A letter to David Cameron

David Cameron, 

I am an 18 year old student from a small town, with no interest in Politics whatsoever. But I am an opinionated 18 year old, and I have very strong opinions on some of the things going on in this country. They may not be right, they may be ridiculous to someone who really knows how to run a country, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to express my opinions to you. 

One thing that really grinds my gears is benefits- or rather, who receives benefits and for what. If you are physically disabled and really can not work, benefits are needed. If you are plain fat and can't work because you've sat around eating one too many pizzas, you do not need benefits. You need to get off your fat behind, lose weight and get a job. There is a difference between people who physically cant work and cant earn enough money to support themselves and people who put themselves out of work because they refuse to act in the appropriate way to keep a job, or they make themselves unemployable. Furthermore, there should be a new law- you must be able to speak English to gain benefits from our country. If you come to live in England from somewhere else, and can't speak English, why do you deserve money from an English tax payer? You don't. End of. 

Following on from that point is the immigration system. Our country is growing more over-populated every single day. There's not enough houses, not enough jobs, not enough money. And yet we continue to let more and more people into the country. Yes, whilst some people are hard workers and do want to come here to work and support their family, many of them come here to escape the hardships of their own country, and provide nothing for England. We are a well developed country but we need to stop being viewed as a shelter, a safe haven. In my opinion, we should be more like Australia- if you can't bring something beneficial to this country, you should not be allowed in. We can't support so many of our own citizens, how are we supporting citizens from all over the world? It seems slightly ridiculous. 

Taxes. The ever so annoying issue of taxes. Whilst I appreciate that taxes are necessary and that they help to run certain aspects of the country, I have noticed that there is so many issues with them. Firstly, people get taxed so much they can't live on their monthly wage. To improve this situation, people become ambitious and get a second job- and being the supporting country that we are, we tax them an even greater amount, so much so that a second job seems worthless once the taxes have been deducted. Helpful. Secondly, the people who sort out taxes are just the most incompetent people I could ever imagine. They make you fill in sheet after sheet of paper work to make sure you don't get taxed if you're a student, that you get put into the right tax band. You pour over this paper work only to then be taxed the wrong amount anyway. How does this happen when we are so efficient with paper work?! How?! Then you end up on the phone to HM Revenue and Customs for half an hour waiting to talk to someone and have it sorted out, only to end up talking to someone you can't understand. Once the refund is sorted, you have to wait months- literally months- for it to reach your bank account. How would we be treated if we all took months to pay our road tax or council tax? You can bet we'd be in trouble. Respect is a two way thing, if you want respect from us then we need to feel it coming from the powers above too. 

In addition to these points, we often don't see the benefits of the taxes we pay. For example, road tax. The citizens of England fork out from their wages to pay for roads- yet these roads are filled with potholes and loose stones, they're shut at inconvenient times and drastic changes are made without considering the people who use the roads and often creating difficulties for them. When being forced to fork out for such things, we expect to see the benefits of it- yet we rarely do. 

The schooling system is also a shambles. Quite frankly, teachers aren't paid enough for what they do- neither are dinner ladies, LSA's and other members of the school system. Unpaid overtime including work in their free time too often goes unnoticed and unrewarded. Furthermore, the curriculum is outdated and boring- as a student, I know. Teachers and adults who aren't participating in the curriculum should not be the sole deciders of it. Children should get a say in the curriculum too- the subjects should be interesting and exciting, things that will help spark a passion inside of the pupils. This would help encourage students to want to go to school and want to do well. You can be sure if a pupil enjoys a subject and what they are learning, they will do better in it. And yet still we stick to an age old curriculum that changes very little. How intelligent. 

Mr Cameron, I could go on. And on. And on. But I do not want to bore, only express my own opinions. As I said previously, I know nothing of Politics and I have no particular interest in it. You may laugh at my opinions and even mock them- how can an 18 year old student tell you how to run a country? You're probably right, I probably don't understand the full complexity of it. But what I can tell you as an outsider is that I am far from alone in these opinions. Many people feel as I do- whether you are aware of this or not I do not know. I can only hope that one day this country will stop making it's situations worse and will start to progress instead- possibly with ideas I have mentioned in this letter. 

The country needs to turn itself around. Too many people are unhappy and unsatisfied. But who am I, but a humble blogger, trying to get my voice heard? I'm sure things will never change. 

Love from,

Florence Grace