bridge too far

artist

Don't you eat / drink / go to football matches / wear clothes then?

Sam (allardyce)

But, as the research paper I linked above explains, 'he' also got the tax allowance in the first place. I can tell you that I would have been pushed to buy clothes for my children when they were little if it were not for Family Allowance (as it was then called). My children's father didn't spend it all in the pub and he was well paid. I didn't work (mothers tended not to in those days) and he just didn't give me enough for the children. So I relied on FA for the necessities for them. And yes, dear reader - I left him

Although this research is out of date, it does throw an interesting light on Child Benefits. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp98/rp98-079.pdf Introduced in 1946 and is now reckoned to be worth, in real terms, less than it was in 1979.

And most GPs don't want control of their budgets either because, they say, they have neither the time nor the expertise to manage them. A great deal of the stuff used by the NHS is off national contracts which, using economies of scale, deliver HUGE savings. Devolve procurement budgets to local level and all that is lost. Still, more profit for the suppliers no doubt.

I'm no defender of any faith, but I think some less well-off Catholic families might have an issue with that. And, in some ways, large families benefit all of us in the future, when we need young working people to pay for our state pensions and healthcare.

They were certainly around in the 50s, although only for the second and subsequent child. I don't know when they came into force for the first child - I think it must have been in the 70s at the earliest. I don't remember getting child benefit for my first child. I also remember, however, that it counted as part of your taxable income or at least figured in the calculation for your tax code. I don't know if that's still the case. Also, way back then, the main tax payer got a tax free allowance dependent on the number of children in the family.

I think it's probably because they're mightily fed up with us shouting loudly in pidgin English when they speak their own language.

In any event, surely, if someone 'created' AIDS, then they'd know how to cure it? And make a pretty mint too, I might add.

I've just heard that it's sold out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11461259

This will sound like an obituary It seems to me he's led an incredibly interesting life and has a wealth of experiences to draw upon and this has made him great company on here.

I always thought that StL and Ponty were the two grown-up mods on this forum. They'll be missed, I'm sure

(in) fract

dame (margot fonteyn)

tom

can

So you're saying your better half is a dog?

poopey

Lots and lots of water. Because alcohol causes dehydration and your brain shrinks - hence the headaches. And a fry-up

circuitous

magic (roundabout)

I thought it was so they could lie closer to their blokes' private parts.

banned