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Two government cuts of which I wholeheartedly approve

By on May 15, 2012 in Health and Beauty, Home and Family, The Big, Wide World

I read two stories in the paper today.  The government is, at long last, going to introduce means testing for Child Benefit and it is possible that thousands of children will be taken off the Special Needs register.

Apparently, 97% of families claim Child Benefit even when they have massive incomes and have no need of the extra money whatsoever.  This money is often considered to be pin money for the mother or is put straight into savings accounts which then go towards making those families even more privileged.

Ideally, families on high incomes should refrain from claiming this money because it is an immoral act.  In times of recession it is outrageous to give free money to people who can easily support their children without help from the government when that money should be channelled into organisations to help children from deprived or abusive situations.

Child Benefit should always have been means tested and this nonsense about a universal benefit is just woolly, liberal, vote-toadying wastefulness.

And now we come on to the Special Needs register.  I am delighted that we now live in an environment where children with learning and behavioural difficulties are flagged-up and helped accordingly.  The recognition and assistance for people with dyslexia, for example, has changed the lives and careers of many people, young and older.

But for a long time I have suspected that a small but growing proportion of children have been labelled as ‘special needs’ because they are not very good at something or are badly behaved.  It’s a win-win situation; the school gets paid and the parents can abdicate responsibility.

At Boy the Elder’s first school, his class had 50% of the children statemented as Special Needs. 50%.  In a middle class, affluent and relatively trouble-free area.  I have witnessed at first hand parents who have had  their children statemented and labelled simply because they are unable to cope with their behaviour and personalities.  Other families have had to walk across hot coals just to get a bit of reading or maths help for their child because they are falling behind but have no official diagnosis.

Boy the Younger has shocking handwriting and can be a right little bastard.  He has neither ADHD nor dysgraphia, both of which have been suggested to me as possible explanations for this.  He is left-handed, eccentric and both his father and I have shocking (if characterful) handwriting and, more importantly, I don’t give him enough help with it at home.  He attends a handwriting club at school which is really helping, but he does not have a ‘condition’.

My, and our doctor’s, explanation for BTY’s bad behaviour has more to do with four house moves in five years, the separation of his parents and a love-hate relationship with his older brother.  He is a deep thinker and has the intellectual but not emotional maturity to work out his feelings. I am a great believer in appropriate counselling and I think this will be of far more benefit and influence than an educational statement or regular gob-fulls of Ritalin.

I have said this before and I will continue to say it until someone stuffs my mouth with socks.  As a society we have become too reliant on the idea that someone else must always sort out our problems and take up the slack for our difficulties and failures.  We are regressing in our personal responsibility, our capacity to assess risk and our determination to stand on our own feet, stop moaning and get on with it.

If everyone gets help with their children when they don’t need it, it distracts our attention away from the ones who really need society’s help, either financially, emotionally or educationally.  So, much as it kind of hurts to say it, I fully support the government on these two measures and support their determination to bring us through this recession, with our help, so that we can build a sustainable foundation for the future.

Comments { 21 }

Everyday Etiquette and Manners: Cutlery (another occasional series begins)

By on May 15, 2012 in Culture, Food, Home and Family, The Big, Wide World

I was recently at a luncheon that was attended by several generations of people from different walks of life.  The restaurant was on the smart side, the food was delicious and unpretentious, and the service was effective and discreet.

However, the table manners of some of the guests, mainly the twenty-somethings, were genuinely shocking.  They appeared to have no idea how approach the table settings, how to hold their cutlery or when to wait or proceed with their food and drink.

The most important thing to know, before you even start talking about table manners, is that the host honours his guests by putting their needs above his own and the guest must show himself to be worthy of that courtesy.  Manners are there to accommodate and reassure, not to confound.

So in this first article in the series we shall talk about cutlery:

Forks on the left, knives and spoons on the right and the guest should work from the outside inwards, course by course.

If a fork is used without a knife, it is held in the right hand with the tines (prongs) pointing up.  Always hold it as near to the end of the handle as you can.  The fork should rest on the middle finger which is supported by the outer two fingers.

If a knife and fork are being used together, the fork should be held like a knife with the tines pointing downward.  It is acceptable nowadays to turn the fork over momentarily in order to scoop up food that has been pushed onto it by the knife.  In that case the food should be pushed onto the inner side of the fork, otherwise you might poke your companion on the left with your elbow.  Eating persistently with the tines of the fork turned upward is not acceptable.  The knife should be held as in the illustration and never held like a pen.

If you are eating with a spoon alone, it should be held in the right hand, just like a solo fork.

If a fork and spoon are used together, the fork should be used in the left hand with the tines pointing downward.  The spoon is the receptacle in this case and the fork as the guide.

Pausing and finishing eating:  It is correct to lay your cutlery down after each mouthful while you chew and swallow.  To indicate with your cutlery that you are merely pausing, the knife and fork (or fork and spoon) should be laid neatly in the twenty past eight position of the clock with the tines of the fork pointing down.  When you have finished, lay the knife and fork (or fork and spoon) neatly side by side, in the six-thirty or twenty-five past five position, with the tines of the fork pointing upward.  This indicates to both guests and waiting staff that you have finished.

 

With grateful thanks to Debrett’s 1992 edition of ‘Etiquette and Modern Manners’ ed. Elsie Burch Donald for their illustrations.

 

 

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The Market in Market Harborough has been saved!!

By on May 1, 2012 in The Big, Wide World

The Market Hall - saved to make it better than ever

I reported in this article in February that the Market Hall in Market Harborough was under threat of closure.  The council needed to raise money to refurbish the Council Offices and reduce costs and wanted to put a big retailer onto the site of the existing market, thereby banishing the market traders to an unsuitable, outdoor location in a car park.

I am delighted to report that at the council meeting held on Monday 30th April, the councillors overwhelmingly voted to keep the market hall (no opposition, 2 abstainers – or ‘chickens’ as I loudly called them) and to move forward co-operatively with the traders to refurbish and revitalise this marvellous facility.

Councillor Rook stated that the people of Market Harborough District had made their wishes clear and that it was a sign of a working democratic process that the council had listened to them.  Oh really. And I suppose it had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the council hadn’t performed effective or accurate economic modelling of the situation and were unable to attract the major retailer they had hoped for.  But pointing it out would be churlish of me – it is the outcome that matters.

The people of Market Harborough did make their wishes clear.  Numerous letters were written to councillors, radio stations, newspapers and MPs, a well-supported public march and demonstration were held and over 18,000 signatures were collected for a petition which was presented at the meeting.

Gentle Readers; this is indeed democracy in action.  When faced with a situation where councils and planners are riding roughshod over the needs and wants of a community, you have the power to stand up to them.  Backwatersman has recently been writing about apathy in politics and there is a rather good television campaign running at the moment which points out that everything is politics from your heating bills to the sausage on your plate.

Remember also the successful campaign run by GASP in Buckinghamshire who prevented a sports stadium being built on Green Belt land?  They succeeded because they stood up to the planners and they stood up to the council and they worried at them like terriers worrying a nest of rats.

I would like to extend my personal thanks to the market traders who put so much effort into this campaign and worked tirelessly on behalf of the weekday and Sunday traders in order that their livelihoods have been saved.  I would also like to thank the public and other organisations who gave such heartfelt and vigorous support

There will be changes and I welcome them.  The market must become more dynamic, exciting and professional and we must be prepared to conceive a plan which will make the facility more flexible and versatile.  Bring it on.

Ps.  The Wartime Housewife has a stall there every Sunday.  Do drop by and have a chat.

 

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Today is World Water Day

By on March 22, 2012 in The Big, Wide World

Which one would YOU be prepared to drink?

Water is the stuff of life. It gushes out of our taps and flushes in gallons down our lavatories. We wash our hands, our hair, our clothes with it and we drink it without a second thought and we moan like blazes if we’re ask to restrict our water consumption or cut back on watering the garden.

But when the only water available is dirty, dangerous and difficult to reach, everything changes. Everyday activities like cooking, cleaning, washing, and drinking suddenly become dangerous, even life-threatening.

Living without clean water and sanitation can have far reaching consequences, trapping families in a vicious cycle of disease and the ensuing problems of poverty and lack of access to education which impacts on the rest of thier lives.  And all of this can result from a sip of dirty water.

What’s worse is that not everyone who enters this dirty water cycle makes it out alive. Every day more than 4,000 children in the developing world die from water-borne diseases. That’s more children dying of dirty water than of AIDS and malaria combined.

It’s a shocking fact.  These children are dying from diseases that could be prevented… should be prevented.

What can be done?
March 22nd is World Water Day and the world has the chance to stop and remember the children and families who are still dying because of dirty water. We have the ability and the resources to do something about it.

The Turn on the Tap campaign (an initiative of the relief and development charity Samaritan’s Purse) is aiming to raise £22,000 to help thousands of children and families access clean water and escape the trap of water poverty.  The campaign operates in some of the world’s toughest places such South Sudan, Niger, Northern Uganda and Haiti providing emergency relief and long term development.

The solutions are not complex: a water filter installed in a home, a new well sealed with a water pump, a latrine block for the community.  Just £8 can save the life of a child by providing them with access to clean water through a water filter installed in the family home. To give a gift of clean water or find out what else you can do on World Water Day, go to www.turnonthetap.org.uk/world-water-day.

Do something great this World Water Day – give the gift of clean water to someone who needs it most.

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Smoking is not illegal 2 – the hypocrisy gathers pace

By on March 1, 2012 in The Big, Wide World

I wrote an article back in December 2010 complaining that, despite the fact that the smoking of cigarettes is not illegal, smokers are increasingly being treated like dirty criminals.  I will not cover those points again as you can read the initial article and draw your own conclusions.  However, I must draw your attention to what has happened today.

I went into Sainsbury’s this afternoon to buy a snack to shove into the gaping maw of the rapidly expiring Boy the Younger, and I went to the kiosk to pay for it.  All the barriers were down covering the shelves of cigarettes and everyone was in disarray.  The women serving were repeating the answer to the question “Is the kiosk closed?” over and over again.  No, it wasn’t closed.  No, they hadn’t sold out. No, there had not been a robbery.

As of today, shops are no longer allowed to display cigarettes in case the sight of rows of boringly packaged gaspers should instantly incite our immaculate and health conscious youth to shove them, ten at a time, into their cherry reds and light up.  There is also a move to insist that all packs should be uniformly grey or brown with just the name of the brand printed on them.

Smoking is not illegal.
Cigarettes are a legal product.
The makers of those cigarettes should have the right to display their legal merchandise in packets of their own design.
Putting them effectively ‘under the counter’ will make them more enticing than ever.

This and every government are a bunch of despicable, hypocritical liars when it comes to cigarettes as they are quite happy to take the millions of pounds of revenue from smokers. (Insert angry growling noise of your choice).  Makes me want to start smoking again.

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This little Housewife went to Market (and found that it might be closing)

By on February 20, 2012 in Slider, The Big, Wide World

In which the Wartime Housewife takes a Market Stall at Market Harborough’s indoor market despite the threat of closure.

Ever one to buck the trend, I have decided to take my merchandise from the virtual to the real world.  Every Sunday, Market Harborough has an Antique and Collectors market which I have mentioned many times on these pages.  It is a very pleasant place to go on a Sunday and has the added advantage of a nice cafe where one can enjoy tea and a bun or a sustaining and healthful Full English Breakfast.

This indoor market is also open on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays for general traders and it is a wonderful resource as a provider of many items which are not available in the rest of the town, and as a useful meeting place because of the cafe.  This means that many people often spend time there because it is indoors and even on a foul day, one can shop in a leisurely way and meet friends in comfort.  It is particularly convenient for the elderly as it is all on one level.

Last Sunday, I took a stall for The Wartime Housewife and it went down very well.  Not only was it a successful retail enterprise, but I took the opportunity to spread the message of living life in a less wasteful, less profligate and more respectful way and I was embraced warmly by the fair denizens of Market Harborough.  It was also a very jolly way to spend a Sunday.

All the items you see in the photos are available in my online shop – do click through and have a look.

I have booked several more stalls and hope to do a couple a month for as long as the market remains open.  Yes.  I am sorry to say that this wonderful market is under threat of closure because the council has been offered a huge wedge of cash from an, as yet, un-named major retailer who wants the spot.

Summat for the kiddies

Apparently, the market only generates £29,000 a year whereas the un-named retailer has offered £50,000.  The general public and the stallholders suggest that, if the council would allow the market to operate every day, they would raise their £50,000 and the market would be saved as a valuable and popular resource.

The current Market Hall was only built twenty years ago, but there was a market on that site for many, many years before that.  A market has been held in the town every Tuesday since 1221 – the clue is in the name; Market Harborough.  The council has suggested another site next to the present council offices, but it would be outdoors, in a draughty and exposed car park and this would be an unsuitable alternative for most of the market traders and they would be forced to close.  Certainly the Antique Market would have to finish.

A petition signed by 11,000 of the 20,000 inhabitants was got up but, as I was told by one of the market traders, the petition was ‘lost’.  Oh really.  The petition is now underway again and there is to be a Public Protest in the Square on March 17th at 11.30am when it is hoped that the residents of Market Harborough and beyond will show their support for this valuable and necessary local amenity.

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Happy Valentine’s Day

By on February 14, 2012 in Seasonal Fun, Slider, The Big, Wide World

Pass the bucket

Well here it is again.  Valentine’s Day.  The day on which Clinton Cards can justify its existence and young hopefuls shower their prospective squeezes with sentiments so far outside of their normal range of speech, taste and experience that it leaves one gasping for all the wrong reasons.

There are some beautiful, tasteful cards available, but many are unforgivably soppy or distastefully vulgar.  And let me tell you now, if anyone sent me a Valentine that had kittens or teddies on it (unless it was done with a hefty dollop of irony) I would be sick in a bucket – and then send them the card back in the bucket. With a pink ribbon round it.

Better still, make a card yourself, take the time and effort to make something special.  The Father of my Children, being an artist, used to paint the most beautiful cards (for all occasions) and I treasure them still because they were made just for me.

But never send a card anonymously.  Actually, never do anything anonymously.  What’s the point?  Give a clue, give a hint, but if you’re too timid to sign it, you don’t deserve them anyway.

better....

Neglectful husbands purchase overpriced chocolates and clichéd flowers in the hope of reviving their sex lives, and downtrodden wives will kill their husbands if they don’t get a card as a minimum requirement whilst hoping against hope that they might just get one from a secret admirer who will take them away from all this. If they did, their husband might actually get laid.

Where is the true romance?  Where are the love letters written on beautiful paper in elegant handwriting?  Where are the spontaneous flowers given on an un-named day in June because you know he will be delighted?  How many times do women buy beautiful flowers for men anyway?  And where are the chaste yet passionate moments at railway stations?

Gone to hell in a handcart.

I will share with you my favourite ever Valentine – apposite, direct – received in the 80s when I was very politically active.

Labour is Red
Tories are Blue
But I am a Liberal
Can I sleep with you?

The answer was, of course, …..

deep sigh

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Digital Television – again

By on February 6, 2012 in The Big, Wide World

My state of the art fat screen tv ... only joking of course. I do have a modern fat screen but it used to have a beautiful picture

I’m sorry to go on about this again, but is anyone else out there having difficulties with their digital signal?

Most of the time it’s ok, but there are periods where my television is completely unwatchable (and not just because of the parlous lack of decent programmes).  Several Sundays on the trot there has been so much interference – sound cutting out, pixilation, no signal at all – that I have had to abandon programmes and catch up with them another day on iPlayer.

Whilst iPlayer is a wonderful thing, I didn’t really want to watch the superb ‘Birdsong’ on my tiny computer screen, sitting in an office chair in The Bunker, when I could have been sprawled on the sofa with a packet of Minstrels and box of tissues, sobbing with the emotion of it all.

The interference is predominantly on BBC1 and Dave, although I frequently lose other channels altogether and have to retune at least a couple of times a month and sometimes every day, if we’re going through a bad patch.

Action had to be taken.  I rang the ‘digitaluk’ helpline on 08456 50 50 50.  I was greeted by a bored sounding girl who gave the impression that she had no technical knowledge and couldn’t give a toss either way.

I explained my problem to her and she asked a few cursory questions about my set top box, aerial etc.  She asked me where I lived and whether there was a transmission station near me.  I told her that I was opposite a railway line and she said that this was probably the problem.

“Are you telling me that people who live near railway lines are all going to have their television signal interrupted?” I asked.

“Probably,” she replied, “loads of places get interference from all sorts of things.”

“But when we had the analogue signal this never happened, I had a perfect picture all the time!” I exclaimed.

“Ah,” she answered knowingly “but there were people in places like The Hebrides and the Highlands of Scotland who got really bad signal all the time.  With digital they can get a great signal now.”

“So.” I said, my dander well and truly up “With analogue most people got a great signal, but because a few isolated communities couldn’t watch Eastenders, the rest of the country has to put up with intermittently crappy television.”

“Pretty much,” she said, clearly irritated my lack of wider social responsibility.  “Have you considered getting a satellite dish?”

“I don’t want a chuffing satellite dish, I want a handful of channels, really efficiently broadcast so that I can watch ‘Call for the Midwife’ on a Sunday evening without wanting to throw aspidistras at the bloody telly.”  I pay a hefty licence fee so that this can happen.  I do not wish to pay for another piece of unsightly hardware to adorn the outside of my house, joining the other two pieces of satellite hardware that have been abandoned by the previous tenants. Why has this all become so difficult?” I whimpered.

“It’s progress, it’s a much better system that will benefit many more people.”

“It hasn’t benefited me. Who can help me?”

“I really have no idea.”

Fabulous.

This is what the ‘digitaluk’ website has to say on the matter:

It is difficult to ascertain the precise cause without seeing individual equipment set-up or installation. It could well be that your aerial needs attention due to its condition, or how securely it is fixed to your building. Here are some other potential causes below:

  • Often the cause can be old/loose aerial plugs, which can also cause blocky pictures -a new aerial cable to the TV or set top box would solve this. It is probably worth checking this first
  • If you have an aerial amplifier you may be getting too much signal – if so this needs to be disconnected
  • If you have an aerial splitter serving a number of points in the home this may cause problems
  • Atmospheric interference (e.g. high pressure weather fronts,  high winds or snowy conditions) can also cause blocky pictures, as can electrical interference (e.g. a TV near to a fridge or a boiler)

Why did these things rarely affect my analogue reception?

Answers on a postcard, please.

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Organising your receipts: A Guide for the Self Employed

By on January 17, 2012 in The Big, Wide World

I have just finished getting my accounts up to date so that it’s not such a ghastly cope at the end of the financial year.  My accounts are pretty simple; I have no offshore investments, no racehorses, no property, no shares, no nuffink that represents the need for an accountant or that will get Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs remotely moist.

Basic book-keeping is not difficult for day to day income and expenditure.  The most important thing is that you have a structure that is easy for you to follow and you mustn’t ignore things or be sloppy about your record keeping.  HMRC will give you loads of help if you need it but they will also fine you to kingdom come if you don’t submit accurate records or pay your tax on time.  So don’t bury your head in the sand – it’s just not worth it.  Have files and keep your receipts.

I have loads of receipts and invoices and this is what I do with them.

I have typed up a form which reflects the self-employment tax codes and broken it down into the different types of expenses. The ‘Class’ and ‘Mark’ codes listed are pertinent to my accounts software which is Money Manager.   In my case, the expenses categories are:

Cost of Sales: stock, visuals, photographic etc

General Admin: stationery, postage, telephones, misc office expenditure, research materials, newspapers, office costs ( % of heat, light, rent etc).

Motor Expenses: petrol, parking & tolls, maintenance

Capital Allowances: equipment, furniture

Travel & Subsistence: subsistence, public transport, accommodation

Advertising/Promotions: Pr, Marketing, Advertising, client entertaining



Receipts:
I would advise you to keep all your receipts in a small, sturdy box  and put everything in there to start with, even if you’re not sure whether it’s claimable.

Diary:
Keep a careful diary log of everything you do.  This may sound obvious but when it comes to justifying your receipts, you need to know that, for example, you visited this client on the 24th and that’s why you have a legitimate petrol receipt for the same day.

Organising the receipts:
Sit down at a large, clear table where you can lay your stuff out.

Get 12 x A5 envelopes and label them with months and year of your financial year. Ie April 2011, May 2011 etc.

Also have to hand a calculator, sticky notes, a pen, paperclips and a stapler

Go through the receipts one by one and put them in 12 monthly piles starting in order from the first month of your financial year to the last (probably April to March) .

Now put each pile into its relevant marked envelope, so you don’t lose any or get them mixed up.

Now take out April’s receipts and sort them into piles as per the categories marked on your Expenses Sheet eg. all stationery together, all postage together etc.

Now check things like petrol off against your diary entries to make sure they match.  Discard any receipts that would lead the HMRC to think you’re taking the piss (unless you’ve been told otherwise).

Now add up all the petrol receipts, write down the amount on a sticky note with ‘petrol’ written on it plus the tax form code eg. 3.54, paperclip them all together, affix the sticky note to the top and write down the total on your expenses sheet.  Carry this on for all the other expense categories.

When you have finished, fold the receipts into the relevant expense sheet page and put them in their envelope ready for when you actually enter them on your system.  This way, you can always access your monthly expenditure even if you haven’t actually entered it into your accounts system yet (be it a large, leather-bound ledger smelling faintly of pipe smoke or an up to the minute pc package).

By using codes which reflect the Self Assessment Tax form, it should also then generate all the accurate totals you will need for the form without you having to tot them up yourself.  A good accounts package will then also give you Code Totals so that you can see at a glance how much you’re spending on petrol or stationery or whether your expenditure is too high in relation to your income and what your Profit/Loss is for any month and ultimately for the whole year.

If you have an accountant, this makes it much easier for them and a bit cheaper for you.

Calculating how much to charge for a home office:

If you have an office in your house, add up how many rooms you have in your whole house.  Let’s assume you have 8 rooms and a £50 a month gas bill.  Divide £50 by 8 which £6.25.  Therefore include £6.25 for the gas to heat your office.  Do this again for Council Tax, rent and electricity.

If you are in any doubt about anything, ring the HMRC for guidance or go onto the website http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed

It’s in their interest to help you get it right. They also run some super courses for self-employed people and these can be accessed via your local tax office.

Invoices In and Out

These will be entered separately because you will want to give them individual reference numbers in your accounts.  Simply keep two files in different colours for each type of invoice.  If you have a regular flow of these, have a table at the front on which you can list the invoices as they come in, noting the date received/sent and later the date paid/monies received.  This makes it much easier to keep track of money owed in either direction and will show up any glaring omissions at a glance.

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School Report

By on January 5, 2012 in Home and Family, The Big, Wide World

What do you do when your child comes home with a poor school report?

Boy the Elder has come to the end of his first term at his new grammar school and, although his performance in class is fine, he has huge issue with homework and half the time either doesn’t do it, does it badly or hands it in late, incurring a penalty on his marks.

He is incredibly happy at his new school and has slotted in like an easily slotted in thing.  He has made friends and is a popular member of the school.  He contributes well in lessons but just can’t seem to get on top of his homework.  The new school has been a massive culture shock after the lax attitude and discipline of his last school and I expected a settling in period, but his approach to homework is beginning to affect his progress and grades.

We had a long talk tonight about how he could structure his time, making sure that he does his socialising at break and lunch leaving him free to do his homework at the homework club he attends every afternoon.  I explained to him that I had left school with negligible qualifications and consequently no career because I had also not bothered at school and never did my homework.

I also recognise that he has launched in to this new environment in Year 9 when his friends have been in the system since at least Year 7, and possibly all their school lives, so they know what’s expected of them.

I don’t think it was unreasonable to point out how fortunate he was to be able to get into the school in the first place or to mention the amount of effort on my part that went into securing the place. I also reminded him of the work we both put in to home and private tutoring in order to pass the exam.  He has been given a wonderful and enviable opportunity and, knowing how bright and capable he is, it would break my heart if he didn’t grasp this opportunity with both hands.

I told him that I would support him in every way possible, that I would help him to structure his work and give him tips on how to research and present assignments, but ultimately it’s down to him.  I gave him a list of things that will help him to be better organised and showed him how to make best use of his homework diary.

It’s really hard at 14 to grasp that, at the end of this year, he will have to choose his GCSEs and that those choices will affect what he can study at A Level and hence how his adult life progresses for the foreseeable future.  I know you can do training when you’re older but, as I know myself, it is much, much harder when may have a job and a family to maintain while you’re doing it.

I want to empower him to take responsibility for this himself, without feeling browbeaten or that I think any less of him.  At the same time, the reality is that the expectations have gone up a gear, which is exactly why I fought so hard to get him in.

How would, or have, any of you tackled this issue?  Am I over-reacting? Second-hand experience gratefully received!

http://www.wartimehousewife.com/2010/09/helping-at-home

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