Oh no it isn't

Well actually it is panto time in Harberton again. Everyone is always surprised we have our Panto in February there must be a reason but it is lost in the mists of time. As usual I am surprised at the talent on hand in our small community. Of special note this year are Null & Void our comedy duo played by Charlie and Trigger. Comedy inside a panto is difficult lets face it as the whole thing has potential comic potential so to be the deliberate comics is hard. However their timing is excellent Charlie's trumpet playing only matched by Triggers incompetence on the triangle (that is deliberate in the Les Dawson  mould isn't it Trigg?). Of course our director and Nigel who although a seasoned performer stepped in only during January when we mislaid our Santa, who lets face it tends to be a central character in a play called Santa In Space!!

Unemployment comes to and end tomorrow with the start of my new job, hurrah with thanks to Helen for pointing me in the direction of the Kids Cooking Company. Although being on benefit has not been great the experience has shed a new light on all these benefit cheat stories the Daily Mail loves to publish.The system could really do with an overhaul the most interesting thing i found out was that in testing you suitability you have to be employed for two whole tax years to qualify for Contribution based payments. This sounds OK until you realise the arbitery nature of this date means if you are employed at the right time of year you may get away with this 2 year rule. However if not you may need at least 2 years and 11 months of contributions to qualify. As this pays the same as the other version of Job Seekers Allowance then why worry? Well this is the really crazy bit this version means they take any savings into account whereas Contribution based does not. When assessing your savings though no account is taken of any debts you may have so like me you may have 5-6k of credit card or overdraft but this is ignored. If you use your savings to pay down your debt I was informed this is benefit fraud for which you can be prosecuted......no way to run a country is it? The workers at the JCP are not really to blame as the system is huge and unwieldy, allows for no discretion and is I am sure filled with as many idiocies as the one i found. The upshot was they reduced to payment from £65 to £40 (just the size of my weekly utility bill). The morale is don't save it's bad for your future life on benefits!!! Rant over.........