Friday, July 31, 2009

Airlines - the politicians get their wish

One can hardly be surprised at the news that another airline has made collosal losses in the first three months of the financial year given the steady stream of legislation pouring from Westminster and Strasbourg designed to stop people flying.

British Airways has reported a pre-tax loss of £148m ($245m) in the three months to the end of June.

This compares with a profit of £37m in the same period last year. Its operating loss of £94m compares with a profit of £35m last year.

If we remember back to the end of 2006 when people were just getting all excited over the farce that is man made climate change:
In December, chancellor Gordon Brown announced that APD would double, meaning that economy passengers now have to pay a £10 charge for short-haul flights and £20 for long-haul. Business and first-class passengers must now pay £20 for short-haul flights and £80 for long-haul.

The tax even applies to those passengers who made bookings before the increase was announced, which struck many as unfair.

British Airways announced that it would absorb this cost but most airlines cannot afford to follow suit and are having to ask passengers to pay the difference.

As a protest at being made to act as tax collectors, easyJet managers are today manning airport check-in areas dressed as taxmen to inform surprised passengers of why they need to pay the additional fee.

I wonder how much that did actually cost BA? If I were one of their members of staff who'd said they'd work for free and take cuts to ensure the company didn't go under then I'd want Brown and his trough gobbling MPs to give me money to tide me over seeing as they supported legislation which stole money away from the airlines to give to fat people who can't be bothered to work.

The Devil has done a sterling job of this perfect example of why state interference is so fucking useless and counter productive, but as someone who works hard to afford to go to the gym and has to continually watch what she eats, I feel the need to vent some frustration.
A 25-year-old unemployed woman who was given an £8,000 operation to help her lose 16 stone is complaining because, as well as her weight loss, her benefits have been reduced.
Fuck off. Just knowing that someone thinks that's reasonable makes me want to cover her in a marquee and use her as a stunt taliban on a bayonet assault course.
Laura Ripley, who has never worked, was given the operation on the NHS to help her slim down from 38 to 22 stone.

Might I suggest that if she had to sit in an office and work she might eat a little less and therefore not be as fat and in need of a costly operation? Anyone?
But the 25-year-old, who receives £600 a month in benefits, is unhappy because as a result of losing weight she can no longer claim disability allowance amounting to an extra £340 a month. This, she says, means she cannot afford to eat healthily - causing her to pile the weight back on
She shouldn't have claimed disability benefit in the first place for it's quite evident that her ability to go shopping, buy food and then continually eat it means that she's not that limited in her movements. Perhaps she could work at a supermarket or in a cake shop? With a muzzle, obviously. Whoever said she was disabled must have hated her and wanted her to get worse and die.
I can't afford to buy WeightWatchers crisps and cereal bars any more so I eat Tesco's chocolate bars and packets of Space Invaders crisps, sometimes four of each a day', says Laura, who spends seven hours a day watching TV.

There are a couple of options here which madame munch appears not to have though of.

1. Don't eat so much? Given her size I reckon the woman could probably live off the chub on her arms for a few weeks.

2. Vegetables are quite cheap, actually. Oh, but hold on...
'People ask why I don't snack on an apple - they're cheap, but emotionally I don't always feel like an apple
.'I rarely feel like an apple. I usually feel like a glass of champagne and a cream tea but if I ate that all the time I'd be fat and unhealthy so I exercise this thing called self control. I understand that the nanny state and socialist paradise we are now living in doesn't encourage this for it might lessen the dependence on the state.
The disability allowance money she used to receive was spent on gym workouts, healthy food and having her hair highlighted.
HAVING HER CUNTING HAIR HIGHLIGHTED? What the fuck? My barnet could do with a good cut and spruce but I'm still paying the bastard tax man so evidently he can pass it on to this collosal pile of human blubber.

She adds: 'Without my disability allowance I'm left with just £210 incapacity benefit which I get because of my depression, and £100 income support I receive every two weeks and out of that I have to give them back £70 towards the cost of the £500-a-month flat I'm living in.'

*boom*

WHAT

THE

FUCK?

Right, love. Here's a new element you can incorporate into your daily programme.
Go jogging.

Firstly, it'll help your depression. It will also help you with your eating problem because if you're running you won't be able to graze continually like a daily cow and thirdly you'll actually burn some calories.

Now, I know that running is horrible and it hurts and it's boring but lots of people do it and don't die.
Since the extra allowance stopped Laura has put on a stone in just three weeks and claims she is being treated unfairly.

In a way she is being treated unfairly. She's being encouraged to slowly eat herself to death. But Johnny tax payer is also being treated unfairly as the state thinks that those who go out to work are lesser people than those who don't and deserve to pay for an underclass.

That's life in modern Britain. People work for free to try to compensate for economically damaging economic policies thought up by a ferociously greedy Chancellor and fat people get paid to not work and get fatter.

And on a final 'let's not forget how dangerous the green loonies are' note:
here's Caroline Lucas MEP saying that flying a lot is the same as stabbing someone

3 comments:

James Higham said...

Why-can't-the-state-just-stay-out-of-it?

Please?

John B said...

How much tax do BA pay on fuel to fly from London to Edinburgh?

How much tax do you pay on fuel to drive from London to Edinburgh?

(clue: £0 and £many, respectively)

I'm sure you're in favour of cutting fuel duty too, but while it exists it's completely mental to incentivise air at the expense of other modes.

Idle Pen Pusher said...

"HAVING HER CUNTING HAIR HIGHLIGHTED? What the fuck?"

Haha!