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.

Indeed you did c!

Also, I think they need to have a few bonfires for books I don't agree with.

Many of them are bloody seditious.

bonfires for people would make a good spectator sport, as in days of yore

Thousands hit by benefit cap get jobs as 42 families are found to have been claiming more than £47,000-a-year
by Gerri Peev For The Daily Mail May 14, 2015

58,700 households have been subjected to benefits cap since April 2013
In almost a quarter of those households, someone now has a job

* Latest figures hailed by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith
* Ended 'runaway benefit claims' and gave incentive for people to find work
* Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith hailed the latest figures, saying they showed the cap was putting an end to 'runaway' welfare claims
* Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith hailed the latest figures, saying they showed the cap was putting an end to 'runaway' welfare claims

Thousands of families who had their benefits capped by the government have found work, ministers said today.

More than 14,400 households which had their handouts limited to the maximum £500 a week now boast at least one member in employment.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith hailed the latest figures, saying they showed the cap was gradually putting an end to 'runaway' welfare claims and provided a 'clear incentive for people to get into work'.

A total of 58,700 households have been subjected to the benefits cap since April 2013. In almost a quarter of those households, someone now has a job.

The figures were seen as a vindication of the £26,000-a-year limit which was introduced by the Conservative-led Coalition.

Ministers pegged the cap to the average weekly wage of £500 for couples or lone parents as they said no one who was able to work should be better off on welfare.

Single people without children have their benefits capped at £350 a week. Families where one or more are in receipt of working tax credits or disability-related benefits are not subject to the limit.

The latest research showed that two in five – or 40 per cent – of those who in February last year said they were pushed to look for work because of the cap had started jobs by August.

Mr Duncan Smith said: 'As well as restoring fairness to the system, and saving the taxpayer money, these figures show the benefit cap provides a clear incentive to people to get into work.

'By putting an end to runaway benefit claims, and introducing a system which guarantees you will always be better off in work, thousands of people who have been affected by the cap are gaining the financial security and esteem that comes with a job and a pay packet.'

Before the cap was introduced, there was no limit to how much a family could collect in welfare. All together, the 300 highest claiming families were receiving more than £10million in benefits every year.

Mr Duncan Smith said: 'As well as restoring fairness to the system, and saving the taxpayer money, these figures show the benefit cap provides a clear incentive to people to get into work'

Chancellor George Osborne has admitted to being 'shocked' upon entering the Treasury five years ago to discover some families collecting up to £90,000 in handouts.

The latest figures showed the cap was being applied to 23,093 households in February 2015, down from 24,252 in November last year.

Most were losing £100 a week or less, but 42 households had benefits cut by £400 a week or more – the equivalent of £20,800 a year.

The cap has proved controversial as the majority of households (55,277) that have had their benefits limited include children and more than half (32,675) are single-parent families. Nearly half of those affected – 45 per cent – are in London where rents are highest.

But ministers are now hoping to lower the cap further to £23,000 a year, or £442 a week.

A further blitz on welfare is expected in the Queen's Speech at the end of this month, which will set out the government's legislative programme. Ministers hope the improving economy will allow them to move more people into work.

The figures follow the news that unemployment has dropped to a seven-year low of 5.5 per cent. There are now more than half a million more people in work than a year ago.

Some 73.5 per cent of people have jobs, rising to eight in ten when only men are taken into account. It means the UK now has the second lowest unemployment rate in the EU after Germany.

Commenting on the figures, John Hawksworth, chief economist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: 'The British economy remains an incredible job-creating machine.'

Question Time , last night.

Brian May , described as a political activist spoke a lot of silly left wing rubbish.

A lot of time was given to Farage changing is mind to remain as UKIP leader

The Labour toff lost the plot completely

Best one last night was the Tory minister

We won't let Scotland go, but we will alienate, split up and fragment England and the rest of the UK.

FRED YOUR REALLY GETTING BORING NOW !!!!!!!!!!!

JB,

I am awaiting your next sparkling contribution to the thread.

i'm afraid fred's like me ..... he loves the sound of his own voice and doesn't really care if no one much bothers with his drivel
just as well really

Fred , i don't post much just the odd bit of rubbish , your right it's what i thought this thread was for .
Did you know the election was over ?

There's tons and tons of topics you could sensibly talk about, Fred. But you don't. Hardly ever do we get any 'normal contributory sense' out of you.

I am now totally sick of the shite you post. So it's "Bye for Good," Fred.

we voted con to keep out lab and snp we will be voting to get out of the stinking
rotten eu .
info I have been told about the con party trying to break up ukip
have spoken to our con mp and told her she will lose our votes if they are dishonest scum
she got in on a small swing .
get us out of the rotten stinking eu as soon as pos
the working class get no benefit of being in the eu fact

why is Cameron talking to sturgeon in Scotland make the bitch come to London
she is the daughter of the devil. the devil awaits her return

off to Greece sunday

she got in on a small swing????????

what planet do you come from??????

how can Scotland have 57 snp mps on 1.1million votes yet ukip got 3.9 million
one seat the system is sick and must end other wise it is worthless to vote in general elections its rigged

it's called first past the post dickhead
i thought you thought of yourself as someone with political intelligence and knowledge

That's not very nice cynic .