NaPoWriMo Day 10 - Benefits

In Today's Issue

NaPoWriMo Day 10 - Benefits
A Benefit Prayer
Social Services
That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
Random Joke of the Day
Funny Fobia
The Thoughts of Chairman Anyhow
Finish with a Song

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating

 poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

Maureen Thorson, a poet and publisher of Big Game Books announced the project March 17, 2003 as an 

online project on her blog. She invited other poets with blogs to join her in the project and listed

the participating poets. Thorson has continued to run the project each year on her blog with more 

poets participating as the word has spread about the project.

If you want more information the please visit the site :-

http://www.napowrimo.net

The first time since the

Second world war

We have Food banks

To feed the poor

One of the richest

Countries is what we are

Who’s on the gravy train

The buffet bar

The rich learn how

To avoid their tax

While social services

Face their axe

No social conscience

No care for all

Take and take

The Greed cabal

People dying of

Hunger and neglect

The poor and old

Being stripped of respect

Coz we only love

Our reality stars

They divert and inspire

Our self-harm scars

While the piggies

Eat from their trough

And rule us for our

Caps to doff

But we must rise

And overcome

To have our bread

And eat our crumb

Coz remember this

For the grace of God

It is you they will spit on

In the benefits squad

Benefit Facts

The welfare state is a big part of British family life, with 20.3 million families receiving some kind of benefit (64% of all families), about 8.7 million of them pensioners. For 9.6 million families, benefits make up more than half of their income (30% of all families), around 5.3 million of them pensioners. The number of families receiving benefits will be between 1 and 2 million fewer now because of changes to child tax credits that mean some working families who previously got a small amount now get nothing.

For 2011-12 it is estimated that 0.8%, or £1.2bn, of total benefit expenditure was overpaid as a result of fraud. This is far lower than the figures widely believed by the public.

According to figures published by the Treasury in 2016, the tax "gap" for 2013/2014 stood at £34bn, or 6.4 per cent. This is the shortfall between what is estimated by HMRC to be due in tax and what is actually collected.

3,600 people work in the DWP investigating abuses of the benefit system, while 700 work in the two units at HMRC that deal with the richest taxpayers.

1. 
   
2. UK flush with playing card forgeries following tax
3. Although playing cards were taxed as early as the 16th century, the English Government decided to dramatically raise taxes on playing card and dice in 1710. This resulted in a significant number of counterfeits produced to avoid the tax, including four fake Queen playing cards per deck. Surprisingly this tax was not removed until 1960.

Random Joke of the Day

I once Googled, 'How to commit murder and get away with it'. The first result was, 'Don't Google how to commit murder and get away with it'.

FUNNY FOBIA - Peniaphobia is the fear of poverty

The Thoughts of Chairman Anyhow ( Now on Amazon ) 
 Benefit - an advantage or profit gained from something.

"Benefits"... when did social security become a 'benefit'? We as UK citizens pay a 
percentage of our pay as 'National  Insurance'. 
There is a clue in the name here...Insurance.

I have car insurance, if my car is broken into or stolen, I don't consider the payment metered out by my insurance company as a 'benefit'. I don't think any of us would doff our hats and bow our heads in thanks for a service we have paid for, after all, how many time is your driving life have you claimed vs the amount you have paid.

If my house is burgled, I expect my insurance to replace my property 
I don't expect it to demonise me for daring to claim it. 

So why does the media make out that everyone on benefits is scrounging scum? TV shows are poking fun and deriding the poor and ill... Poverty Porn. 

Where does this ethos come from? Where do YOU think it comes from?

Remember the majority of benefit claimants are pensioners, who have worked all their lives, also note that the Government have raised the retirement age. What do YOU think this shows?

When are we going to get TV shows focussing on Tax avoiders? When will we demonise them?

As the poem says, there for the grace of God walk you, maybe one day you may need your 'insurance.'

Finish with a Song - This is Phil Collins with Another Day in Paradise