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Yes Ross, I agree that the way out of poverty is education and work, we certainly would not solve anything through benefits. Ironically it has been suggested by a number of sociologists that it is modernised countries that break with civil society towards individualism that creates passive reliance on the state. I find it's funny that the people who don't want to pay their taxes probably have more in common with those dependant on benefits than with those people in Mr Elphikes 3rd and 4th quintiles.
Barry, I'm not saying to tax the successful, just the rich. I would agree with you that huge amounts of taxes are wasted, however 'individuals' will always have differing views on the distribution of spending for the purposes of the collective. Ross just reiterates my point of higher taxes in other countries, providing proof. The IFS may well be able to 'show' a reduction in revenue through highly informed predictions, however I'm sure the people at the IFS are clever enough to 'show' anything they like. As Mark Twain said "There 3 types of liars..."
Expectations should be set in the classroom, unfortunately these must go hand in aspirations set at home. Grammar schools play no part in changing anything significant; compare the overall results of students from a town served by Comprehensives to that of a town served by a two tier system and you find there is no difference. Grammar schools do nothing to benefit children from poorer backgrounds, some that David Cameron is aware of, I personally only see the negative effects such a system has in a town like Dover (although I have no problems with the good job the grammar schools do). If you really want to do something that irons out the inequalities, then get rid of public schools. We cannot change the home a child is brought into, however we could give everyone the same educational start. No jobs for the boys, old clubs and funny handshakes. Allow people to be really responsible for themselves and not rely on privilege, but on their own merits. That will set up some competition not only in the classroom but in the work place too, with the top jobs not just going to ex-public school kids.