"Benefit cuts: Monday will be the day that defines this government..."

Quite. Which is why I might as well just curl up, die and then get my family to get the government to pay for my funeral. Because I've no less right to that money being spent than her.

You were elected as prime minister three times? Mr...Mr Blair?

And how do you measure quality of care exactly?

I detest Thatcher due to some of her policies however regardless of you opinion she deserves the money being spent on her more than you do. Simply because people care more about her death than they care about yours thus there is no demand for any considerable sum to be spent on your funeral, whilst there is some ( arguably not adequate) demand for millions to be spent on her funeral

He's not going to have £10m spent on him to lie there and be walked past. Callaghan didn't. Wilson didn't. Heath didn't. Get my drift?

She has an estate of tens of millions of pounds. I have nothing. She deserves nothing.

Neither will Major or Brown, but there's a good argument for recognising the contribution of a Prime Minster who was not only elected three times but also transformed Britain.

So how can benefit cuts be justified when the government sees fit to piss money away like this?

No there isn't. Not when your last point literally divides Britain in half in terms of the outcome of her putative 'transformation'.

No there isn't. Not when your last point literally divides Britain in half in terms of the outcome of her putative 'transformation'.

Survival rates help

In our opinion she deserves nothing. But there are lots of others who feel differently. Face it, people care more about thatcher dying than if we were to die today. So if anyone is to receive money from the state for an extravagant funeral between you/her she wins due to popular demand.

For example, the DLA/PIP changeovers will reprioritise spending (which is increasing) on disability benefits. That will leave some disabled people with extra needs which are assessed as being of a lower level with less money, but will give more to those who have a higher level of need.

Right, so patients with different diseases, at different stages, should be used as measurements then?

Hospital A has a 50% survival rate, hospital B has a 70% survival rate. Hospital B must be better? No, it all depends on how sick patients are when they come in, how many come in, how busy was it. You can't compare hospitals like that.

Yes you can, it would be an average sure it wouldn't be exact per every individual case but you still attain a useful overall picture. Obviously the larger the scale of the hospital = more useful figures. Survival rates are used to compare health institutions internationally for these reasons.

On an international basis it makes sense because you have more data, I would say on a hospital to hospital basis, they can only make judgements on more diseases and treatments.

Are you actually being serious or did you take that straight out of tory hq?

Meanwhile in reality.. of course disability benefits are increasing because there have been medical changes and the demographic of the country has changed-people are living longer and people pensioner's can keep their claim if they made it before retirement - plus more disabled children are surviving. Dla made it possible for disabled people to live in their homes and not in care where they wouldn't of got the same benefits.

The fraud rate for dla is 0.5%. FFS Cameron is a millionaire, who claimed it for his son and let everyone know he was but the big difference is he doesn't have a clue what its actually like to rely on the money.

So why couldn't they just implement changes to Dla such as more reviewing of changes? Why have they already got targets before they've even assessed people? Why did they not implement the mobility changes until all the consultation periods had passed?

This is nothing but cuts to the people who need it the most proven by the lowering of the mobility criteria from 50m to 20m. So if people can walk 21-50 meters than they can no longer get the high rate mobility allowance - no motability wheelchair scooter or car, blue badge, bus pass, taxi scheme in london or tube, or any of the passport concessions that come with it. Rendering seriously disabled people housebound or forcing them into wheelchairs(if they can get one) either way have detrimental affects to their physical and mental health are therefore more strain on the nhs.

And how do you measure quality of care exactly?

Yes, spending on DLA/PIP is increasing. You correctly identify largely why that is. Good. Kindly address that to the people who clearly think it is being cut

There are no "targets".

I'm afraid some of that simply isn't true. For example, some of the passported benefits (blue badge, bus pass) you mention are not solely dependent on higher rate mobility, or even claiming DLA.