Iain Duncan Smith to live on £53/week fastest petition ever?

[nexus]

Remember to watch this film, six minutes, before talking about wealth distribution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

Brilliant! Thanks for posting

and +1 to RCs post

[Little John]

Remember to watch this film, six minutes, before talking about wealth distribution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

Thanks for that B.

Does anyone know if there are similar numbers available for the uk?

[AndySir]

Does anyone know if Mr Miliband or Ed Balls have commited to reversing these benefits changes?

Has anyone seen them asked the question?

They are going to win by a mile in 2015

I have not, however Johann Lamont (Scottish Labour Leader) nailed her colours to the mast shortly after she was elected when she made a pretty scathing attack on universal benefits (we have free prescriptions for all).

"Why should the woman who earns £100k get her prescriptions for free?," she asked. I can almost feel Steve's blood boiling at that comment from here so let me soften that with the obvious counter - she HAS paid for it, and for the prescriptions of five other people who could not afford them.

If you are suspicious of the intentions of Milliband, look to what Scottish Labour are saying. I sincerely doubt they are making a break with the UK party on this issue.

[Little John]

I found this vid which is a summary of the recent ONS report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... GdRM3C_wjc

And this, which is a directly comparable graph with the one included in the vid B provided for the USA (the figures are the result of subtracting debts from assets and so these numbers are what people are really worth in wealth terms. You may have already noticed, the bottom decile are "negatively" wealthy)



We're barely better than the Yanks. From a quick eyeball of the graph, the top 10% of people look to posses around 50% of all the wealth and the top 20% of people look to possess around 65% of all the wealth.

[RenewableCandy]

So what happens to the poor when they can't feed themselves

Most people have a garden

I've been thinking about that a lot recently. The sheer number of obstacles and setbacks we (a fairly comfortable family in a nice part of town, in one of the sunnier locations of the UK and with fertile soil) have had thrown at us since starting with the Plot, is unbelievable. Leaving aside the time (in weeks and months) it takes to get anything out of a garden or plot, there's been:
Rain upon rain last year. The main effect was not so much to kill things off as to prevent us from being able to get things going
Rabbits (they gnaw fruit tree bark, unless you know how to prevent this)
Pigeons (they eat various things)
People (they burned down our shed, and with it about 1/2 our arsenel of garden tools. These things aren't cheap when you're short-enough of cash to have to start growing your own!)
This "spring" (no warmth or rain)
More people (one lot of student plots near here has been bulldozed with no notice given, and all the crops and kit destroyed)

Our actual garden (as opposed to the Plot) is secure, but the same can't necessarily be said if you happen to live in a rough part of town.

None of this, of course, is a reason to not try and do something about growing food, but I'm beginning to wonder how possible this is, in real life, for the average Joe. Especially if he/she is running around doing 2 jobs and being bludgeoned by HMG into looking for a third because "the jobs are out there".

[extractorfan]

Our main problem with the garden producing food, and its a decent size compared to others down here, is cat sh*t. Finding it all over where your spinach is growing makes you wary of eating it, certainly wary of growing salad crops, but puts you off even cooking it.

I don't know why they all seem to like my garden!

It's good for growing fruit, but that's about it.

[RenewableCandy]

I'd forgotten about pets. People let their dogs off leads when walking past the plots. I suppose that, because there's no tarmac or cars, they go into "in the country" mode.

[emordnilap]

Yes, you make valid points RC. Just as trends in house building, over the years, now make them unsuitable in an energy-scarce paradigm, houses have not been built with 'kitchen gardens' - or indeed any sort of self-reliance - in mind.

The so-called "100% carbon-neutral house by 2016" should be normal build, minimal energy in running it but also combined with food growing space - facing south - linked to the house. The weather is a problem but a covered or enclosed area is simple to construct. And a walled garden can be a haven.

Of course most people don't want that, they want minimal maintenance, somewhere for a barbecue and somewhere for the car. But again, this is a kind of a trend and people can be educated out of trends, if the willingness is there.

[emordnilap]

The work time/leisure time balance is a killer. We really do need to reorganise this aspect of our lives. There no single solution but there doesn't seem to be any solution being discussed generally, no matter how targeted. The predictions of 'what to do with all the leisure time' have gone the way of the ones about flying cars.

[JohnB]

Then there are landlords who won't allow tenants to dig up the lawn, that I know happens. Or I suppose some may expect the garden to be put back as it was when the tenant leaves, or takes the cost out of the deposit.

The "bedroom tax" forcing social housing tenants to move when their family changes size won't help with continuity either.

[emordnilap]

Ah yes, rent.

[JohnB]

Ah yes, rent.

I may be looking for a couple of lodgers soon, who will have their own garden area, and not growing food in it will be frowned upon .

[emordnilap]

Ah yes, rent.

I may be looking for a couple of lodgers soon, who will have their own garden area, and not growing food in it will be frowned upon .

Now that's the attitude! "What? You don't grow some of your own food? How on earth do you cope?"

[RenewableCandy]

Pictures of Victory gardens in the Torygraph!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/ho ... me=2525421

[biffvernon]

That's a cracking set of photos. Shows what can be done.