Colin

As a director of a 'medium manufacturing company' you are probably not at the filthy stinking rich end of the spectrum. However to come on a public forum indicating that you earn £7-£8K a month with a 5 figure christmas bonus and do not call yourself particularly wealthy shows that you are naive, out of touch, or both. I don't begrudge you the money. You probably earn it and are in an honest endeavor and, let's face it, £7.5K a month isn't a huge amount to live on in Teddington or Kensington. However I hope that most of your manufacturing is for export because there is a total sh1tstorm brewing here in the UK.

I think there are two issues here. Yes people lose their 'own' houses through all sorts of reasons - and, I think out of all the cases on the Panorama program she deserved particular sympathy, BUT; For people who have lost their house or maybe never had one, In the worlds 5th largest economy Is it right that people are treated in the way we saw on the program?

I think you have a valid point there. I am surprised that the policy has not come under scrutiny by intellectuals though. Or are they ALL owned as well?

Globalisation has caused mass unemployment and collapsing wages for the vast number of workers in the West. Why is protectionism still so taboo in the face of our own destruction?

This was not what happened. The council disputed their claim for 'paperwork' reasons. A magistrate friend is sick of seeing people in his court over CT or HB arears due to the council not recognizing e-statements and other forms of paperwork. Their decision is completely arbitrary. The bus driver had a 'normal' job but couldn't afford a £1200 deposit if they could find a STL that didn't quote No Children, No Pets No DSS.

Are you talking about the cheating MPs, the banksters looking forward to another 10£Billion round of bonuses, the Jimmy Carrs and Googles....... or the bus driver (yes, maybe slightly feckless or gullable) in a NMW job caught in the Kafkaesque hell of modern Britain. Yes, the latter, I thought so. Just like I said - you people get the country you deserve. Meanwhile the elites have you tearing at each other as you sink into serfdom. ENJOY!

Have you done a minimum wage job since 7 million people turned up and no houses have been built? Ie. The last 10 years.

I am sure that one day the lady didn't know she had breast cancer and the next day she did. People like you get the country they deserve.

It's very difficult to avoid eating expensive take-out food if you have no cooking facilities. What you need to ask is how come, 40 years ago when the country was a lot poorer, a bus driver could house, clothe and feed his family and in 2012 he has to rely on the state to do this. Perhaps you could do with a stint on a minimum wage job to learn something about modern day England before judging other people.

She really is up herself!

No. This is how all pubs are except for central London and maybe one or two in other large cities. Are the Knotting Hill or Camden set so cut off that they are surprised at how dead the country is? (I guess confusing the toilet that is Reading as 'outer London answers that question!) The only hope for England is to build a wall round the M25, declare UDI and leave the EU. It's our only hope.

I know it is a lot of money to pull out in advance but I thought that if a bus doesn't turn up or turns up later than a certain number of minutes then the passenger can go by taxi and the bus company has to pay for it. At least this was the case when I needed the bus regularly twenty years ago. Same for trains as well - although they will give you a voucher to give the taxi there and then.

Your being annoyed at that observation annoys me.

That was my impression. She owns it all, supposedly lives in Monaco and so they don't pay tax.

Because the upper middle classes and elites don't have anything to do with Coal Miners or Steel Workers whereas they do fly the Atlantic either business or first-class.

If I were the smiley bearded one I would have dumped the West Coast contract and sold all the Pendalinos to the third world.

Yes, the chattering classes (who do everything on mass including shopping and skiing) moved to GAP from NEXT around the late nineties and then from GAP to BODEN around the mid to late noughties. Their little kids dress in 'mini Boden' and when they get a bit older they yammer for 'SuperDry' (or StuporDry?) and such like. I should know cause my sister is a GP and so since the very generous GP contract she has done extremely well!

People will nick anything these days - must be the copper wire they're after.

You can buy a 5 bed house for £240k 5 minutes from the station at MK or Wolverton and be in Euston in 30-45 minutes.

All over the world I think we have a choice between; a: Revolution and then medievalist order b: Citizens wage Marx himself (not the followers) was absolutely spot on. It's all there in Das Capital.

We're already in one. The reason that so many people have not noticed is because they are stupendously incompetent. Police Heros to the Rescue!

I was in Oxford St last Friday at 6ish. It was absolutely rammed. I noticed that most people with bags were foreign (or didn't speak English) and I observed a couple of people with carrier bags from designer type shops speaking Russian. (Yes I can tell the difference!) What surprised me no end was the rammed pubs just off Oxford St. These were mainly English accents and voices in here (Still all different ethnic backgrounds however which suits me fine!). I was in the Duke of Pork guzzling my jobseekers and at £5.10 a pint I had to go to the Indian next door where the Kingfisher was cheaper! WTF! Restaurants are now cheaper than pubs to drink in!

No, they are definitely not in demand.

I used to fly a lot for work. A real pain. My workplace was Feltham and once the police forced the cabs to take me they would take me from Heathrow in a total rage! Some of them on two wheels and hitting kerbs etc. This was because the airport would force them to wait 3-5 hours just for 1 pick up. One time I had a flight from Luton to 'dam on easyjet - flight was 6-15 - I turned up at the airport at 5-15am and was stuck in a traffic jam (Yes at 5 in the morning!). I got to the terminal at 5-46 and easyjet wouldn't let me through despite the fact I had no luggage. I ended up going eurotunnel. The last time I actually enjoyed flying was the couple of months after 11/9 - Nice quiet airports and flights. One time I was the only person an a BA 767 to Frankfurt - the crew even dropped me off at the hotel because they were staying in the same one! Now I would not fly for any money. I catch the ferry to Europe - civilised, friendly staff. Nice full english breakfast on the way. I can even take all my food and the dogs.

I was a senior IT consultant (Networks & VOIP). I haven't worked for a year - but have adjusted and am much happier away from the sociopaths in the workplace. I make do with Ebay and affiliate web marketing. I smile whenever I hear about meltdowns in Gov or large enterprises. In my last role I was the only technical person and yet we had a program manager, 5 project managers and 3 project support staff.