As has been pointed out to you many times before, the problem with polls is twofold, firstly in the aim and intention of the poll (in case you didn't realise it almost every poll has a pre-determined intention), and secondly in its interpretation and reporting.

If you ask the question "Do you support measures to stop benefits claimants from claiming for things they ar enot entitled to" then you will get a big majority of the population to agree with your poll, if you then publish your findings under the headline "Big majority of the population support welfare cuts" then most of the population will believe that it must be true, without further investigation.

Its a simple enough example, but with this term of government we've seen that they are no longer trying to hide or deflect blame from their decisions, they are now brazen with it and my first and instant reaction to any poll is now "Show me the actual poll and the results and then let me see the reporting before I decide for myself".

Ultimately the only poll that will count will be in 2015, or if Cameron gets challenged by his own party.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23122369 Well done, IDS, you've managed to create homes standing empty whilst still having a shortage of homes. That takes a special sort of talent for vindictiveness.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23122369 Well done, IDS, you've managed to create homes standing empty whilst still having a shortage of homes. That takes a special sort of talent for vindictiveness.

The word "vindictive" is particularly applicable to this specific piece of legislation as its based on nothing less than an opportunity to cut costs from a welfare budget for no other reason than a strange preoccupation with the sleeping arrangements of those in social housing and on benefits.

You can just tell even without asking the question that this cruel law came straight from a suggestions box during the first phase of government when heads of departments were told to go away and think up ANY reason to cut their budgets ANYHOW - this was probably put in the suggestion box for a laugh and its author probably never believed in a million years that it would be enacted but bizarrely we now find its upon us and causing absolute havoc amongst a group of people who are least able to cope - vindictive indeed.

What with soaring rent arrears, the cost of chasing those arrears, houses now standing empty, more being spent on B & B because the empty houses are "too big", councils and housing associations having to find staff to deal with the bedroom tax ... the whole bloody fiasco must be costing more than it saves ... but hey, it's not coming out of IDS's budget ... so it must be a success. www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancie ... 47.article ... and this goon thinks that it's necessary in order to keep interest rates low. You couldn't make it up !

What with soaring rent arrears, the cost of chasing those arrears, houses now standing empty, more being spent on B & B because the empty houses are "too big", councils and housing associations having to find staff to deal with the bedroom tax ... the whole bloody fiasco must be costing more than it saves ... but hey, it's not coming out of IDS's budget ... so it must be a success. www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancie ... 47.article ... and this goon thinks that it's necessary in order to keep interest rates low. You couldn't make it up !

TORIES - Putting the 'N' in CUTS

"Going to church makes you as much a Christian as standing in a garage makes you a mechanic..."

I do hope our resident tory nut-jobs take the opportunity to watch last night's Newsnight on iPlayer.

Reporting from Coventry, it presents real-world experiences, not the bull[is[/ihit rhetoric from IDS and his cronies, especially the crap coming from the mouth of the heartless harpy Harriet Baldwin MP - she obviously drew the DWP short straw

rlThe big lie of the bedroom taxrl

Some councils have only sufficient 1 or 2 bed properties to re-home 3% of those hit by the bedroom tax

There are some excellent quotes in that article, but the most pertinent one is this ...

[iA spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said


And there you have it, the basis of this whole tax on the poor, the unemployed and the under-employed, if you don't like it, if you can't afford to pay the tax, then either get a job, work more hours or rent from a private landlord instead of a council or housing association.

Even Thatcher wasn't this cruel.

The workhouse is the next logical step, in fact a DWP commissioned report even suggests such a solution for those who, through disability (mental or physical) may struggle to find suitable employment that would allow them to live independently. Board & lodgings in return for labour.

Arbeit macht frei

Nah, all these empty shops could be houses ... and never mind local preferences. www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... t-planning

Nah, all these empty shops could be houses ... and never mind local preferences. www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... t-planning

Are MPs still getting taxpayer assistance to buy secnd homes and homes that are not kept in public ownership? Are they allowed more than one bedroom flats?

Wigan and Leigh Housing are having to consider demolishing some 2/3 bedroom properties as people don't want them as the potential new tennants would be hit by the bedroom tax. Currently 14% of people hit by the bedroom tax are in rent arrears compared to 2% of those who are not affected by this ludicrous piece of legislation.

If arrears seem bad now, just wait until Universal Benefit (including Housing Benefits) is rolled out. Instead of housing benefit beind paid diretly to the landlord, it will be paid to the claimant on a monthly (in arrears) basis. Quite apart from landlords demanding that rents be paid in advance, what does the DWP seriously think will happen when claimants have gone a whole month without money and then suddenly find a large amount of moolah has appeared in their account at the end of the month? Rolling all benefits into a single payment may be a good way to encourage claimants to budget responsibly but there was a simple reason that HB was paid directly to the landlord - many claimants are simply incapable fo budgeting. The plan is typical of something dreamed up by a policy wonk or civil servant who has no experience in the area.

Evictions will increase rapidly, ever more landlords will refuse to accept "DSS" tenants, we'll be back to the cardboard cities of the 1980s. Government are well aware of the consequences, it beggars belief that they will simply plough ahead, ignoring all the warnings