Best Of

"Police denied this arrest video existed - but it actually did

BBC London

Body-worn video of a woman's "degrading" arrest, which police falsely told a court did not exist, has been shared exclusively with the BBC. Nadine Buzzard-Quashie is claiming millions in damages from Northamptonshire Police and the Met over her treatment. Both forces told a court the use of force was lawful."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep2Vgo2MoV8

This goes back a long way - to the incident in 2021 - which is a very concerning aspect, and is very serious. The Chief Constable of Northants is on a sticky wicket.

A BBC report from late April, including video:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx21gl29qweo

I'm interested why this has resurfaced now. Is it perhaps a new programme or similar, or has the process moved on?

I am very much reminded of the case of Caroline Farrow I mentioned at the weekend.

Another way in which layabouts are subsidised by workers:

Water, phone and broadband companies are willing to give millions of people discounted deals on their bills.

Social tariffs - sometimes known as essential, or basic, tariffs - can reduce bills for people on various benefits. Generally, you only need to ask your supplier to get on one.

Importantly, they are not price promotions designed to attract customers, but lower bills for the same service for those who would otherwise struggle to pay.

Most people who have fallen behind on paying their bills are unaware this help is available, a major report has suggested.

These tariffs vary between suppliers and the lower cost of them is often covered by higher bills for everyone else.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyplpyj00o

Which, again, exposes the fallacy of the "universal credit isn't much, would you like to live on it ?" argument.

Receiving one benefit often acts as a gateway to receiving a multitude of other benefits and subsidies.

The “Gateway” is a massive social problem. Once you’re inside the gateway, you have no incentive to actually work unless it’s for a six-figure salary.

Sorry to say you are wrong. Gateway is as it says. There is no obligation to provide access to the benefit without an Income/Expenditure statement backed by evidence.

The problem is that for those inside the Gateway then providing an Income/Expenditure statement is easier than going to work and earning enough. The poverty trap is real, once receiving all these benefits actually working becomes counterproductive.

Just look at Free School Meals. Many schools have over a quarter of pupils eligible to them. To be fair there's multiple reasons why people can be eligible, but based on income the threshold is not UC, it is an income of less than £7,400 per annum.

How the hell can a quarter of families in many schools have an income of less than £7,400 per annum? That's less than 12 hours a week of work per family to hit that threshold at Minimum Wage.

But if someone is living on that, then actually starting a job and facing a nearly 100% tax rate on UC once past tax thresholds, as well as losing access to FSM and a plethora of other benefits like these becomes utterly unviable.

It is a trap people can't escape. Because the real tax rate becomes well over 100% if you a trapped inside that.

Another way in which layabouts are subsidised by workers:

Water, phone and broadband companies are willing to give millions of people discounted deals on their bills.

Social tariffs - sometimes known as essential, or basic, tariffs - can reduce bills for people on various benefits. Generally, you only need to ask your supplier to get on one.

Importantly, they are not price promotions designed to attract customers, but lower bills for the same service for those who would otherwise struggle to pay.

Most people who have fallen behind on paying their bills are unaware this help is available, a major report has suggested.

These tariffs vary between suppliers and the lower cost of them is often covered by higher bills for everyone else.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyplpyj00o

Which, again, exposes the fallacy of the "universal credit isn't much, would you like to live on it ?" argument.

Receiving one benefit often acts as a gateway to receiving a multitude of other benefits and subsidies.

The “Gateway” is a massive social problem. Once you’re inside the gateway, you have no incentive to actually work unless it’s for a six-figure salary.

Sorry to say you are wrong. Gateway is as it says. There is no obligation to provide access to the benefit without an Income/Expenditure statement backed by evidence.

That wasn’t my point.

My point is that being inside the ‘gateway’ unlocks so much subsidy that it’s almost impossible to get out of with a regular job.

So people get stuck on the inside.

Another way in which layabouts are subsidised by workers:

Water, phone and broadband companies are willing to give millions of people discounted deals on their bills.

Social tariffs - sometimes known as essential, or basic, tariffs - can reduce bills for people on various benefits. Generally, you only need to ask your supplier to get on one.

Importantly, they are not price promotions designed to attract customers, but lower bills for the same service for those who would otherwise struggle to pay.

Most people who have fallen behind on paying their bills are unaware this help is available, a major report has suggested.

These tariffs vary between suppliers and the lower cost of them is often covered by higher bills for everyone else.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyplpyj00o

Which, again, exposes the fallacy of the "universal credit isn't much, would you like to live on it ?" argument.

Receiving one benefit often acts as a gateway to receiving a multitude of other benefits and subsidies.

That’s not the full picture.

The social tariff gives you the basic package so if you’re on full fibre you move onto the 50 to 150 Mbps package rather the top tier packages of 900 to 1600 Mbps.

It’s useful if you’re 3 months into a 24 month package and you can downgrade without penalty.

50Mbps is more than nearly everyone needs - unless you are running several video conferences in the same house while the kids try to download the entire internet.

The upselling of faster and faster connections - which aren't actually used - is a great money spinner for the ISPs.

The number of times I’ve tried to convince customers that the higher tiers of speed are totally irrelevant to their actual internet usage is crazy. Any usage beyond 50Mbps is unusual for a family home, even with half a dozen people watching video simultaneously.

There's a phenomenon here that's similar to the one explored in the "Eat well for less" show.

Of course commercial businesses upsell. It's their duty to maximise profits. But it leads to consumers paying more for things they don't need/use/benefit from.

(There's a line I use when discussing industrial chemistry, that the purpose of a chemical factory is to make profits, not chemicals. No shame in that, but important to understand why they do what they do.)

So my question about social tariffs is how much they are subsidised, and how much are they like supermarket basics brands where you have to fill in a form to be allowed to buy them? I'm guessing a bit of both.

(Which reminds me, I need to do the haggle dance with my broadband provider. I'd much rather pay a consistent fair price and forget about it, but that's not allowed, it seems.)

Another way in which layabouts are subsidised by workers:

Water, phone and broadband companies are willing to give millions of people discounted deals on their bills.

Social tariffs - sometimes known as essential, or basic, tariffs - can reduce bills for people on various benefits. Generally, you only need to ask your supplier to get on one.

Importantly, they are not price promotions designed to attract customers, but lower bills for the same service for those who would otherwise struggle to pay.

Most people who have fallen behind on paying their bills are unaware this help is available, a major report has suggested.

These tariffs vary between suppliers and the lower cost of them is often covered by higher bills for everyone else.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyplpyj00o

Which, again, exposes the fallacy of the "universal credit isn't much, would you like to live on it ?" argument.

Receiving one benefit often acts as a gateway to receiving a multitude of other benefits and subsidies.

The “Gateway” is a massive social problem. Once you’re inside the gateway, you have no incentive to actually work unless it’s for a six-figure salary.

That's bollocks.

Another way in which layabouts are subsidised by workers:

Water, phone and broadband companies are willing to give millions of people discounted deals on their bills.

Social tariffs - sometimes known as essential, or basic, tariffs - can reduce bills for people on various benefits. Generally, you only need to ask your supplier to get on one.

Importantly, they are not price promotions designed to attract customers, but lower bills for the same service for those who would otherwise struggle to pay.

Most people who have fallen behind on paying their bills are unaware this help is available, a major report has suggested.

These tariffs vary between suppliers and the lower cost of them is often covered by higher bills for everyone else.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gyplpyj00o

Which, again, exposes the fallacy of the "universal credit isn't much, would you like to live on it ?" argument.

Receiving one benefit often acts as a gateway to receiving a multitude of other benefits and subsidies.

That’s not the full picture.

The social tariff gives you the basic package so if you’re on full fibre you move onto the 50 to 150 Mbps package rather the top tier packages of 900 to 1600 Mbps.

It’s useful if you’re 3 months into a 24 month package and you can downgrade without penalty.

50Mbps is more than nearly everyone needs - unless you are running several video conferences in the same house while the kids try to download the entire internet.

The upselling of faster and faster connections - which aren't actually used - is a great money spinner for the ISPs.

It's all about haggling, EE offered me 500 Mbps for £35 a month, and I managed to get 1.6 Gbps for £33.99.

Given that you won't use a tithe of that, a good deal for them :-)

Oh I do.

I WFH, I have two gamers, my parents are silver surfers, and I watch 99% of content in 4K.

Last time I checked there were 60 devices connected to our routers.

60 devices in a house? WTF.

I have five, my wife has four, and we have a printer. That’s 10.

6 iPhones, 4 Apple Watches, 5 iPads, 6 smart TVs, 2 sound systems, 4 Sky Q boxes, 4 Apple TV boxes, 2 cars, 2 smart fridges, 6 games consoles/handhelds, 6 laptops/desktops, 1 printer, 4 security cameras, 1 smart gates, 3 batteries/solar panels.

Those are the ones I can think of right now.