Life, the Universe and Everything

I've written about this easy luxury vegetable before but this time I've got better pictures. The first move is to approach the bucket... ...Flipping it over... ...just snap off the stems... ...steam for 6 minutes... ...serve with fried breaded chicken. This picture uses the "food" setting on the camera - not sure what it does!

I've commented before on our government's campaign to demonise benefit claimants. Up to now, the targets have been working age "scroungers" - pensioners have been off the radar and protected from cuts. (although some will argue that the rising pension age represents a cut) Now, Iain Duncan Smith is suggesting that better off pensioners hand back their benefits such as the winter fuel payment (which isn't means-tested). The reason why these benefits are not means tested is simple - it  actually costs more to means test these small sums than just to dish them out to all. My guess is that if pensioners did start repaying benefits, the administration costs would result in a net loss. Actually, pensioners have been helping the government on this issue for a long time anyway. What they've done is simply failed to collect/apply/etc for benefits. According to AgeUK, this amounts to £5.5 billion/year . Pensioners are a tempting target. Although a lot of them hav...

I'm probably the last person in the UK to discover this sort of product but never mind. This example is sold by Lidl at 55p a throw. You peel off the top, add boiling water up to the line, stir for a couple of minutes and eat. It's quite nice. Purists will object that it shouldn't contain sugar - I believe the Scottish way with porridge involves salt which is currently not favoured by the healthy-eating lobby. A look at the nutrition panel on this product shows it does a fairly good job of ticking the boxes. Verdict: Worth packing a few for the next camping trip and seeing what the gang think.

Here's a point of view

Chuck never tired of watching the rare Red-crowned Cranes down by the lake. For them, it was peaceful, a happy accident of living in the “Demilitarized Zone” For Chuck, it made it the most magical place in the world. He also got to do the most secret and surreal job here in a ramshackle hut perched right on the border only a few kilometers from the official huts at Panmunjom. Hwan and he were of an age and shared a love of wildlife. They worked well together so when Hwan emerged from the bushes on the other side. Chuck cheerfully  sauntered over to greet him. Technically, this was a breach of the North's sovereignty but no one seemed to care. Perhaps the project was too secret to risk monitoring. “They're really pleased with you!” said Chuck, “Really?” “Yeah! They've sent you extra Whiskey – I got a sore back carrying it” “Oh thank you! I was worried that we might have gone too far?” “You mean the little firework display?” “Yes” “It was great! It re...

Our government is big on Making Work Pay and incentives to work but take a look at  its own statistics: ( Source ) So, even if you gave people a really big incentive (Say, a £1000/week minimum wage if you get a job)  around 2 million people are going to fail. Of course, it's possible they'll try a lot harder under this sort of deal. You can also throw in some training on how to write better CVs as well. It's not going to make any real difference to the 2 million figure. The CV training will just change who gets the jobs - not create extra ones. The 2 million will get less benefits in real terms and possibly get hit by the bedroom tax as well. It's not incentives, it's cruelty.

I was shocked when I heard George Osborne say the case of Mick and Mairead Philpott raised questions about the welfare system . Shocked not only because it was another instance of demonising benefit claimants but also because surely this tactic had received so much bad press, you'd think that sensible politicians would now be steering clear. However, a look back in history to the time of the Poll Tax shows that deeply unfair treatment of the poor need not be the downfall of a government.   It  arguably brought down Margaret Thatcher but her Conservative Party won an election after the Poll Tax row and governed for around five more years.