David Tolland @funster147

In a seemingly permanent state of disbelief. Joined June 2014

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David Tolland @funster147

a month ago

@AberdeenFC You tit

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Thanos Angelopoulos @Th_Angelopoulos

4 months ago

@jdportes is right. Here is the data @cathynewman, @vicderbyshire, and @SkyNews ought to know and to have to hand the next time a politician makes the unsubstantiated claim that welfare is "spiralling out of control" on their programmes. @johnpringdns published a thorough piece showing that BBC and Sky News presenters consistently fail to push back on these claims. The OBR time series DNS compiled tells the story: UK social security spending as a share of GDP (OBR, EFO March 2026): • 2010-11: 12.0% • 2012-13: 12.1% (post-crisis peak) • 2019-20: 10.2% • 2024-25: 10.7% • 2025-26: 10.9% (forecast) The IFS puts social security at 8.3% of national income in 1979-80. Today it is 10.7%. An increase of roughly 2.5 percentage points over 45 years. Not spiralling. A slow drift. Where did the 2.5% come from? • Not from working-age benefits. Non-pensioner, non-health welfare fell from 4% of GDP in 2009-10 to 2.6% in 2023-24 (Work and Pensions Committee, HC 837, July 2025). Cut, repeatedly, for over a decade. • Pensions: state pension spending sat at 3.3 to 3.7% of GDP for two decades to 2007-08; total pensioner benefit spending then rose to 5.1% by 2023-24 (OBR). Triple lock and an ageing population. Roughly 1.5% of the increase. • Disability and incapacity: caseloads grew from 1.2% to 2.1% of GDP between 2010 and 2024-25 (Resolution Foundation). A post-pandemic public health crisis combined with the aftereffects of austerity. Not a lifestyle choice. • 55% of the total welfare bill goes to pensioners. The state pension alone is £146bn of the £323bn total (DWP, 2025-26). One driver is a policy choice every major party supports. The other is a public health crisis. Neither is "scroungers". The "spiralling welfare" line does not describe a category of spending that grew. It targets a category of spending that shrank. It is not a description of reality. It is a political project to manufacture consent for further cuts to working-age support that has already been cut to the bone. Or, in simple English, the usual bollocks that fuck over the working class and those in need. Sources: @johnpringdns / DNS (2 July 2026): disabilitynewsservice.com/bbc-and-sky-ne… OBR, EFO March 2026: obr.uk/efo/economic-a… IFS, "How have the size and shape of the UK state changed?" (May 2026): ifs.org.uk/publications/h… DWP Benefit Expenditure Tables 2026: gov.uk/government/pub… House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, HC 837 (July 2025): publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmse… Resolution Foundation (Nov 2025): resolutionfoundation.org/comment/is-wel…