Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "government"

Friday the 13th and my internet went on the blink, don’t you just hate that? I do. In the end I had to delete my software before reinstalling. It didn’t go smoothly though. After searching for the disk I had to download it with another computer but it wouldn’t install. Each time I tried it would just hang there doing nothing. In the end, after another more fruitful search, I got it back up. What caused the problem in the first place I will never know but reinstalling seems to have fixed it for now.
It’s been a wasted week as I have done nothing more than read a book, which I still have to write a review for. Scarecrow by Darren G. Burton kept me glue for several days. I also went to the interview at the jobcentre, I don’t sing on for over a week. I got the letter today telling me how much I’m entitled to; of course they are taking money off till December because of Tax Credit rollover. Though the rollover is good, it comes in a lump sum and never seems to go far enough. This leaves a few very tight weeks ahead but as always we’ll get through it. As usual the government gives and then it finds a way to take it back, at least from those that need it the most. Or am I being unfair?

I have had a summer cold this week sapping my energy. Nothing worse. It hasn’t stopped me from the daily job hunt with little in the way of success. I expect that when I head to the jobcentre on Monday to get more than the normal hassle after handing in my complaint, not much I can do though. And things look like they are going to get even tougher for those of us struggling to find work with the government announcing more measures to punish those who are deemed not to be doing enough to look for work. They said that people could face up to three years ban from receiving unemployment benefits. Who makes the decision on who is not trying hard enough? A jury? No. A judge even? No. An advisor that is supposed to help the unemployed, that is who. At the same time they will now be able to force you onto training courses with the threat that you will get sanctioned if you don’t take the course. Now if you have never been on a government training scheme then you wouldn’t know how bad most of them are. They are only training in name and then where are all the schemes going to come from? With the expected rise in unemployment and government cuts, they must be dreaming that they will hide the figures as they did in Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister. It reminds me of the Disney song, “The Circle Of Life,” hehehe.
Looking on more enjoyable things I have managed to get on with editing some more of my new story Banshee 2. I have also added some more to it. It seemed to me to be missing Susie McLean in the early part of the story. She is a reporter for the Standard in my tale and plays more of a role later in the story but was needing more of a presence earlier, which I have now done. Though I will need to build on what I have this weekend. I have plenty of time to edit and improve on the story with no job to fund publishing it. Let’s hope that changes soon.

I had an interview for a job yesterday. It meant a trip up to Glasgow so the wife went as well. Unfortunately I don’t think I got the job, the interview went to quickly. To add to the woes I got another rejection letter for another job today, the reason given is my age, apparently I’m too old at forty three. On the ad for the job it said open to all ages yet then they send a letter saying that it is only open to 16-19 year olds, why not just say this. Well that would be the new laws on ageism but isn’t rejecting me because of my age the same thing. Aren’t I able to do the job as good as a younger person? Well it seems not.
The government has also announced that it will be looking at hire private firms to help catch benefit cheats. This sends a shiver down my spine as I can see it now. They will be paid for every person they catch, so it doesn’t take much for people to be falsely accused. Before long you will have a back log of appeals leaving many struggling families hitting a new rock bottom. It is hard enough on benefits as it is and with an advisor like the one I have you’d be permanently on the banned list. Yes there are a lot of people fiddling the system, but to hire private firms as they suggest is dangerous as it will create a larger divide within our society. Of course this is what we expect from a Tory government, we only wonder where the Liberal’s voice has disappeared to.
I’m still not completed editing the new story though I have been working on it most of the week. It seems the more I work on it the slower I seem to get, and I really have to push myself. This has not been that easy with getting the phone call Wednesday night asking me to the interview on Thursday. Wednesday night was trying to find out what I could of the firm, as well as find out what I had applied for. In the end there was little info from the company’s website and I couldn’t find out exactly what the job was but I had a choice of three that it could be. Not the best way to go for a job interview. In the end I did my best and that is all you can ask from someone.
And finally my little lemon tree still struggles on.

There has been a lot on the news recently about a glitch with the computers at the tax office here in the UK. Well it seems to have struck me. This week I noticed my wages were short. On looking closely at my wage slip it was soon apparent that I had been overtaxed by £30. Not a small amount when your on the minimal pay bracket I can assure you. Well as you can imagine I was on the phone to the tax office as soon as I got home or rather I had Magz doing it as I don’t like talking to strangers. Well the short of it is that I was right but it will take a few weeks to sort out. Not what I wanted to hear as it will mean some belt tightening when the belt is already cutting off the blood to my feet. I just hope that it doesn’t take too long to sort out. Of course when it is I can expect to get the overpaid amount back though that is likely to take even longer to get. That is after all how these things usual go.
It does make you wonder though about how this can still be happening after it being all over the news. You would have thought that someone would have been put in charge of fixing the problem and making sure it didn’t happen again. That though would be asking a lot from the government. They aren’t known for the speed of correcting troubles of this nature are they? No before they do that they will need to spend a small fortune to investigate how the error occurred in the first place. Then they will spend more in finding how to fix it and even more on the solution. Doesn’t it just warm the heart thinking about it, hehehe?

Got a call about a job this week while I was at the Work Placement in Irvine. Calum took the number down but the place was closed by the time I got home. I phoned promptly the next morning from the Placement but they seemed clueless to what I was talking about but said they would call me back. Of course that phone call never happened so it would seem the Government's slavery programme has cost me a potential job. I am not happy about it though there is little I can do now.
The scheme itself is going well other than the fact that I have been ill all week. An end of summer cold has gripped me. It has left me crabby and very tired and seems to not wish to break. I thought I was turning the corner with it the other day but yesterday and today has assured me that it still has the better of me. I hate being ill and I really dislike that yucky feeling that comes with the common cold. I will be glad when I can finally shake it.
My garden suffered more vandalism this week. One of my cherry trees being the victim this time. Just the one branch was snapped off. I would have thought it wild life had it not been for the fact that the branch was pushed under the hedge as if to hide it which would suggest kids looking for free fruit and feeling a certain guilt for the damage they caused. At least that is how I see it though I doubt I will ever truly know how the damage occurred. Sadly it hasn't been a great year in the garden this year. Really poor weather has caused much of what was planted to fade into nothing. Though I did get some good tatties last month as well as some juicy blueberries this week. So I will be looking forwards to the pie Magz will make from them.