OPINION – LEO MCKINSTRY: What number of extra tales of the taxpayer being swindled should we learn?
Leo McKinstry, left, is disgusted by the shameless behaviour of the Benstocks… but they don’t seem to be alone (Picture: Getty / Specific)
The pressing want for welfare reform was once more illustrated this week by the sickening case of Steve and Kim Benstock, who swindled £630,000 by fraudulently claiming advantages and dodging taxes. Steve is now serving 5 years in jail, however Kim was solely handed a suspended sentence. Collectively, this greedy pair confirmed how susceptible the creaking system is to abuse. But there’s little hope of actual change from the current Authorities, given Labour’s sentimental attachment to advantages.
For a lot of MPs , social safety funds are an emblem of socialist concern, the bigger the higher, whereas the swelling military of claimants may very well be described because the celebration’s core vote. Sir Keir Starmer fled the battlefield on the first signal of backbench resistance to restrictions on claims. He has been in a headlong retreat ever since. Even when he goes, there isn’t any signal that his successor shall be any harder.
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- These 11 phrases will hang-out Labour for years to come back
Angela Rayner sees herself because the keeper of the sacred flame of socialism, Wes Streeting prefers daring speak to significant motion, and Andy Burnham is only a windsock – swinging within the path of the prevailing breeze. And which means extra handouts. The entire racket is morally indefensible and financially unsustainable.
As we learnt this week from the newest tranche of Peter Mandelson, the present Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden is more and more exasperated along with his colleagues. “Each assembly I’ve is: ‘who can we tax so as to pay advantages to others.”
One century since legend opened the door on a path of wreckage
Harold Larwood left a path of wreckage behind his bowling (Picture: Getty)
Yesterday noticed the revered Lord’s cricket floor host its one hundred and fiftieth Take a look at, an incredible milestone for one of many world’s finest recognized stadiums. Additionally it is precisely a century for the reason that legendary quick bowler Harold Larwood made his Take a look at debut at Lord’s, enjoying towards Australia in 1926.
For the subsequent seven years, he captivated crowds and terrified batsmen along with his lightning pace delivered with a classical flowing motion. On the White Metropolis floor, he was timed with primitive digicam know-how at over 100mph, a report by no means attained by every other fast bowler.
What made his tempo all of the extra exceptional was his brief stature and slight body, however earlier than he turned an expert cricketer he had been a miner within the Nottinghamshire coalfield, a job which had given him great higher physique power.
A modest, self- effacing man and the son of a Methodist teetotaller, he left a path of wreckage throughout the cricket world along with his unplayable deliveries, most notoriously throughout the Bodyline tour of 1932/33 when, on his captain’s directions, he intentionally bowled brief on the batsmen. Amid the explosive controversy, he refused to apologise.
The value he paid for his integrity was the top of his England profession. Paradoxically he emigrated to Australia after the battle and lived there fortunately along with his household till his loss of life in 1995.
Really sickening statistic
New figures simply out present that the NHS is dropping the equal 80,000 workers to illness absence yearly at a value of £4.6billion. The ghost military of absentees can be sufficient to run 80 hospitals. I assumed the well being service was meant to make us higher.
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