Clearly I've missed something blindingly obvious for all these years but I have just discovered the…read moreHMRC Enquiry Centre and I think it's changed my life. After months of trying to reach the HMRC Helpline with no success at all except once early on a Saturday morning I was starting to despair. So, pessimistic as usual I called into the HMRC Enquiry Centre on Wellington Place one lunchtime expecting it to be full but there was no queue whatsoever. There are phones available to contact HMRC, I got straight through no problem, almost impossible feat to date, and what's more got a positive answer, at last. How amazing.

very interesting place to be in you will be glad to know i wasnt arrested, i was there to take…read morepart in the mock trials via school, its a class place to get to see, great views out the windows, and really modern rooms, which still keep with the idea of it being a court also loads of facilities, bar library is right across the road, as well as the magistrates courts, so the legal scene in Belfast is very self contained sadly however people somehow fail to appreciate the building when they are on trial somehow

This was a beautiful building, inside and out. I loved the stained glass windows and…read morearchitecture! There were many different rooms to explore, with museum-like pictures and information to view. The toilets are free!

Belfast City Hall is the city center district and located in a business area, but with expanding…read moreresidential and entertainment. Plenty of shops, restaurants, bars, churches, and historical locations surrounding the city hall. Inside is very beautiful layout architecture with a beautiful dome plus plenty of glass windows artwork. Inside the surrounding garden within, there are: Titanic Memorial Garden, Korea War Memorial, Victoria Memorial, Boer War Memorial Royal Irish Riffles, and couple statues on the other side plus city ground for you to seat and admire the city hall.

Back in my dolie days, I wrote two enraged letters to the Irish News about the incompetency of the…read moreN Ireland Housing Executive. The following happened not just to me every time I tried to make a claim, but to about 75% of people I spoke to about it as well: Send forms in, wait to hear from Housing Executive. Month passes. Landlord asks for rent. Explain Housing Benefit claim is in. Wait another month. Landlord demands rent. Ring Housing Executive. Told by bored person claim is being dealt with. Wait another month. Landlord threatening eviction. Spend last two quid in a call box trying to find out what's going on. Housing Executive say there's no ID with the form. Tell them ID was submitted three months ago. Submit more ID. Wait another month, weeping, stressing and eyeing up cardboard boxes to live in. Ring up again to be told there's a backlog. Claim finally comes through. Even now I can feel my blood pressure rise remembering it. There was simply no excuse for the way the NIHE operated. They were also hugely unsympathetic when I was almost declaring myself homeless some years ago, telling me if I wasn't deemed as vulnerable there was nothing they could do. Yes, housing is in short supply all around the city, but at least pretend you care even a tiny bit when someone says by the end of the week they'll be sleeping on the street, even if you can't do anytning about it. Thankfully I have no personal experience in recent years about declarations of homelessness, but I did sign on for Housing Benefit two years ago when made redundant, and found the experience much improved. Benefit is through in around a month and staff are more helpful than they once were. But it's still the type of place you need to know what you're entitled to expect, so if in doubt give the excellent and free Housing Rights Service a call on 9024 5640.

On suddenly finding myself unemployed I was given a form for housing benefit, this was carefully…read morefilled in, supposedly checked by the staff in NIHE, then returned as not being correct, after several repeat performances I then received a letter telling me I would have to pay some 65 quid a week out of £73 JSA, clearly this was wrong but the NIHE staff couldn't have cared less, by now the landlord is getting antsy but NIHE's helpful suggestion was to "Declare yourself homeless" Fortunately for me, the intervention of a local MLA wss enough to put a rocket under them. Then I was informed that as I live in a 2 bedroom property I would have to pay some £17 a week out of my 73. Fair enough, but considering the absolute dearth of 1 bedroom housing in the city you would think some sort of bridging system would be in place. After a few weeks I found work and wrote to them saying I no longer needed housing benefit. A few weeks later I gey a demand for 400 quid, I ring and explain that I had informed them of this, they tell me to write again, I do and deliver it by hand, another demand arrives. Saying that I can pay by installments with an ALLPAY card I will receive. Card never arrives, I hear nothing so assume they have worked it out. Next thing I get a letter telling me to expect eithet a debt collector or court action. Charming. Now I have to take a days leave to physically go to them and try to sort it out. Considering the staff treat the punters with barely concealed contempt I fear this saga is not over yet. The whole experience has been atrocious from start to finish with this disjointed, directionless joke of an agency.