Ben Reeve Lewis Friday Newsround #206

[Ben Reeve Lewis wonders who the criminals are …...]

Having spent every day with our Cocker Spaniel nutcase from 2 months old to 1 year we decided this week that we needed to start leaving him with other people, basically so we can have a social life again.

But he gets what dog whisperers call ‘Separation anxiety’ when we walk into a shop. Starts howling and generally looking distressed.

Today we left him with Jane, an able and capable dog walker and boarder. As we walked away we felt like the cruellest people on earth, abandoning their poor little mite like heartless blood drinking lizards.

Forget Jihadi John, forget Heinrich Himmler…..we abandoned our dog to a…………….stranger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20 minutes later we get a text from Jane, saying he’s totally chilled and waiting for breakfast.

Shame turns to outrage. Ungrateful little bleeder. Just so long as someone has food in their hand we become yesterday’s newspapers. Wait till I get you ‘ome young fella me lad.

Andy Burham’s Shame

And we aren’t the only ones feeling shame this week. The Independent on Sunday poured a bucket-load of cold water on Labour leader hopeful Andy Burnham in revealing that despite owning a flat a short walk from the House of Commons he has been claiming expenses of £17,000 per year for another flat close to the one he owns in Kennington which he also rents out.

Burnham’s excuse is the same tired, hoary old nonsense that every politician caught with his hand in the till trots out at times like this:

“Mr Burnham was forced into this arrangement by a change in the rules. He has received no public subsidy in respect of his flat and the rent he receives only covers his costs. If parliament changed the rules, he would return to his own flat. Any suggestion that he has made money with the help of the public purse is utterly false.”

Basically ‘I did nothing wrong, it’s the rules wot made me do it guvnor’.

Well, you ain’t getting my vote mister.

This topsy turvy world

Politicians fiddling expenses, global corporations not paying tax, Gary Barlow keeping his Victoria Cross or whatever it is even though he has been exploiting tax loopholes, Jeffery Archer goes to Prison for perjury and hanging out with hookers yet still keeps his place in the Lords and all the while Duncan-Smith et al are demonising people on benefits, announcing benefit capping a success I the same week that it is revealed that evictions are at an all time high

Abstraction of utility supplies is massive and widespread but few get prosecuted and yet pre-pay meters get foisted onto people who can’t afford the huge bills made even more huge by the theft of supply that the energy companies don’t chase..

Meanwhile 6 Millionaire FIFA bosses get arrested for bribery and corruption stretching back 20 years and estimated at around $100 million.

Sometimes I wonder who the real criminals are. In fact, strike that…..I know who the real criminals are and its not people at the bottom of the heap shoplifting in Lidls so they can eat.

IDS and eviction statistics

Back to the IDS story, 24 Dash informed us this week of statistics from the Ministry of Justice regarding evictions:

“There were 31,442 orders for possession, 20,683 warrants of possession and 11,307 repossessions (evictions) by county court bailiffs in January to March 2015. Compared to the same period in 2014, the number of orders issued has decreased by 6%. Warrants and repossessions have both increased by 1% and 8% respectively”.

For his part IDS proudly announced:

“By putting an end to runaway benefit claims, and introducing a system which guarantees you will always be better off in work, thousands of people who have been affected by the cap are gaining the financial security and esteem that comes with a job and a pay packet.”

As my daughter puts in her texts PMSL……couldn’t have put it better myself darling.

Between the lines on gov’t housing plans

At the time of writing, I have yet to hear Cameron’s opening of Parliament speech but much is already known.

Giles Peaker over at Nearly Legal cottoned on to the between-the-lines announcements for housing floated out by the PM the week before in his rants about immigration.

Look out for across the board, mandatory licensing of all landlords (didn’t see that one coming did you?………..neither did I) and conditional tenancies that are to be invalidated if the person turns out to be a despicable alien, smelling of foreign food.

Also bizarrely the roll out of what government calls “The right to rent scheme” but every one in the real world refers to as “Landlords as immigration inspectors” that has been piloted in the West Midlands for the last 6 months.

As Giles points out they haven’t even evaluated the results of the pilot but are so keen to implement it that they are dismissing the very notion of looking at the results as unnecessary frippery.

It could have been a disaster, but government don’t care, you are all getting it imposed on you anyway, so good luck with it. [NB to find out more about right to rent, click here, Ed]

The rolling out of the right to buy for housing associations is also a dot on the cards but given what many experts are saying about this he may well find legal blocks to it, particularly when it comes to housing associations who are charities.

I’ve written about this before and it is an offence for trustees to sell off assets at less than going price.

What made me smile this week

A quote from the late, great BB King who started out in Gospel and then became the Blues legend.:

“I noticed that when I did gospel I used to get praise but when I did blues I got money and beer. So that was my motivation”

A man after my own heart.

Also the great lyrics of one of his many songs about cheating women:

“The iceman came this morning, but he didn’t leave no ice,
The postman came yesterday and he didn’t have to knock twice”

Watch this clip on Youtube. Nearly 90 years old. Kicked myself for never having seen him live.

Way to go big fella