General News

[shen]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

Those are the only motivations required for people like them.

 

Abuse of power and self interest are their own motivators.

Obviously, but I just don't hear or see them being challenged in the US about the "international security" argument. I realise it probably doesn't change a thing, but still, let's call it for what it is.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, shen said:

Obviously, but I just don't hear or see them being challenged in the US about the "international security" argument. I realise it probably doesn't change a thing, but still, let's call it for what it is.

Ain't that the damn truth.

[Heathrow fox]

12 hours ago, foxy boxing said:

JD Vance saying Denmark isn't doing enough on the defence of Greenland, if I was the Danish pm I would immediately send thousands of Danish troops to Greenland saying were doing what America wanted and upping our defence. IId also invite EU troops to be stationed there!.

Denmark hasn’t got thousands of troops to send.It also emptied it’s armouries helping Ukraine

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, Heathrow fox said:

Denmark hasn’t got thousands of troops to send.It also emptied it’s armouries helping Ukraine

... this doesn't stop Vance being a total douchebag and the ideas he's representing here being likewise though, right?

[davieG]

2 hours ago, Heathrow fox said:

Denmark hasn’t got thousands of troops to send.It also emptied it’s armouries helping Ukraine

Even if they had a massive army stationed there Trump and Vance would still find something to moan about because they believe the only reason they need is USA = big Greenland/Denmark = nonentities

[DennisNedry]

On 27/03/2025 at 19:31, Parafox said:

 

You really have no idea, do you?

 

Do you know anyone who is entitled to it or is your comment another knee-jerk uninformed opinion?

 

The second part of that sentence is EXACTLY what it is designed to do.

I do actually. My Mum, and one of my close friends both claim PIP, so whilst I don't have first hand experience, I have experience of it.

 

I know that, in principle, that is what PIP is designed for, however I don't think this is the reality. I'd happily take your opinion on both cases:

 

1) My Mum. She had to give up her job about 4-5 years ago due to progression of her MS. She is now not physically able to do the work she had done for the past 20 years. She is now in her late 50s and in receipt of PIP. 

 

Her and my Dad (who is retiring in 2 years) are financially comfortable. They have joint finances. If you tally up their home, assets, pensions and savings/investments, they're totalling around about £1 million net worth.

 

Therefore, whilst fully entitled, and incurring costs due to her disability (attending appointments, adaptations to her car, etc), expensive shoes to support her walking, she really doesn't need state support to help pay for these things. 

 

Should she receive PIP? It's debatable. This is a grey area for me, but it certainly seems something ripe for cuts if the Government has to find savings somewhere, i.e. make it means tested.

 

2) My friend. He is partially sited. He works full time and has done for his entire life. His disability does not really effect him day to day, and it does not cause him any additional costs. He works for the NHS, so uses the Park & Ride bus for free each day to get to and from work. He spends his PIP money on gaming and PC hardware as this is his passion. He openly admits that he doesn't really understand why he's entitled to benefits, but he isn't going to "pass up free money", and who could blame him? For him, PIP is like a compensatory benefit for being partially blind, rather than being a lifeline to help him afford things to aid his life.

 

As I said, I'd happily welcome your thoughts. It's certainly a difficult subject to address, very emotive, and hard to find the balance legislation wise.

[Md9]

Nice to see Vance wearing a suit when he went to Greenland . Sure his little mates will point that out. Gobshites 

[Trav Le Bleu]

7 minutes ago, Md9 said:

Nice to see Vance wearing a suit when he went to Greenland . Sure his little mates will point that out. Gobshites 

Catch his death of cold.

[Md9]

5 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Catch his death of cold.

We are not that lucky unfortunately 

[Dahnsouff]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Even if they had a massive army stationed there Trump and Vance would still find something to moan about because they believe the only reason they need is USA = big Greenland/Denmark = nonentities

Agree. All about the old world order it seems. 

[Dahnsouff]

Heard something the other day about Ukraine not having much in the way of rare earth deposits.

 

Figured it was rubbish, but then again, isn't this just the worlds biggest game of Risk where the troops are swapped for cash and arrogance? 

[kenny]

1 hour ago, Dahnsouff said:

Heard something the other day about Ukraine not having much in the way of rare earth deposits.

 

Figured it was rubbish, but then again, isn't this just the worlds biggest game of Risk where the troops are swapped for cash and arrogance? 

There are a few experts that have said that the deposit maps were put together by the Soviets 50 years ago and they are inaccurate. 

 

Have you ask yourself why Ukraine hasn't already been mining these billions of dollars of rare minerals if they are there?

 

 

[Parafox]

5 hours ago, DennisNedry said:

I do actually. My Mum, and one of my close friends both claim PIP, so whilst I don't have first hand experience, I have experience of it.

 

I know that, in principle, that is what PIP is designed for, however I don't think this is the reality. I'd happily take your opinion on both cases:

 

1) My Mum. She had to give up her job about 4-5 years ago due to progression of her MS. She is now not physically able to do the work she had done for the past 20 years. She is now in her late 50s and in receipt of PIP. 

 

Her and my Dad (who is retiring in 2 years) are financially comfortable. They have joint finances. If you tally up their home, assets, pensions and savings/investments, they're totalling around about £1 million net worth.

 

Therefore, whilst fully entitled, and incurring costs due to her disability (attending appointments, adaptations to her car, etc), expensive shoes to support her walking, she really doesn't need state support to help pay for these things. 

 

Should she receive PIP? It's debatable. This is a grey area for me, but it certainly seems something ripe for cuts if the Government has to find savings somewhere, i.e. make it means tested.

 

2) My friend. He is partially sited. He works full time and has done for his entire life. His disability does not really effect him day to day, and it does not cause him any additional costs. He works for the NHS, so uses the Park & Ride bus for free each day to get to and from work. He spends his PIP money on gaming and PC hardware as this is his passion. He openly admits that he doesn't really understand why he's entitled to benefits, but he isn't going to "pass up free money", and who could blame him? For him, PIP is like a compensatory benefit for being partially blind, rather than being a lifeline to help him afford things to aid his life.

 

As I said, I'd happily welcome your thoughts. It's certainly a difficult subject to address, very emotive, and hard to find the balance legislation wise.

Thanks for your measured response. I apologise for making the assumption I did.

 

I can't take a view on either of the cases you refer to.

 

I based my reply on my experience with our daughter who has a chronic MH illness where for her, PIP is a vital support allowance. She can't work and probably never will. She needs help with shopping, bills and generally managing her money. She hardly goes out and is pretty much isolated. When she has to attend appointments she has to get a taxi from the village where she lives to Loughborough as the only bus goes to Leicester, which she can't cope with as crowds terrify her. Her life is shambolic and chaotic. Her independence is dependent on PIP. 

 

IMO she is one of the many thousands of people that will suffer if PIP is taken from her. She is already increasingly anxious about any re-assessment she will have to undergo as after the last one she had PIP taken from her which was subsequently reinstated on appeal but that was a very stressful and uncertain time for her.

 

I fear that the next re-assessment will result in the same and that has potential to send her into a downward spiral again.

 

The Gov seem quite willing to cause major anxiety for people who have very little and sometimes no support and are on the breadline or already living in poverty.

 

There is little doubt that some people claim when they're not entitled but it costs more to apply means testing for benefits but in the case of PIP, which is essentially a mechanism to help those with chronic ill health, both mental and physical, the extensive form and questions a claimant has to complete is a test of qualification that has no comparison to procedures required for any other benefits that I'm aware of. More stringent than means testing.

 

 

Edited 29 March by Parafox

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, Parafox said:

 

 

There is little doubt that some people claim when they're not entitled but it costs more to apply means testing for benefits but in the case of PIP, which is essentially a mechanism to help those with chronic ill health, both mental and physical, the extensive form and questions a claimant has to complete is a test of qualification that has no comparison to procedures required for any other benefits that I'm aware of. More stringent than means testing.

 

 

There was something on the radio yesterday where the presenter said that 1 in 4 surveyed (think he said was 36k sample) said that they were disabled either physically or mentally to the extent that it affected their ability to work. Clearly a lot of people have a skewed view of what disabled means.  The people who will be losing out due to this will be the actual disabled in our society. 

[Sampson]

5 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

There was something on the radio yesterday where the presenter said that 1 in 4 surveyed (think he said was 36k sample) said that they were disabled either physically or mentally to the extent that it affected their ability to work. Clearly a lot of people have a skewed view of what disabled means.  The people who will be losing out due to this will be the actual disabled in our society. 

At the same time you have to remember our population is very old nowadays and your chances of being legally considered disabled either through cognitive decline or mental issues associated with ageing or needing help to move properly grow exponentially after you reach 55. 
 

I can’t remember which European country it was, Austria I think? When they raised the pension age, it didn’t even save them much, as a lot of people over 70 struggle either physically or mentally to work 40 hour weeks, so they just get pushed onto disability or job seekers benefits instead. 
 

1/4 of people being considered physically or mentally unable to work doesn’t sound outrageous to me when your population is so old. 
 

Without meaning to sound like a broken record, I’ll say as I usually do, that so many of our problems in the west stem directly from population ageing.

[Foxdiamond]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

At the same time you have to remember our population is very old nowadays and your chances of being legally considered disabled either through cognitive decline or mental issues associated with ageing or needing help to move properly grow exponentially after you reach 55. 
 

I can’t remember which European country it was, Austria I think? When they raised the pension age, it didn’t even save them much, as a lot of people over 70 struggle either physically or mentally to work 40 hour weeks, so they just get pushed onto disability or job seekers benefits instead. 
 

1/4 of people being considered physically or mentally unable to work doesn’t sound outrageous to me when your population is so old. 
 

Without meaning to sound like a broken record, I’ll say as I usually do, that so many of our problems in the west stem directly from population ageing.

Is the 1/4 quoted under the current retirement age?

[fox_up_north]

Given the declining birth rate, it will most likely be unpleasant for my generation (born in 80s and 90s) but I see it as a bottleneck that should hopefully break.

 

I would hope that by about 2060/70, numbers will have started to even out. I'll be at the end of my life and the next lot of old people after me should be fewer in number. 

[leicsmac]

WRT population and age demographic crisis incoming, it's a discussion that's popped up on here before, and IMO it remains an issue for which there is no good option, it's just a matter of choosing the least damaging one.

[Dunge]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj929xd84e3o
 

I can’t decide whether he has something to answer for himself or whether he’s so up his own backside that he just doesn’t care.

[jgtuk]

40 minutes ago, Dunge said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj929xd84e3o
 

I can’t decide whether he has something to answer for himself or whether he’s so up his own backside that he just doesn’t care.

He belongs in the other thread, I think you know which one 👀

[leicsmac]

On the topic of people belonging on the thread mentioned above, this just in from the official White House Twitter account:

 

 

Cracking jokes at often disadvantaged and desperate people so far down the chain of power from you is such a good look.

[Dunge]

21 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

On the topic of people belonging on the thread mentioned above, this just in from the official White House Twitter account:

 

 

Cracking jokes at often disadvantaged and desperate people so far down the chain of power from you is such a good look.

Interesting that they had all of AI to try for this image and the best they could come up with was a villainous military officer leading a poor 7-fingered foreigner away in chains.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Dunge said:

Interesting that they had all of AI to try for this image and the best they could come up with was a villainous military officer leading a poor 7-fingered foreigner away in chains.

Rather sums up the mindset of such folks, I think.

[Md9]

45 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

On the topic of people belonging on the thread mentioned above, this just in from the official White House Twitter account:

 

 

Cracking jokes at often disadvantaged and desperate people so far down the chain of power from you is such a good look.

Disgusting vile people be an amazing day when they all disappear one way or another 

[st albans fox]

20 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

Is the 1/4 quoted under the current retirement age?

I got the impression that it was