist (dirt), we have to show that we are not even when the question is asked in a myriad of ways. Box clever, stay on your feet and be aware of the opposition.

I'm proud to be a member of the UKIP and I want to see a UKIP government, whether it will happen in my lifetime, I don't know. I do know that I will work my socks off to make it happen.

Thank you to all who made Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 such a success for UKIP and such a disaster for the established political elite. We gave them a bloody nose and put ourselves well and truly onto the British Political Map. Now, let us sanguinate their votes.

Mark Acceptance

First, let me give a big thank you to everyone who voted in this local election. You have shown that voter apathy is not prevalent in ( your area) and that the majority of people are passionate about local issues and want a voice in the local council chamber.

However, I must give a special thank you to all of you out there who had the faith to put your X against my name on the ballot paper. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. Rest assured Nigel will be having an extra pint tonight on the strength of this result.

The United Kingdom Independence Party doesn’t play by the “Old School Rules”, we actually listen to people and out on the hustings and on the doorsteps I have listened to your concerns and you worries. Indeed, because I live here, I share your concerns and your worries.

So, let me assure you all now that I will fight tooth and nail for the people of this ward (Constituency). I will be your voice in the Council Chamber and I will do my very best to make sure that you, the people, are put before local politics.

UKIP have opened up a new chapter in British politics and never have Local Elections been more important. Across great swathes of the country, people, through UKIP, are having their voices heard.

No more “Old Boy Network”

No more  “Thanks for the vote, see ya”

No more  “Silly jobs with fanciful titles”

I am now your representative and I am going to make certain that the faith you have shown in me is reciprocated. I am not going to be an anonymous Councilor, I intend to put myself about so that I get to know you and get to see for myself the problems which you give you concern. I am here for you; USE ME.

Thank you.

DUPLICITOUS REWRITING OF THE WELFARE RULE BOOK

Yesterday, the Daily Mail insisted that the Welfare State is not being savaged by the Coalition. Fact versus, supposed, fiction spanning a couple of pages. The only waste here being the trees needed to make the paper on which to print this latest Coalition propaganda. The good old tried and tested salesman's trick of listing the good points and the bad points. Only, it isn't you who gets to list the good points.
If you scrutinise the Disability Living Allowance however, a few facts emerge which IDS would prefer to stay hidden.

Every year between now and 2015 the Government spend on Disability Living Allowance will be £13 billion. So say the Coalition, IDS has repeatedly refuted claims that the Government want to slash £2 billion from this budget. Known for his honesty and love of the Welfare State, this follicular challenged stalwart of Tory ideology insists that the old, the infirm and the disabled will be safe under the Tory Welfare Reform umbrella.

Let us look at people with Motability agreements.  As a rule, the DWP do not make payments of DLA care and mobility components should a disabled person be in hospital for 28 days or more, (84 days for children under 16 years of age). The payments resume once the disabled person comes out of hospital. However, in the case of Motability customers this payment was not suspended. That is to say, the Motability component continued to be paid to the Scheme until the end of the Motability agreement.
Iain Duncan Smith has decided that in order to be fair, all hospital in-patients will be treated in the same way, whether they have a Motability vehicle or not. So, if you are disabled and have a Motability agreement and were unfortunate enough to go into hospital after the 8th April 2013, the DWP will stop paying the DLA component to the Motability Scheme if you stay in hospital for more than 28 days.

It's refreshing to know that there is no malice in Smith's scheming and duplicitous rewriting of the DLA rule book, just "fairness".

The Mail states that it is false that the poor will be forced out of the cities because of the cap on the total amount of benefits which people will be allowed to receive. This cap is set at £26000. They argue that only 58000 people will be affected. Another interesting fact is that they (The Mail) use 2010 figures. As of November 2012 there were just over 5 million people claiming Housing Benefit and 5.9 million people claiming Council Tax Benefit. Common sense alone tells you that when spread across the whole of the UK and taking just eighteen of the major cities, not including major towns, the figure of 58000 is ludicrous. We are asked to believe that just 1.16% will have to be rehoused in a cheaper area away from the cities.
Given that The Mail likes statistics, here is another one. The Housing Benefit Budget, which stood at £21 billion in 2010 will only be allowed to rise to £23 billion by 2015. A rise of 8.7% when the rise in rents for Local Authority and Social Housing will have risen by at least 11.75% over the same period. As they would say on Star-Trek, "facts Jim, but not as you know them!"

Benefits are not being cut say the DWP. At an increase of 1% they may as well be!. Last year when the benefit rise was 5.2%, in line with inflation, most Social Housing groups across the country raised rents by at least 5% and they have done the same this year. This, despite the Coalition instructing Local Authorities to cap prices. Then again, it is just another case of the Coalition being seen to be "fair"!

I could go on but, unlike the Daily Mail, I am not in the habit of using a rain forest to make a point. This Government, like Labour before them, love statistics, they are the tool of the professional politician. Chuka Umunna is a classic example, having been soundly thrashed in the Eastleigh by-election he proudly spouted that Labour had increased its share of the vote by a ridiculous 0.2%. Pathetic as that was, politicians will pull more positive facts out of the hat than a magician has rabbits. This is exactly what The Mail has done on this occasion, it has printed the figures which best fit the article.
Talking percentages, The Mail has upped its price by 20% this year, perhaps to discourage Sun and Mirror readers who are obviously on Benefits and shouldn't be able to afford such a prestigious tabloid.

I have previously stated that, in my opinion, The Welfare State in its present form is unsustainable. An opinion which I still stand by. I have no solutions as I am not one of the sideline experts of whom Godfrey Bloom is so wary and, by the way, so too am I. It does need radical change to make it work efficiently but, not the Picasso-like abstract ideas that we have seen of late.
I am sick of hearing how well meaning Osborne, Cameron, Iain Duncan Smith et al are. I don't want well meaning, I want professional! When I ran my business, I didn't employ people because they were well meaning, I employed them because they were proven professionals. If they were found to be other than that, they were asked to leave.
It is time to ask the Coalition and the idiotic Opposition to leave.