Well it seems pointless working these days?

[Sharpend]

Personally I would immediately arrest and charge anyone found entering the country illegally. Place them in adequate, civilised, but not luxurious camps, military style, pending trial.
I would also make it clear that anyone with a criminal record would NEVER be granted UK residence. or be entitled to benefits.

I’ve never understood why we don’t have some old cruise liners in the Dover straight that would serve as a retention centre whilst processing takes place, at least that way there will not be any escapees to become part of a lost statistic?
Of course with current policy once full could be shipped direct to Rwanda, I wonder if the European court of human rights would be so keen to leave them all afloat at sea or be happier to see them transferred to land albeit Rwanda?

 

[Mike.J]

Little known bill put forward by Major and passed through the Hose, any immigrant found guilty of any offence in the the first year of residence would be immediately deported back to their original country, blocked by you know who. Strasburg.

 

[Mike.J]

I’ve never understood why we don’t have some old cruise liners in the Dover straight that would serve as a retention centre whilst processing takes place, at least that way there will not be any escapees to become part of a lost statistic?

P&O ferry's?

 

[Sharpend]

P&O ferry's?

Might have difficulty in deciding whose for deportation?

 

[Murdoch]

Bottom line is that most people want more but won’t contribute more.

I’m happy to pay a bit more NI and taxes, but it seems I’m a very rare breed

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

I still think that a fundamental spanner in the works of the modern finance and cost of living problem,
was when all the banks and building societies were allowed to start competing for each other's business...

That was when the money splashed out for new mortgage applicants went stupid...

i.e.
We got married & bought our house in 1985...
Mrs Spec-Loc was then working as a building society cashier..
But only male members of staff.. higher up the pecking-order were allowed any benefits or reductions to their personal mortgage packages..
So we were still on Max allowable mortgage = 3.5x the single highest wage earners income, excluding overtime & bonuses etc..
(which was my basic salary).

Yet now I hear stories of 5x both incomes plus bonuses or more..
Which is just CRAZY!!!

If the allowable mortgage multipliers ref possible income, had never been increased above the 3.5x single income..
Then house prices would have never escalated to the stupid levels they are today!

And..
If house prices had never got stupid, then more people would be able to spend more in the local community...
and have less struggle with the fluctuations in general cost of living.....

Plus the associated increases in Landlord ownership +
Rental charges for those who cannot afford a mortgage would never have got stupid either!!!

etc..
etc..

 

[ProDave]

Yet now I hear stories of 5x both incomes plus bonuses or more..
Which is just CRAZY!!!

It is only crazy if interest rates go back to 1980's levels.

to settle an argument about house affordability in one of the "I can't afford a house" threads, I looked up the very first house I bought in about 1985, I bought it new from the developer, it was a 1 bedroom in terrace "starter house" as I have said before the only house I could just about afford literally the cheapest house on the market in the county.

It was a few years when I looked up it's current price and then used the estate agents mortgage calculator, and yes if you took a mortgage at 5 times your salary, at the present low rates, the repayments were a very small percentage of your salary. Compared to when I bought it and my 3.5 times salary mortgage consumed more than half my take home pay.

But that is another debate. If inflation is going to 10% (already there) or more then interest rates need to be similar. The present couple of percent is no good for people with savings, their savings need to grow to match inflation just to stop them shrinking.

We have "got stuck" in this ultra low interest situation, that was meant to be a desparate measure to prop up a desparate economy 14 odd years ago and the fact they are so low must mean the economy is still in a desparate state and cannot sustain proper interest rates?

Tax credits and then Universal credit are the 2 stupid things that have conditioned a lot of working people to expect and rely on government handouts to prop up their income. I had none of that. You matched your spending to your income, which either meant you spend within what you earn and if that is not enough, seek a better paid job.

So the question now we are stuck in this mess is how do we end tax credits / UC for working people and how do we get back to proper interest rates without crashing the economy and making lots of people destitute?

All I see is national debt racking up and it is beyond my brain capacity to image how it will EVER be repaid (and to who) and I see the whole pack of cards collapsing at some point.

 

[Mike.J]

I do wonder how much is spent on feeding, housing and policing the illegal immigrants that constantly invade our shores.

 

[Sharpend]

It is only crazy if interest rates go back to 1980's levels.

to settle an argument about house affordability in one of the "I can't afford a house" threads, I looked up the very first house I bought in about 1985, I bought it new from the developer, it was a 1 bedroom in terrace "starter house" as I have said before the only house I could just about afford literally the cheapest house on the market in the county.

It was a few years when I looked up it's current price and then used the estate agents mortgage calculator, and yes if you took a mortgage at 5 times your salary, at the present low rates, the repayments were a very small percentage of your salary. Compared to when I bought it and my 3.5 times salary mortgage consumed more than half my take home pay.

But that is another debate. If inflation is going to 10% (already there) or more then interest rates need to be similar. The present couple of percent is no good for people with savings, their savings need to grow to match inflation just to stop them shrinking.

We have "got stuck" in this ultra low interest situation, that was meant to be a desparate measure to prop up a desparate economy 14 odd years ago and the fact they are so low must mean the economy is still in a desparate state and cannot sustain proper interest rates?

Tax credits and then Universal credit are the 2 stupid things that have conditioned a lot of working people to expect and rely on government handouts to prop up their income. I had none of that. You matched your spending to your income, which either meant you spend within what you earn and if that is not enough, seek a better paid job.

So the question now we are stuck in this mess is how do we end tax credits / UC for working people and how do we get back to proper interest rates without crashing the economy and making lots of people destitute?

All I see is national debt racking up and it is beyond my brain capacity to image how it will EVER be repaid (and to who) and I see the whole pack of cards collapsing at some point.

By then it won’t matter as we’ll be living on mars with different issues!

 

[Sharpend]

I do wonder how much is spent on feeding, housing and policing the illegal immigrants that constantly invade our shores.

This is a figure that is kept well hidden from the likes of you and me and that’s without the Legal chasers costs.

 

[Murdoch]

If I was in charge I’d ban councils from selling land and properties.

I’d then make them build council houses for rent, with them allocated to key workers and the rent assessed on the their income every 3 years.

The income could then be used to fund more

 

[binky]

Bottom line is that most people want more but won’t contribute more.

I’m happy to pay a bit more NI and taxes, but it seems I’m a very rare breed

you aren't alone, I want good services, it's cheaper than trying to provide these yourself, but I detest all the back door taxation, and the tax loopholes that is offshoring around £12 billion abroad, for someone else to benefit from.

 

[binky]

Yet now I hear stories of 5x both incomes plus bonuses or more..
Which is just CRAZY!!!

If the allowable mortgage multipliers ref possible income, had never been increased above the 3.5x single income..
Then house prices would have never escalated to the stupid levels they are today!

And..
If house prices had never got stupid, then more people would be able to spend more in the local community...
and have less struggle with the fluctuations in general cost of living.....

Plus the associated increases in Landlord ownership +
Rental charges for those who cannot afford a mortgage would never have got stupid either!!!

etc..
etc..

totally agree, and not only 5X but over 30 years to make it affordable...

Low inflation has also certainly helped fuel the housing market, and I can't help feel sometimes it's all been deliberate policy to keep the population at the grind stone to service huge debts to make money for the bankers...

What doesn't also help is demand for housing is also being fueled by increasing population. I looked at the legal immigration numbers a few years ago, on average something like 350,000 people move to the uk every year, and about 100,000 emigrate, so that's net 250,000 more people in the UK every year, legally. My home city of Plymouth has a population of 250,000, so I worked out that over about 2 decades, we needed to build 11 cities the size of Plymouth to house all these people. ( before any points out those numbers don't quite stack up, immigration levels were lower 2 decades ago).

 

[Jdinduntocher]

Personally I think that benefits, especially tax credits need major reform.

Why does the tax payer top up the income for a person who works 16 hours to such an extent that for the individual it doesn’t make sense to them to work extra hours?

I’d raise the threshold to 25 hours, if not more

Tin hat on

Although it seems this way it is largely employers that use this as a way to top up low paid jobs they tell employees to claim DWP then spread their hours over the week , no holiday pay, no Ni contributions win win for employers

 

[Jdinduntocher]

totally agree, and not only 5X but over 30 years to make it affordable...

Low inflation has also certainly helped fuel the housing market, and I can't help feel sometimes it's all been deliberate policy to keep the population at the grind stone to service huge debts to make money for the bankers...

What doesn't also help is demand for housing is also being fueled by increasing population. I looked at the legal immigration numbers a few years ago, on average something like 350,000 people move to the uk every year, and about 100,000 emigrate, so that's net 250,000 more people in the UK every year, legally. My home city of Plymouth has a population of 250,000, so I worked out that over about 2 decades, we needed to build 11 cities the size of Plymouth to house all these people. ( before any points out those numbers don't quite stack up, immigration levels were lower 2 decades ago).

Need immigrants to pay taxes as there are not enough younger members to service the ageing population so they say you are living to long and getting pensions that we as a country cannot afford, according to elite the solution is a growing working age population to pay for it. Covid saved the country billions on pensions as lots of older people died.As for benefits I worked up to 59 but had a stroke that left me unable to work, I earned good money as a spark, shopfitting now get £9000 a year in benefits
, used all my savings and get sent for assessments to see if I am fit to work so do not believe living on dole is an easy life

 

[binky]

Need immigrants to pay taxes as there are not enough younger members to service the ageing population so they say you are living to long and getting pensions that we as a country cannot afford, according to elite the solution is a growing working age population to pay for it. Covid saved the country billions on pensions as lots of older people died.As for benefits I worked up to 59 but had a stroke that left me unable to work, I earned good money as a spark, shopfitting now get £9000 a year in benefits
, used all my savings and get sent for assessments to see if I am fit to work so do not believe living on dole is an easy life

catch 22, if you keep importing labour, you keep putting pressure on housing stocks, hospitals, schools etc etc, and eventually they all get old and need care. I have long held the belief that we need to reduce the UK population to a more sustainable level.

The elite just want cheap labour so they can keep their fortunes offshore, and life styles.

Sorry to hear of your plight, we have an awful benefits system. and I certainly would not want to exist on the pittance they hand out.