Whitey Grandad

We have a lot to learn from other countries.

If I steal £20 off you and then give you £2 back, is that a gift? There are some people who have never paid any tax. They are the ones on handouts.

Not if they pay far more in tax than they receive in 'benefits'. Call it 'child allowance' instead and you'll see what I mean.

Yes, that was (and still could be) the big problem. They were taking risks with effectively our money.

The government is only giving back a small portion of what it has taken away, so it's not a handout. That term is reserved for those who don't pay any tax at all.

Sumptuous football, the best that I have seen for a very long time. Chaplow was a vast improvement on Schneiderlin, tidied up well and kept the passes simple. There was only one team in it and we should really have had a couple more goals. Guly was a revelation, lovely touches on the ball and a strong physical presence. Looking forward to the next win!

Rewarding risk-taking was an important factor in causing the crisis, but by no means the only one. It's people like Fred Goodwin getting enormous rewards for totally wrecking RBS that I can't stand.

Well said, btf! It is wrong to call it child benefit. It used to be called child allowance and all parents were entitled to it, just the same as personal allowances, annual capital gains exemptions and all the others. It is all a part of the overall tax system balance and the anomalies that have been raised are so severe that these proposals are bound to be modified before 2013.

I sometimes think that I'm all that's left!

That seems to be a very selective list. How about India, China? New Zealand, Australia, Canada have come out almost unscathed. Closer to home, Germany has done ok.

Neatly put, Joensuu, but there is absolutely nothing 'fair' about a progressive tax system. And as for 'cutting the Budget', we would not need to cut so much if the government had not overspent.

Other countries have weathered the financial storms much better than we have.

But as the saying goes, 'if I were you I wouldn't start from here'.

When Shirley Porter pursued policies that were designed to encourage votes to support her she was made to pay the money back to Westminster Council. Do you think there is anty chance of Gordon Brown paying back the billions that he spent on securing Labour votes?

Oh, if only.

Your words are much too wise to have any appeal to the 'want-it-now' generation. Please don't include me in the 'WE', I have given up cautioning the youngsters about taking on debt.

What the bankers did was not illegal, although rewarding excessive risk-taking was one of the causes of the banking crisis, but not the only one. Personally, I would prefer to see a strong manufacturing and design sector in our economy. In my opinion the banks should stick to providing a source of working capital and funds for investment. The labour governments were perfectly happy to rely on the banking and services sector to provide them with a cash cow during the 'boom' years.

Succintly put. What were we before and what are we now?

There is a lot of truth in what you say. It's strange that some people will begrudge bankers getting large sums of money yet admire footballers and pop stars who only kick a ball or write a few notes. Don't even get me started on JK Rowling and others.

The minimum wage has caused the loss of a couple of jobs as far as my business is concerned. We use outworkers and we have to pay them 25% more than the minimum wage in order that someone who is only working at 80% of the average will still receive the minimum hourly rate. This despite the fact that these people works at their own pace at home, can be watching the television whilst they are doing it and are perfectly happy to be doing the work at their old rates. This has pushed up my costs and I have lost sales because of it.

On a related note (do you see what I did there?) this is rather weird:

No, always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

Calling them 'benefits' is perhaps the wrong terminology. How about rights?

There's nothing wrong with that. It is much simpler to give the same to everybody, and we are all equal, aren't we? As others have pointed out, 'we' get back far more from him in tax. Means-testing is iniquitous and discourages hard work and thrift.

How do you know that it hasn't? The level of benefits has a much greater effect than the minimum wage. Nobody receiving benefits is going to take a low-paid job if staying at home is more worthwhile.