Agreed. People are not created equal. That's nature. We are all different.


I don't know the answer to that.
But disabilites should not be a barrier to success.

I will never be an world class athlete because of my height and build, but that hasnt prevented me from enjoying participation in some sports.

My daughter, like Carrie Fisher (who died tonight) has bi-polar. But Carrie didnt let that stop achieving world-wide success

We can all play "poor me" games and wallow in self pity

Totally agree re council houses ... Don't understand why houses provided by the state for rental has become a dirty word ?! ....rental income would be return on the investment for the cost of provision of houses and the shift away from people over stretching themselves to save for and get a mortgage would release money for individuals to spend in the economy.....we need a cultural shift on this one and the government need to get a grip and see provision of housing as a responsibility again.

Definitely don't understand why MPs expenses hasn't caused something akin to civil protest thus far,it is nothing short of corrupt that well paid public servants can claim for virtually anything let alone the ridiculous things they can still claim for and the idea that ANY of the MPs exposed as exploiting the system are still serving as MPs is a national disgrace.

Its down to employers to recruit more people who are disabled. It's not about 'poor me' or self pity. Its about giving people a chance. If you were disabled, you'd soon realise how hard it it to get a job.

Betting..£4bn a year.

The cost of MP's expenses in the scheme of things is isn't a significant cost compared to the cost the overall cost of the state pension. It's more of a moral question that many MPs ignore the fact the money was purely for work as an MP and then they claimed the scheme was very complicated.

Those same MPs on a high salary will then decree others on far less are earning too much, they produce benefits that require pages of questions to be completed and make it so complicated with all the ifs, buts & maybes.

As to social housing, councils used to borrow money to pay for the building of homes, loans that could last 50-60 years. My local borough set rents of new builds at a level half the yearly running cost.

Was it fair that those in private accommodation were pay for their own housing plus for those in social housing?

The situation has changed with housing associations but does it mean more people can't afford social housing rents and are receiving even more benefits to make ends meet?

Foreign aid, nuclear weapons, civil list for the royals, free stuff for wealthy pensioners, free child stuff for wealthy parents.

The Labour Party have been fighting the proposal to reduce the number of MPs for years as it will reduce their built in advantage. Not that this will make much dent in costs.


The sovereign grant is roughly 50p per person, per year and that is financed from the crown estates which are owned by the monarch. To be honest there are far larger areas of government waste. Just look at procurement. Sometimes departments are paying two or three times what you can get elsewhere. Government Procurement has just become a money tree for a few companies who have managed to get on the procurement lists and there is no incentive for them to improve or be more cost effective. Is this any wonder when it is so difficult for other suppliers to get on this exclusive list? Not that the procurement system itself.

Then there is the inertia that you get with any other large organisation. Just a complete failure to improve processes - with people often working in tasks that could be semi or fully automated and are done manually.

Speaking of the NHS how about the communication between GPs and Hospitals - in theory that is supposed to be fully electronic in a couple of years. Excuse me while I pick myself up from the laughing my A**e off rolling on the floor. There is no central
store of email addresses for GPs (meaning hospitals have to call each GP they deal with, each and every hospital having some poor sucker calling GPs - you think calling your GP is difficult, try calling a couple of hundred)., GPs are slow to say when patients are registered leading to letters going astray.



That is the point though - it is someone else's money - the Taxpayers. There is no incentive to improve costs because one can always increase taxes. Then even if someone did try out come the unions complaining of cuts to services (all those calling GPs can be replaced by a central directory built on NHS Mail - which is the only way you can send patient sensitive data by email, from an NHS Mail account to another NHS Mail account).

That is before you get to the annual burning of money in the last quarter to get rid of the rest of the budget. So you get pointless road schemes to spend money to make sure the entire budget is spent, otherwise it is cut the next year - talk about a reverse incentive to save money! What genius thought of that one?

Only if it applies to the unemplayables of DS as well.

What planet are you from?

That is 20%-25% of the workers in this country - many public workers are suffering from stress just dealing with the inefficient systems they have to deal with. In the NHS even some admin people if they get something wrong could mean a person dying. You try dealing with that level of stress in your cushy number.

There is a strange tendency by some to think of people in different categories as if they are completely separate

Taxpayers (Me/Us)
Service Users/Recipients (them)
Public Service Workers

In reality there is much overlap, if not presently then over a lifetime and if not for us as an individual when we extend the view to families etc.

Public sector workers are often the first to bemoan the lack of integration of information which makes life so much harder for those requiring the services especially health and social care.

I have no problem with an ongoing drive to save money if it is matched by a commitment to spend and invest where it will make a real difference in the issues that really affect those who most need them.

What happens if you literally cannot stand at all - as is the case for my husband who is disabled following a stroke 9 years ago!

Please think things through before posting.....it does help!

I quite agree. However, being disabled does make it extremely difficult to compete with the able bodied in the job market. You need an awful lot of support, which is not always available.

And that income replacement and funding is simply not there. I know for I am living it, along with my disabled husband.

Do you have any idea what the cost is of prosthetic limbs - even worse when you are a child - when growing means you need to change them often.

For the disabled, the costs of dealing with that disability are far more than they are for those of us who do not live with a disability. If the government spends money to equalise that - the pay back is in that person becoming a more productive member of society.

There is the other point that as an enlightened society we do not discard those who are unable to make that contribution - leave that kind of thing to the likes of ISIS

There is plenty of waste in government without having to go at the disabled.

Giving money to the arts, they should fund themselves.

Scotland. Should be kicked out of the union immediately.