The BBC

If you support redistribution and inequalities of income being reduced as much as is practical, there isn't a contradiction with universal benefits.

You cannot have a "universal benefit" because not everybody is equal.

If you assume that they are, then there is no reasonw why we could not simply say, to hell with it, let's abolish income tax altogether, keep (and spend) everything you earn, and we'll all get on splendidly, like in the Lebanon.

sp: "reason"

You cannot have a "universal benefit" because not everybody is equal.

Why not?

If you assume that they are

Why would I do that? That would be demented.

tbh if doing away with universal child benefit was the worst thing this government did things would be pretty sweet tho

that argument makes absolutely no sense, Marcello.

The fundamental point isn't about supporting "rich people" it's about making it more difficult to erode the rights of everyone else, but that should be pretty obvious.

xp
maybe you would next like to suggest that hospital visits be means-tested "because not everybody is equal"

marcello is this like when you said the royal mail should be privatised because a package of yours took too long to arrive?

The other thing about Child Benefit was to promote actually having kids, which is why my parents didn't get any until they had their 2nd child.

also it's money that (in most cases) goes directly to the mother, not to the household, which can be incredibly important.

Well yes, because then the affluent mother can spend it on herself.

Otherwise you have to say that you're on the side of the affluent neoliberal middle classes and it's all right for public money to go towards subsidising toys and luxuries rather than spending it where it is needed (as in other areas of modern life).

oh my days, god save us from the UNDESERVING MOTHERS who spend public money on TOYS

it's nice that you would rather refuse public money to women because you suspect them of immoral spending habits - they are, after all, so frivolous and awful - than consider that women in ostensibly affluent households can often be completely cut off from control over the finances they need to support themselves and their children.

i'm sure you would also like the fuel allowance to not be a universal benefit, because an old person in a house that is expensive on paper should just sell up and go into a home.

If it's subtext you're looking for, I can help you.

What would you say is your favourite book?

I mean, public money goes towards subsidising toys and luxuries pretty much all of the time? Why are you so eager to jump on it when it's, specifically, women?

What would you say is your favourite book?

tell me about your fav book marcello

I don't actually need an answer to that question; I have, after all, known you on ilx for ten years

marcello, just make up a book and attribute it to me so you can get to the terribly ~damning~ riposte you've thought up.

Do you know the reason why you didn't just tell me what your favourite book was?

If the affluent mother is married to a controlling bastard...

My Favourite book was "The Bridge" by Ian Banks.

I thangyew.

oops, missed an important i in the name there.

Yep, that's a good one.

Suzy xp: the affluent mother should throw the controlling bastard out of the house but as with Lawson/Saatchi it's still happening the other way, much too often.

Back to Steve Voice again..

ugh awful man. What is it with rich UK or UK-based guys who go around like medieval feudal lieges, expecting everyone else (including wife/partner and children) to be serfs?

My favourite book is Animal Farm, the animals on the farm have a revolution and drive out the farmer and the other humans, but then the pigs who are the most intelligent become like the humans and the other animals even worse off than before makes u think

xpost was tempted to say it wsa the drugs, but..

If you read Chas Saatchi's Standard column (which I note he continues to write and get published) before he moved on (or was moved on) to talking about weird photomontages, he was obsessing about crack, heroin and the Dignitas Clinic, so much so I'm surprised he doesn't have a loyalty card.

lex, lex, lex

i don't want have to ask the mods to intervene in order to prevent your relentless ad-hom attacks. i'll ask you nicely to stop.

ps i have not been arguing itt, one doesnt argue with a group tantrum tbh

darragh your non sequitur arguments are so fucking basic, as are your ~arch~ ripostes

― lex pretend, Friday, 12 July 2013 10:39 (2 days ago)

this isnt ad hominem

i watched this programme

what's gonna happen to dr who?

ah it's the snide non-engagement across a couple of threads nakh, it's pure bullying, it's right back to the bad old days if we don't nip it in the bud imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2omb_4O5DkQ

one doesnt argue with a group tantrum tbh

^ WOUNDING ^

winding

whodini

csm missed a trick not answering "taipei" imo

i actually agreed with marcello until i read him trying to make a case for it.

I do get the 'point', but the alternative is...

It's "Child Allowance" not "Child Benefit"

anyways...

ah man, old ILX is BACK :D

Mark's right: henceforth will refer to the payments by their correct name; using 'child benefit' just internalises the RW/Tory rhetoric/framing. But I will be caning the fuck out of 'bedroom tax'.

oh yeah go4it

8.5 million of us now rent our homes - as fewer of us can afford to buy. This generation has been called generation rent.

In this film we meet the new army of private landlords who are riding this rental boom, who own one in every five properties.

Some landlords like Jim Haliburton AKA 'The HMO Daddy' have found there is serious money to be made. His property empire stretches across the West Midlands and he houses around 800 tenants. His property portfolio is worth £26 million.

The actor, who made his name in US crime drama The Wire, will present two hour-long shows with the working title Idris Elba: King Of Speed.

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop will present a three-part look at the British obsession with history and Fern Britton will challenge nine pairs of gardeners to grow their own fruit and veg on an Oxfordshire allotment before their work is judged in a country show-style competition.

There will also be a three-part series about cats and historian Andrew Roberts will examine the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.