The Witch and The Child Allowance, a Sort Of Fairytale

It’s good to know that Christine O’Donnell, the woman who won the Republican primary in Delaware and goes up against the Democrats in the election next month, isn’t a witch. She can’t be, she’s said so herself in a TV ad.

Of course, a few years ago she claimed on TV to have dabbled in witchcraft. So maybe she was a witch but gave it up for Lent, or because the Lord told her to (but how did she know that voice wasn’t Satan).

This is also the woman who says that masturbation is a form of adultery, which means that the majority of people in Delaware, not to mention other states and countries, have been judged adulterous by O’Donnell. And let’s not talk about teenaged boys and what they get up to under the covers. Almost certainly already consigned to hell.

The simple fact is that her past has come back to give her a very heavy, unforgiving kick in the ass. Although the Democrats can’t seem to get their act together on these elections, they do seem to be making hay at O’Donnell’s expense. And why not, when you have a comedy opportunity like this.

Back in Britain, the Tories are alienating their fanbase by taking away the child allowance from families that don’t need it. Of course, last year they said they wouldn’t touch it, but they weren’t in power then. The level is £44,000 per year if there’s one income. But if both parents work and make, say, £43,000 each, the allowance stays. Cue plenty of Tory mum squawking.

Better to say that if the household income, regardless of whether one or both parents work, is over £44,000, then the child allowance goes. There are others who need it. Same with the winter fuel allowance. If your pensions are giving you over £40,000 a year you don’t need my taxes paying for your heat.

Much as I hate to see cuts, the simple fact is that they have to be made, and all the protests in the world won’t stop that fact. It’s where they’re made and who suffers that’s the important part. Scrap Trident, don’t just put it on a back burner. Talk to the other countries that are having to make cuts (which is most of them) and everyone put together a tax on bankers. That way they can’t shuffle off somewhere else to keep their bonuses intact. After all, the banks need viable markets as much as we need the banks, and I don’t see hedge fund managers and investment bankers being happy to set up shop somewhere in Central Asia.