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Am I missing something ?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Politics & Debate
A thread for if there's something in the news you don't quite get. Maybe a section of society's attitude to something, or something that 'is' that 'shouldn't'

We have some smart people here so they can flex their brains and provide the answers.

So, I was listening News Quiz Extra with the lovely Sandi Toksvig and they were talking about the new child care allowance of £1,200 or so and that stay-at-home parents won't get this money.

Well, why should they ? Why should the gov. pay you to look after your own children ? or am I missing something ?

I would like to say I also find it ridiculous that a couple earning £100k, 150K, £200k and more are eligible for this.

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think the problem is the discrepancy. It's possible that you're not able to go out to work until AFTER you're receiving this new child care allowance. In addition, there's the problem with it not being means tested. So people who earn many many money a household will get it even if they don't need it.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can't understand why a stay at home parent would need this money either. I can understand it if for example, they were a full time student. I also can't understand why a couple with a joint income of £300k "needs" this money either.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    News about the GCSE results said that not enough students were achieving. What the hell, last year they were saying too many were achieving and therefore must be 'too easy'
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin wrote: »
    I would like to say I also find it ridiculous that a couple earning £100k, 150K, £200k and more are eligible for this.
    Do you find it ridiculous that couples earning £100k can send their kids to state school too? Personally I think if you've put your money into the system, you should be entitled to the same benefits as anyone else. I think means testing things is a waste of money. Means testing already exists in the taxes you pay in the first place.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote: »
    Do you find it ridiculous that couples earning £100k can send their kids to state school too?.

    No. But then there's a big difference between £1200 and a year's school fees.

    Plus my thread is about things people may not 'get' about a story in the news. If you wish to discuss means testing, private education and taxes please feel free to start your own thread :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't understand why a few students getting rejected from all their unis is news. I will try to find it later; but there was one who got rejected and claimed she'd have to study in Romania. She wanted to do medicine and her A Levels were biology, geography and chemistry.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Melian wrote: »
    I don't understand why a few students getting rejected from all their unis is news. I will try to find it later; but there was one who got rejected and claimed she'd have to study in Romania. She wanted to do medicine and her A Levels were biology, geography and chemistry.

    There was a story about a guy who got loads of A*s but was rejected from Oxford. This story was run on A level results day, but neglected to mention that the kid had been rejected for his lack of extra curricular activities and other reasons. The article lead people to believe that he had been rejected after the results. It was a good egg on your face oxford uni story, but was made out as oxford rejects his results directly. People often dont realise how much spin is on these stories.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin wrote: »
    No. But then there's a big difference between £1200 and a year's school fees.

    Plus my thread is about things people may not 'get' about a story in the news. If you wish to discuss means testing, private education and taxes please feel free to start your own thread :)
    Sorry, I assumed that a thread saying what you don't get from the news would be an invitation for someone to explain it to you rather than just a celebration of not knowing things.

    It's also worth pointing out that starting a thread doesn't make you the boss of it. If you think someone's derailing the topic, then report it. But AFAIK, anything posted in the debate section is there for debate.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    G-Raffe wrote: »
    There was a story about a guy who got loads of A*s but was rejected from Oxford. This story was run on A level results day, but neglected to mention that the kid had been rejected for his lack of extra curricular activities and other reasons. The article lead people to believe that he had been rejected after the results. It was a good egg on your face oxford uni story, but was made out as oxford rejects his results directly. People often dont realise how much spin is on these stories.
    Personally I think this is a story. Judging people by extra-curricular activities is often favouring people by class by the back door (I don't know if it was in this case). People with comfortably off parents tend to have the time, money and contacts to do course-relevant activities. People from poorer backgrounds tend to have to get a job on a supermarket just to have enough money to socialize with their friends.

    But yeah, presumably most people who are rejected from Oxford get all As. They wouldn't be applying there otherwise.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote: »
    celebration of not knowing things.
    morrocan roll wrote: »
    if you think the site is dying.....go and spend an hour in "polotics"
    and meet some of the sad bastards in there ! then come back into this room and all appears to be well again.

    So true, is one not getting laid ? :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wow, you went back eleven years to try and make a point. Remind me who's supposedly not getting laid again.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote: »
    Personally I think this is a story. Judging people by extra-curricular activities is often favouring people by class by the back door (I don't know if it was in this case). People with comfortably off parents tend to have the time, money and contacts to do course-relevant activities. People from poorer backgrounds tend to have to get a job on a supermarket just to have enough money to socialize with their friends.

    But yeah, presumably most people who are rejected from Oxford get all As. They wouldn't be applying there otherwise.

    If only your thoughts had been the story, the main emphasis I saw was purely that Oxford must be really stupid to reject a really clever guy.
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    Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    I'm With Stupid wrote: »
    Wow, you went back eleven years to try and make a point. Remind me who's supposedly not getting laid again.
    That thread was brought back yesterday, it's not like he went archive-crawling. He may not even have noticed how old it is.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    G-Raffe wrote: »
    If only your thoughts had been the story, the main emphasis I saw was purely that Oxford must be really stupid to reject a really clever guy.

    There's also the interview and none of us know how that went.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Indrid Cold wrote: »
    That thread was brought back yesterday, it's not like he went archive-crawling

    So ner, ner, ner, ner-ner :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The stories about parents moaning that they've been asked to prove that their disabled adult child can't work. We all have to do that, regardless of what our disabilities are.
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