Hello,
Imagine if you will, getting up one day to find you'd been burgled and everything of value you owned had been nicked. Worse still you hadn't got round to renewing the insurance leaving you seriously out of pocket. Still not to worry -you're a plucky, robust sort. Of course you'll need to cut back a bit, raid the savings and maybe holiday at home next year. Still you say to yourself it could be worse at least none of your family were hurt during the burglary. Gradually the house starts to feel like home again and though you're still angry about the burglary, you can think of it without foaming at the mouth.
Then one day a postcard arrives. It's from the thief. He just wants to let you know he booked himself an extended holiday with the proceeds of the burglary and wanted to tell you all about the great laughs he's been having at your expense. The next morning his wife drops you a line to tell you about the lovely kettle she bought with that money you'd foolishly left on the sideboard. And not a word of thanks between them.
You'd be hopping mad, homicidal, crazed with rage. Walls would be punched, cats would be kicked, appliances would be hurled from top floor windows -only you don't have any appliances because the bastard burglar knicked them all. You'd be bloody furious so much so that you really would see the red mist there before your very eyes.
Someone nicking your stuff is bad enough but nicking your stuff and laughing at you is maddening beyond belief. You'd feel you were being goaded, belittled, insulted. You'd say he's taking the piss and you'd be right.
The above just about sums up how I feel about the article I linked to in my last post written by Austin Mitchell MP . Not only has he robbed us with his extravagant expenses claims, he's popped along to The Guardian to tell us all just how bloody funny he thinks the whole thing is. And yes, his wife, his unelected wife is at the expenses as well, having just splashed out £75 for a kettle. Some bird who happens to live with a MP has spent £75 of our money, £10:70 more than a single unemployed person gets to live on in a week, on a wretched bloody kettle. A kettle.
Words fail me! I'm reduced to opening and shutting my mouth like a big purple faced fish. Talk about a brassneck. As if the article itself isn't offensive enough he's laughing in his byline photo. Laughing at us like a man with a fucking subsidised kettle.
From time to time I fill out Community Care Grant forms for my more impoverished clients to help them buy furniture and household goods. There are no £75 kettles for these folk. As the grants are drawn from a limited budget people are expected seek out the bargains so whilst you might want a £75 kettle, the decision maker will call you up establish that you own a pot and your hob works therefore you don't need a kettle. Fancy a fridge? Not if you have a windowsill to keep a pint of milk on and no essential medication that needs keeping cool. What about an oven? No -you own a perfectly good microwave. A Duck House - no chance! A Bell Tower -piss off! Removal of that troublesome wisteria - when hell freezes over.
These grants are applied for by people with disabilities, ex-homeless and the like who have no savings and rely entirely on benefits for their income. They don't get £60,000 p/a -these are folk on four figure annual incomes. Perhaps one of the good socialists of the Labour Party could enlighten us. Are these people receiving far, far less help than they're due or having you lot just been ripping the piss right out of your expenses? After all expenses are just for what you need not wee treats. Or are some pigs more equal than others?
Cheerio
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
12/11/2009
6/04/2009
A Question for Jim Devine
Hello,
I was out on one of my strolls round yon internet when I dropped in to the excellent SNP Tactical Voting blog and came across this article regarding Jim Devine MP and his mysterious tradesmen which points out an inconsistency in Mr Devine's fantastic tale of men in pubs and woodworking publicans. I must say it's all most unfortunate.
However what caught my eye was a comment left by an anonymous poster, who really should have put their name to it so that we could all have bought them pints and patted them on the back. I'm slightly peeved at myself for not thinking of it first, all I can say in my defence was that I was too busy laughing at Jimmy boy's preposterous tale. Anyway anonymous asks an excellent question and one which I think we'd all like an answer to
'Re his other scam--the £2000 plus for electrical work to his London flat. I know that he met a man in a pub who carried out the work then slipped a dodgy invoice under his door. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? He couldn't have sent a cheque since the address on the invoice didn't exist. So did he go back to the same pub and pay the man in used fivers? I haven't heard his account of how he paid the bill---can anyone enlighten me?'
Taking into account Jim's piss poor excuses to date I have no doubt the answer will involve a magic cow named Henry, The A Team, a very large magnet and a golden unicorn. To be fair that would be more credible than anything he's come up with thus far.
I am mad with curiosity now as to how the bill was paid. I mean if he sent a cheque it would have been returned or have remained uncashed. Did the mysterious electrician come to collect payment or did Jim have to visit his business premises which appear to be a pub? Only two men know the answer and as one of them is either dead or up north we shall have to ask Jim. Happily Jim is a pretty open sort of guy and lists a whopping FIVE ways to contact him on his website. Not only that he's friendly too and is quite clear that we should not hesitate to contact him if he can be of assistance. Good old Jim!
So join me in asking Jim the all important questions -how was the bill paid and can your mate Tom O'Donnelly reccommend a good plasterer?
Cheerio
I was out on one of my strolls round yon internet when I dropped in to the excellent SNP Tactical Voting blog and came across this article regarding Jim Devine MP and his mysterious tradesmen which points out an inconsistency in Mr Devine's fantastic tale of men in pubs and woodworking publicans. I must say it's all most unfortunate.
However what caught my eye was a comment left by an anonymous poster, who really should have put their name to it so that we could all have bought them pints and patted them on the back. I'm slightly peeved at myself for not thinking of it first, all I can say in my defence was that I was too busy laughing at Jimmy boy's preposterous tale. Anyway anonymous asks an excellent question and one which I think we'd all like an answer to
'Re his other scam--the £2000 plus for electrical work to his London flat. I know that he met a man in a pub who carried out the work then slipped a dodgy invoice under his door. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? He couldn't have sent a cheque since the address on the invoice didn't exist. So did he go back to the same pub and pay the man in used fivers? I haven't heard his account of how he paid the bill---can anyone enlighten me?'
Taking into account Jim's piss poor excuses to date I have no doubt the answer will involve a magic cow named Henry, The A Team, a very large magnet and a golden unicorn. To be fair that would be more credible than anything he's come up with thus far.
I am mad with curiosity now as to how the bill was paid. I mean if he sent a cheque it would have been returned or have remained uncashed. Did the mysterious electrician come to collect payment or did Jim have to visit his business premises which appear to be a pub? Only two men know the answer and as one of them is either dead or up north we shall have to ask Jim. Happily Jim is a pretty open sort of guy and lists a whopping FIVE ways to contact him on his website. Not only that he's friendly too and is quite clear that we should not hesitate to contact him if he can be of assistance. Good old Jim!
So join me in asking Jim the all important questions -how was the bill paid and can your mate Tom O'Donnelly reccommend a good plasterer?
Cheerio
3/13/2008
I Demand Heads on Sticks!
Hello,
Why the world persists in provoking me remains a mystery. Every so often I try to be reasonable. I sit myself down and say Clairwil, 'forgive them for they know not what they do'. It doesn't work 'they' are a bunch of demons. In this case 'they' are our political representatives and they've riled me with their wicked expenses fest.
As long term readers (they do exist- I am convinced of it) are well aware I toil in the welfare rights racket for most of my working week. A phrase that regularly pops up in explaining benefit levels is 'applicable amount'. The applicable amount is set by civil servants who clearly haven't tried living on it and agreed by MPs. So, for example were my boss to get her dearest wish and toss me onto the dole tomorrow. My applicable amount as a spinster of the Central Parish would be a whopping £59:15. That is the amount the law says I need to live on. If I moved Mr Clairwil in and he was unemployed we'd get £92:80 between us. No matter how much I wanted a new kitchen, bathroom, stationary, holiday I couldn't claim any expenses. Not even for traveling to job interviews or buying a cheap interview suit. In fact the state would be under no obligation to keep a roof over my head. My monthly JSA wouldn't even cover my monthly mortgage payment and I'd be ineligible for help with the interest payments for 26 weeks -by which time my lender would have turfed me out. It may surprise you to learn that if I had a second home I wouldn't be able to claim for that either.
The Loretto educated (fees £12,000 p/a roughly equal to two years Incapacity Benefit) Alisdair Darling, has claimed in the past that folk on benefits have it too easy. That there is no excuse for folk lying about doing nothing whilst taking money from the public purse. This isn't an argument without merit there is a substantial minority that rip the piss out the system and they should be dealt with, but lets face it the jobseeker doing a couple of cash in hand cleaning shifts a week deserves more of our sympathy than the self serving principle vacuums at Westminster. It would be nice if our elected friends led by example on that one. Mind you scapegoating the poor does wonders for taking the heat off oneself.
MPs' expenses are set against the 'John Lewis list' -the maximum amount that can be claimed for little extras in one's second home -which can also be claimed for. Our remarkable benefit system allows folk on Income Support to claim something called a 'Community Care Grant' if they are deemed to belong to a vulnerable group (disabled, homeless etc). Folk claiming a Community Care Grant are subject to and I'm not making this up the 'Argos list' . However Community Care Grants shouldn't be confused with expenses. No-one is guaranteed one and payouts are limited by the local budget as well as the Argos list. In my entire six years in the benefits racket I cannot think of a single instance of a claimant getting all they asked for even on the most modest claim and that includes the most pitiful request that only a Nazi would find undeserving. The all time killer being a request for a camping heater from a 96 year old fellow spinster privately renting an unheated bedsit. Not a typical case by any means but galling when considered in the context of £10,000 claims for a new kitchen by MPs paid £60,227 p/a. I should also point out that MPs expenses are unaffected by local budgets.
I'm also puzzled as to why I am expected to take my work expenses out of my own pocket when the local MP refers any case he can't be bothered with to me. I'm not able to claim overtime for the hours I've spent this week on three really tricky cases he's dumped on me. I earn £20,000 p/a, a third of his wage yet I am expected to work three times as hard. It's just as well I can though because if forced to live on what he thinks I'm worth on Incapacity Benefit or Jobseekers Allowance I'd be homeless.
What makes politicians so grand that they cannot be held to the 'Argos list'? Are they saying that every MP is inherently better or more deserving than the elderly, the sick, the disabled? If so then let's hear the arguments. What is it that makes MPs so high maintenance that they can't get by on a reasonable amount of money? £60,000 is a great wage. They could live very well on half that and take their expenses out the rest. Everyone else, no matter how deserving is expected to cut their cloth according to their means which is fair enough. The mystery is why Mps can't do the same.
I know I won't get heads on sticks, if I did the world viewed from the moon would resemble a party hedgehog of slaughter, which spoilsports object to. That being the case would MPs mind awfully treating us us all as equals and spread the cash bonanza or reign their Viv Nicholson instincts right in.
Cheerio
Why the world persists in provoking me remains a mystery. Every so often I try to be reasonable. I sit myself down and say Clairwil, 'forgive them for they know not what they do'. It doesn't work 'they' are a bunch of demons. In this case 'they' are our political representatives and they've riled me with their wicked expenses fest.
As long term readers (they do exist- I am convinced of it) are well aware I toil in the welfare rights racket for most of my working week. A phrase that regularly pops up in explaining benefit levels is 'applicable amount'. The applicable amount is set by civil servants who clearly haven't tried living on it and agreed by MPs. So, for example were my boss to get her dearest wish and toss me onto the dole tomorrow. My applicable amount as a spinster of the Central Parish would be a whopping £59:15. That is the amount the law says I need to live on. If I moved Mr Clairwil in and he was unemployed we'd get £92:80 between us. No matter how much I wanted a new kitchen, bathroom, stationary, holiday I couldn't claim any expenses. Not even for traveling to job interviews or buying a cheap interview suit. In fact the state would be under no obligation to keep a roof over my head. My monthly JSA wouldn't even cover my monthly mortgage payment and I'd be ineligible for help with the interest payments for 26 weeks -by which time my lender would have turfed me out. It may surprise you to learn that if I had a second home I wouldn't be able to claim for that either.
The Loretto educated (fees £12,000 p/a roughly equal to two years Incapacity Benefit) Alisdair Darling, has claimed in the past that folk on benefits have it too easy. That there is no excuse for folk lying about doing nothing whilst taking money from the public purse. This isn't an argument without merit there is a substantial minority that rip the piss out the system and they should be dealt with, but lets face it the jobseeker doing a couple of cash in hand cleaning shifts a week deserves more of our sympathy than the self serving principle vacuums at Westminster. It would be nice if our elected friends led by example on that one. Mind you scapegoating the poor does wonders for taking the heat off oneself.
MPs' expenses are set against the 'John Lewis list' -the maximum amount that can be claimed for little extras in one's second home -which can also be claimed for. Our remarkable benefit system allows folk on Income Support to claim something called a 'Community Care Grant' if they are deemed to belong to a vulnerable group (disabled, homeless etc). Folk claiming a Community Care Grant are subject to and I'm not making this up the 'Argos list' . However Community Care Grants shouldn't be confused with expenses. No-one is guaranteed one and payouts are limited by the local budget as well as the Argos list. In my entire six years in the benefits racket I cannot think of a single instance of a claimant getting all they asked for even on the most modest claim and that includes the most pitiful request that only a Nazi would find undeserving. The all time killer being a request for a camping heater from a 96 year old fellow spinster privately renting an unheated bedsit. Not a typical case by any means but galling when considered in the context of £10,000 claims for a new kitchen by MPs paid £60,227 p/a. I should also point out that MPs expenses are unaffected by local budgets.
I'm also puzzled as to why I am expected to take my work expenses out of my own pocket when the local MP refers any case he can't be bothered with to me. I'm not able to claim overtime for the hours I've spent this week on three really tricky cases he's dumped on me. I earn £20,000 p/a, a third of his wage yet I am expected to work three times as hard. It's just as well I can though because if forced to live on what he thinks I'm worth on Incapacity Benefit or Jobseekers Allowance I'd be homeless.
What makes politicians so grand that they cannot be held to the 'Argos list'? Are they saying that every MP is inherently better or more deserving than the elderly, the sick, the disabled? If so then let's hear the arguments. What is it that makes MPs so high maintenance that they can't get by on a reasonable amount of money? £60,000 is a great wage. They could live very well on half that and take their expenses out the rest. Everyone else, no matter how deserving is expected to cut their cloth according to their means which is fair enough. The mystery is why Mps can't do the same.
I know I won't get heads on sticks, if I did the world viewed from the moon would resemble a party hedgehog of slaughter, which spoilsports object to. That being the case would MPs mind awfully treating us us all as equals and spread the cash bonanza or reign their Viv Nicholson instincts right in.
Cheerio
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)