I have held off on this for a long time, but posting about Facebook reminded me, and enough time has passed so oh well!

In the UK, there's a universal benefit called Child Benefit. Everyone who has a child is entitled to £80 a month. Jonathan Ross gets it, Wayne Rooney gets it, Katie Price gets it (assuming they claim it of course).

Recently, the government decided to start means-testing Child Benefit. They decided that people earning over £44,000 per year shouldn't get it any more.

Seems fair enough, right? After all, people earning £44k don't need a helping hand. They can afford to go on holiday every year, have a decent car, enjoy a few luxuries.

Hmm. Here's what one of my friends posted:



I don't wish to be rude, so suffice to say that I disagree with her point of view.
I think that Child Benefit should be given to those who really need it, and that's people who are living on the breadline and struggling to get by. When Izzy was little, I relied on Child Benefit to buy food and shoes for her. It was really, really tough.

If you've never been there, it's probably hard to imagine what it's like. I'd sacrifice our benefit in a second if it helped prevent the poorest people in society from losing theirs. Why yes, I am an old socialist hippy.