[Closed] Chernobyl Clean-Up Workers Protest Benefits Cuts

And I thought the British government had made some unfathomably crass decisions...

Surely the British government is hardly in a position to make similarly unfathomably crass decisions ?

Do we have anything approaching this which could be scaled back ?

[i]"Ukrainian law currently places people who fought for the Soviet Union in the 1979-1989 war, and people injured in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power accident, in a special tax and benefits category giving them reduced prices on most government-provided services, including public transport and electricity and telephone bills."[/i]

As far as I'm aware anyone who has served in Afghanistan is not placed in a special tax and benefits category giving them reduced prices on most government-provided services, including public transport and electricity and telephone bills, although I could be wrong. Which would suggest that the British government has simply always behaved in a crass manner - if that situation is considered unacceptable.

Ernie - I was thinking more specifically the workers involved in the Chernobyl cleanup - hence the thread title...

Fair enough, I don't know what people who are involved in industrial accidents/disasters in Britain get, in terms of tax breaks, discounted utility bills, etc, is it much better ?

No one who fought in WW1 still gets a pension.

No one who fought in WW1 still gets a pension.

Fair enough, I don't know what people who are involved in industrial accidents/disasters in Britain get, in terms of tax breaks, discounted utility bills, etc, is it much better

I doubt it. Perhaps you could start a thread about it?

Why ? ........you've already started a thread about unfathomably crass decisions by governments.

aracer - Member
> No one who fought in WW1 still gets a pension.

That's disgusting - how does the government get away with that?

Why ?

Seeing as the thread was doomed from the moment you first replied, I'm off to bed. Maybe you'll have got to the bottom of it by the morning.

BTW, it's a little hard for the UK government to make a negative decision on something it doesn't already do. I'm sure if you re-read this thread, you'll see that the Ukrainian government is trying to take something away. HTH.

But, I applaud your capitalist race to the bottom approach

Whoosh!

😛

There was an interesting documentary about Chernobyl on Radio 4 a while ago. Some rigorous academic research suggested that about 40 people had died as a result of the accident (including all those killed at the time of the explosion) and a handful of children have died of leukaemia.

Apparently, everyone blames everything on the accident and fails to take into account the heavy drinking and smoking that is prevalent in the area.

I applaud your capitalist race to the bottom approach

'Ere, don't you start slagging off capitalism......it's capitalism's ability to trim off unnecessary fat, so that it's a clean lean mean machine, which makes it so successful and desirable. Avoiding wasteful and overgenerous benefit payments has driven capitalism to the top - not the bottom.

the thread was doomed from the moment you first replied

Don't blame me - I don't have that sort of power. Besides, I thought it went quite well - no ?

I was advised not to buy underpants from the Ukraine, because Chernobyl Fall-out.

I thank you, Im here all week.