The State is not Your Friend

March 21, 2020 Longrider General News, General Rants, Political 8

So the government is to give us some of our money back in the wake of the hysteria that they and the media have conspired to create.

While this might be good news for the employed folk out there…

On Friday, the government announced it would pay 80% of salaries for staff who are kept on by their employer.

The Confederation of British Industry hailed the “landmark” pledge but unions raised concerns self-employed and freelancer workers had no protection.

That second bit is the killer. We, the army of self-employed have just been thrown under the bus. In my case, the DVSA has suspended tests for three months, so my work has just stopped. Sure, I have a small pension, but if that was enough, I wouldn’t still be working. Having killed my work overnight, the government’s response is pitiful:

However, there was not the same wages guarantee for the five million self-employed people in the UK. Instead, Mr Sunak increased benefits that many will have to fall back on.

Assuming that you have the strength to wade through the byzantine rules and hoops necessary, the end result is a fraction of the 80% being paid to employees.

Oh, but very generously, they are deferring our tax payments. How nice. I’ve been waiting for them to pay me the six and a half grand they owe me since January. If the situation was reversed, you can be damned sure they would not be waiting, they would be increasing my bill with fines and demands made with menaces.

Here we have an example of why government is not the answer to a problem – indeed, the government is the problem.

The state is not your friend.

8 Comments

  1. “I’ve been waiting for them to pay me the six and a half grand they owe me since January.”

    And with the civil service increasingly ‘working from home’, sadly you can expect that wait to get even longer… ?

      • The only way I’ve ever succeeded in getting money from HMRC in such circumstances is to commence legal action. Firstly in the form of a formal complaint, secondly in the form of a “Final Letter Before Action” and thirdly stating categorically that you are preparing a Writ of Mandamus against the head of HMRC.

        Suddenly, as if by magic, a cheque appeared plus interest.

        • My MP left a post with the information about what the government is doing to “help” us on his Farcebook page. I’ve just let him know precisely what I think of his help – along with telling him that they owe me money. As it’s there for all to see, we will see how he reacts.

  2. @LR

    I’m SE too and not happy. Tesco et al need delivery drivers, shelf stackers etc

    I place most blame on BBC/C4, Guardian Left media for ‘Spreading alarm and despondency’ which was a crime under WW2 emergency measures

    Al-Beeb should be shut down for causing Fear, Alarm and Distress – iirc crime under 1984 Public Order Act

    Supermarket today empty shelves: meat, veg, pasta, rice, beer, mixers etc but lots of fish

    My 80 next month mother was in tears today on phone, she’s petrified which is not good for her health

    Perspective
    Normal: In the UK there are 1,668 deaths per day
    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/vitalstatisticspopulationandhealthreferencetables

    Covid-19 +1, 10, 100 pd mostly ‘with’ not ‘by’ premature – a blib

    • I spent a year shelf stacking about ten years ago. I swore I’d never do it again. Likewise delivery driving. I’ve worked bloody hard to get where I am. It ain’t much, but it makes me happy and I’m productive and now the cunts have pulled the rug from under me. The media, the politicians all of them need to have their heads on spikes over this.

  4. Now is absolutely the right time to pull the rug from under Al-JaBeeba. The Govt. needs to suspend payment of the tv licence to help all those struggling with paying it due to the virus and then quietly kick it into the long grass never to be heared of again.

    Along with that they can do a bonfire of the quangos and stop giving money to all fake charities and instead give it to those in need.

    If a crisis should never go to waste then now is the absolute perfect time to kill all the money grabbing leaches that infest so much of our lives.

    There’s a lot of good that could come out of this mess but you and I know that they won’t seize the opportunity.

    On reflection I agree, all the media and all the politicians heads should be on spikes. Won’t happen though.

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