Yeah me too and it really annoyed me which in turn made me feel ungenerous. I think the perception of fairness is a really important driver in politics that explains a lot of contrary positions that … (View Post)

I agree that it was badly handled but if you're going to try and rebuild trust in the benefits system then it needs to be spread evenly regardless of how much it raises. People who don't need benefit… (View Post)

There's also fairness from the other end though. One of the consequences of Blair era welfare reforms was that a lot of objectively well off people started getting benefits. Winter Fuel Allowance and… (View Post)

Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike. (View Post)

One of my favourite political satires is a novel called 'The Right Honourable Chimpanzee' by Georgi Markov (of poison umbrella fame). The Prime Minister is kidnapped and replaced my a talking Chimp w… (View Post)