Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Soaring UK personal debt wreaking havoc with mental health, report warns
Centre for Social Justice says poorer people 'bearing brunt of storm' as debt hits £1.4tn – almost as high as economic output

The Guardian, Wednesday 20 November 2013

Credit card debt has trebled to £55.6bn since 1998 while overall personal debt including mortgages has reached £1.4tn. Photograph: Alan Schein Photography
Personal debt in Britain has reached £1.4tn – almost the same amount as Britain's national economic output – according to a report that warns debt is wreaking havoc on people's mental health and wellbeing.

Poorer people are "bearing the brunt of a storm" during which average household debt has risen to £54,000 – nearly double what it was a decade ago, the report by the Centre for Social Justice thinktank warns.

The report, entitled Maxed Out, found that almost half of households in the lowest income decile spent more than a quarter of their income on debt repayments in 2011. More than 5,000 people are being made homeless every year as a result of mortgage or rent debts.

Christian Guy, director of the thinktank established in opposition by the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, said: "Problem debt can have a corrosive impact on people and families. Our report shows how it can wreak havoc on mental health, relationships and wellbeing. Across the UK people are up until the early hours worrying about their finances and bills."



The report, written by the former Labour work and pensions minister Chris Pond, found that:

• Personal debt in the UK, including mortgage lending, stands at £1.4tn – an average of £54,000 per household compared with £29,000 a decade ago.

• Consumer debt had trebled since 1993 and now stands at £158bn;

• More than 8m households have no savings, including half of low-income households;

• Outstanding debt on credit cards has almost trebled since 1998 to reach £55.6bn;

• There were 300,000 arrears on mortgage in 2012 – with 34,000 homes repossessed. This is a reduction of 30% from the peak of the recession but a 60% overall increase since 2006.

Pond said: "With falling real incomes and increasing costs of basic essentials, many – especially the most vulnerable – are sliding further into problem debt. The costs to those affected, in stress and mental disorders, relationship breakdown and hardship is immense. But so too is the cost to the nation, measured in lost employment and productivity and in an increased burden on public services."

The report found that the decision of mainstream banks to refuse credit to the less well off has led to a dramatic increase in the demand for short-term credit – from payday lenders, pawnbrokers and doorstop lenders – which is now worth £4.8bn a year. More than 1.4 million people have no access to a bank account and "are effectively excluded from the entire financial sector". This contributes to the "poverty premium", a £1,280 annual surcharge on everyday goods and services faced by low-income households.

Payday lenders have increased their business from £900m in 2008-09 to more than £2bn – accounting for around 8m loans – in 2011-12. The number of people resorting to loan sharks has increased to 310,000 people.

The report says: "For the most financially excluded, there is often no option but to turn to illegal moneylenders. It is estimated that over 310,000 people borrow money from these criminals each year. Illegal moneylenders extort money from their victims, often arbitrarily raising interest rates, demanding payments or charging penalties. Their use of violence and intimidation terrorises people and communities, enforcing a 'veil of silence' that allows them to escape detection. This is an inexcusable crime in modern Britain.

Many of the side effects of problem debt can also work to drive people further into debt, creating a vicious cycle. While it is often hard to prove causation, there is a clear relationship between the following and problem debt: unemployment, family breakdown, addiction, and poor mental health. Similarly, many of these factors are interrelated, meaning problem debt can have diverse causes, requiring multidimensional support in order to fully resolve the underlying problems."

Not sure why any "Con" Party voter/supporter would want to live anywhere else, as they keep telling us that we are on the up and those (what's laughing referred to) as sunny uplands are only just around the corner... So why are we going to lose you prey tell? -):

For AlDs and Tinker

Possibly the Con's gift to Christmas Future.

gf
Do you know that the Centre for Social Justice was started by IDS during the previous Labour government.

If G/F doesn't I do, Smith was, is, and probably always will be an embarrassment... even to members of his own party.

At least some good news

Christians Face 'Extinction,' Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey Warns

Christianity could soon disappear into obscurity the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has warned.

Unless churches make a dramatic breakthrough in attracting young people back to the faith, the The Church of England is just "one generation away from extinction," he said.

His comments at a Christian conference came as a stark report laid before the Church of England's General Synod warned that its position as a "national institution" will be in doubt if congregation numbers drop much further.

Lord Carey's stark message was echoed by the Archbishop of York, who told the General Synod that compared to the need to attract new worshippers, "everything else is like re-arranging furniture when the house is on fire."

The conjunction of IDS and a "think tank" seems incongruous to me.

Hays,

Don't crow to loudly.

Cameron is banking on charities "organised" by the Church and other religious bodies to bail the CON party out when the Wealth fare system collapses under his mismanagement.

But Fred, Don't forget the Sunny Uplands -):

It will turn out that IDS's policies will be a big improvement. I have been to the Centre for Social Justice to attend a talk. They do a vast amount of good.

Ian Duncan Smith I predict will lose the tories the next election.

Stop talking silly Hays even Gideon Osbourne said publicly that he was slow upstairs and dopey.

Not only that but he is down right cruel to disabled people and as put that Taboo back 20 years.

His department his way behind target on Universal Benefit and looks like it may be scrapped altogether with a loss of £400 million to the tax payer.

Hes 2 faced and lives off the wealth of his wife Betsy in a 8 bedroomed house for just the 2 of them. (bedroom tax,under occcupancy etc etc).

I conclude by saying he is nothing but SCUM.

Oh really? You mean like trying to put right the wrongs that "they" are responsible for creating in the 1st place?... Don't make me laugh H/S.

Hays,

"They do a vast amount of good."

For whom?

If so they should be privatised?

Oh,I forgot they will have to give a donation to the tory pension and hedge funds first!

IDS is not being cruel to disabled people. He is ensuring that they are assessed to prove they need the benefits.

Nick Boles and the Cameroons have been getting it wrong for almost a decade


By Iain Martin Politics Last updated: November 20th, 2013





At the heart of the Cameroon problem is a catastrophic mistake made almost a decade ago. They were right that the Tory Party needed to change and that to stop losing elections it must attract new voters. But to attract new supporters they set out to be rude to the party's existing voters.

At the heart of the Cameroon problem is a catastrophic mistake made almost a decade ago. They were right that the Tory Party needed to change and that to stop losing elections it must attract new voters. But to attract new supporters they set out to be rude to the party's existing voters.

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When the row about grammar schools blew up early in his leadership, it was not enough for David Cameron to say that he did not agree with the idea that there should more grammars as a way of improving social mobility. He had to describe those who disagreed with him as "delusional". When he said it he sounded haughty, as though he was dismissing his valet for mislaying the cufflinks. This infuriated many in the grammar school generation – who benefited after the Second World War – and younger types interested in social mobility not fortunate enough to have been to Eton. Cameron could have said instead that grammar schools have their place, that he might even consider some expansion, but his main focus would be on extending New Labour academies and improving schooling for as many pupils as possible.

Where conservatives have won in the Anglosphere in recent in decades they have tended to "lock in" their base and then build out in search of floating voters. John Howard in Australia and Stephen Harper in Canada show that it can be done. Conservatives can win majorities. Best of all at this was Ronald Reagan. He was, in terms of social attitudes, pretty liberal. He was a divorced former Hollywood actor. And yet all types of conservatives voted for him, including those from the then emerging religious right, along with defecting Democrats attracted by his aspirational message. He had a gift for focusing domestically on a couple of big subjects (turning around the economy and winning the Cold War) that might unite large numbers of people. As I have said before, it would simply not have occurred to Reagan to campaign by assaulting conservatives in the hope that it would win over floating voters. He would have regarded it as bad manners, as well as bad politics.

In contrast, the Cameroons were obsessed with a misreading of the Blair playbook. They did not "lock in" the Conservative base. They treated it dismissively, presuming that those they alienated had nowhere else to go. Then up pops Ukip under Nigel Farage. Whoops.



MORE: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin1/100246807/nick-boles-and-the-cameroons-have-been-getting-it-wrong-for-almost-a-decade/

Hays wrong, he uses ATOS a French failed company (labour will get rid of them staight away)who pay no taxes to the benefit of this country and rule rough shod over weak disabled people who cannot fight back.

You speak of assessment, have you really any idea just what ATOS track record is like on assessmet, because if not SHUT UP.

You only have to look at the number of won appeals against their decisions currently 47% to realise they are a Arthur Daley outfit.

At times you really do talk stupid without having the facts.