Helen, your little world sounds great but I live in the real

Comment on General Election 2010 Poll Results by Sarah in the Desert.

Helen, your little world sounds great but I live in the real world.

My whole thinking is about what is fair and what is right for the majority not the minority and giving everyone a say on what is best for the country.

I don’t believe it’s fair for those people who work really bloody hard to fund people who make really stupid and selfish lifestyle choices.

The CSA is a joke and a really poor argument for forcing some fathers to pay (when some are already claiming benefits and working cash-in-hand). The CSA doesn’t work for a lot of parents, they can’t guarantee regular maintenance and certainly can’t chase errant parents across borders.

Just to give you a little perspective on single parenting; at the end of 1997, I became a single parent to my daughter, my first husband died suddenly whilst I was 4 months pregnant. I worked 60 hours per week until 8 months pregnant (saving to pay for my maternity leave) as I was only entitled statutory maternity pay for my leave as I was contracting (admin and secretarial at that time so not highly paid either). I had to go back to work when my daughter was 8 weeks old, she wasn’t even sleeping through the night.

I was told by the local (Labour) DSS office that I wasn’t entitled to any kind of help because I lived in my own home which was mortgaged, I ran a car because I needed it to be able to get to work as well as collecting and picking up my child. They told me to sell up, apply for either housing benefit or a council property and stop work.

That first year, Labour abolished the single parents tax allowance and MIRAS (tax relief) on mortgages. I worked hard to support myself and my daughter and I didn’t get any help from the Government to do it and managed to keep a roof over our heads.

I would support single parents through tax allowances and maintenance paid directly through the tax system from the other parent. I would also make it clear that there would be a limit on the number of children that the Government is prepared to pay for. I wouldn’t necessarily give custody to the mother either, it would be the parent best able to provide for the children.

“Isn’t it interesting that the people with more Tory leaning posts are the ones which seem to be largely about money $$$$$$$$$” – too right! We work hard for what we have, not relying on the Government to top up our incomes!

As far as the NHS goes, in my opinion, it should now be for emergencies, people should be penalised financially for treatments given due to self-inflicted ailments (heavily obese smokers and heavy drinkers?) and people should be made to take more responsibility for themselves. I’ve had 3 minor operations in the last 2 years paid for by Bupa through our own insurance – I took responsibility!