The professionally unemployed
This is probably going to be a bit of a rant. Before I start, I want to make it clear I'm not talking about unemployed people in general. Most of us at some point have left a job or been made redundant and had to spend time looking for work. Especially "In These Tough Economic Times" it's not uncommon. Unemployment is usually a stage between employments, where one hunts for employment. That's why the state-funded bolster is now called a "jobseeker's allowance".

What pisses me off are the people who objected to it having its name changed to that because it was previously called "unemployment benefit", because that's how they see it: if you're unemployed, then someone should be paying you. They hate that you now have to actually try and find a job in order to keep claiming your money - money that they think they have a right to be given because they don't want to work, that it's the State's responsibility to fund their laziness.

I know I'm only describing a minority of people, and I really don't want to come over all Daily Mail here (we'll get on to that later), but the attitude and sense of entitlement some of these people have is truly stupefying.

I've been a teacher; I've spent plenty of time working in GP surgeries; one of my best friends is a social worker, many of my friends are now doctors and one friend has the misfortune (or the courage) to work in a Jobcentre. I've seen, and heard of, countless cases:

- women who will have another baby to try and demonstrate their commitment to the latest feckless nomadic neanderthal who's grunted his way through the neighbourhood, with the added bonus that having another child means you get to move house (I didn't know that families are entitled to one bedroom per child in council house allocations either until J told me: spawn another, get a bigger house)

- families where the children wear their filthy school uniform at weekends because they have no other clothes but there's always money for the mum's Stella, fags and bingo and they've got a plasma screen TV and a clutch of games consoles,

- mums that are given the Argos catalogue by social workers and told to pick what their children need - ever wondered why you see chavs wandering around with several hundred pound baby buggies?

- kids that arrive at school unable to spell their own name, or name primary colours, with speech and behavioural problems because they've been sat in front of the brightly flashing TV from birth and no-one's ever conversed with them,

- patients with no illness who will book GP appointments because they've run out of ibuprofen, knowing that a pack will cost 50p in the supermarket but they get free prescriptions so they'll stock up that way,

- "unfit to work" patients, usually overweight men, who ham it up so badly and claim agonising pains and difficulty even using crutches to try and continue getting disability benefit but are then seen doing building work on the sly for cash,

- the "bad men", the "rude boys", the stupid pricks with the anger problems who suck their teeth and drive shabby blacked-out BMWs, deal crap drugs and think that condoms aren't for real men, who cajole and screw any woman they can, until she gets pregnant (usually after she gets a tattoo) to prove her devotion to them, who run off to the next poor gullible girl, leaving a trail of seriously messed up kids who'll inevitably grow up like their dads, thinking women are meant to breed, men are meant to be penis-driven wanderers at the whim of their animal wills and everyone is meant to be given money to do this.

Plenty of these people's neighbours work incredibly hard, sometimes two or three jobs, in order to afford the same things that the professionally unemployed get given. And I've heard several of our patients complain that there's no work out there, usually because "the immigrants are taking all the jobs" - OK, crikey, here goes the next rant - they're not TAKING the jobs, if you're too lazy to find a job or think that certain jobs are beneath you, the immigrants are DOING the jobs, because you won't. Who's cleaning toilets? Flipping burgers? Emptying waste bins? Mopping floors? Sweeping streets? Doing a hundred other menial jobs that you look down on and think you're too good for? Yes, often immigrants - people who have come over here to WORK, to earn money for themselves, by WORKING, who usually work incredibly hard because they appreciate the opportunity to earn a living wage from a crappy job and understand that to look after their family they need to EARN the money to support them.

The selfish arrogance behind the sense of entitlement riles me beyond measure. "But it's my right" is heard far too much from a tiny number of people. This isn't a party political thing. It's not a class thing. It's not a race thing. It's not a wealth thing. It's just that I wish there was some way to tell the whingeing scroungers who turn up at the surgery week after week griping about how they're not being given all they're "entitled" to, to SHUT UP, GROW UP AND GET A FUCKING JOB.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:08, 75 replies)

I remember my mum telling me about a child starting school,
who had a vocabulary of only 5 words because her parents never talked to her. Apparently they "didn't know what to talk to her about." Ought to be prosecuted for child abuse.

I remember someone on this very board saying that if you stopped these people's benefits, they'd die rather than work. I can believe it.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:13, closed)

some of the people I meet
if you stopped their benefits, they'd tool up and attack the local council offices (or doctors surgery, hospital, police station etc.) until they got what they thought they deserved.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:15, closed)

I'd like the system they have in one of the Scandiwegian countries;
to claim your Jobseeker's you have to do eight 'slots' a week. A 'slot' can be either a job interview, or an hour of community service, etc. Maybe it includes training/cv writing courses put on by the Job Centre as well, I'm not sure. Speaking as someone who until recently had been unemployed for 6 months, I'd've loved something like that; it would have made me feel useful instead of like a sponge who nobody wants to employ.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:21, closed)

I really like that idea,
especially as volunteering helps prevent the mental health problems that can accompany unemployment, _and_ it gives you useful experience if you're not sure what job to look for next.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:33, closed)

Research suggests
that 'volunteer' work is of little use getting a real job. It's largely politically motivated.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sun 30 May 2010, 10:00, closed)

A good friend of mine is a primary school teacher
and in her school they've had to teach some young children how to use cutlery, as the parents tend to take the kids for fast food, then sit them in front of the TV and expect them to eat with their hands.
(square go, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:34, closed)

When I was a teaching assistant
one kid could only recognise colours by the names of the Teletubbies with which they corresponded. What colour was grass? Dipsy. etc.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:46, closed)

That's quite tragic
but is also making me laugh like a twat.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:51, closed)

Poor kid had no idea what letters were
and it took him two terms to learn to spell his name, and he never got the hang of which way up a "W" goes.

He is now 12, and his friends still call him "Lemis".
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:02, closed)

Aww, poor boy.
This is why we need to bring back Sesame Street! Best kids' programme EVER.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:05, closed)

A child will learn to talk
even if the parents don't talk to it. There are a few cultures where this is the norm. The logic being that why speak to a child who can't reply? I suspect that the child had problems beyond slightly dim parents (although intelligence is largely hereditary)
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sun 30 May 2010, 9:58, closed)

YES YES YES!
I love you.
(Burt Burt, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:16, closed)

there should be some type of ANTI ROBIN HOOD
someone who steals from the professionally unemployed and gives it to the tax man
(TwinkleFuckingToes Has a ingrown toe nail, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:19, closed)

Robin Hood never gave to the poor anyway;
that was just romantic Victorian bollocks.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:28, closed)

Hmmm
Russell Hood or Robin Crowe?
There's only one way to find out...
( e.m.m.y. foxtrot uniform charlie kilo india tango, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:53, closed)

Agreed
Unfortunately no government will never have the bottle to tackle this issue which would be solved by introducing the following:
1. All teenage girls to be fitted with contraceptive implants which can be removed as and when they demonstrate the means to start a family.
2. Social housing to be provided for low paid workers and pensioners, social hostels for the rest who can't pay their way.
3. "Workfarms" to be set up where people claiming benefits must arrive by 8am to be available to do a days work should an outside company require them or to be put to work in the workfarm's own manufacturing/agricultural areas.
4. Prison terms to be increased tenfold. Existing prisons to be torn down and new ones built consisting of wooden huts, electric fences and armed guards.

Umm, that's all for now, I'm sure I can think of some more solutions if anyone is interested.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:37, closed)

Why the teenage girls and not the boys? They're as much to blame.

( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:47, closed)

It's easier and doesn't require an operation for women
At least until they perfect the pill for men, and possibly this new 'smash the sperm with ultrasonics' technique.

Course, if I ruled the world I'd apply mandatory contraception to everyone, with a no questions asked opt out. That way every child would be wanted (even if for moronic reasons). It might impact slightly on genetic diversity, though.
(EssY, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:56, closed)

Some sort of zinc-blocking implant/pill might work.
Men with zinc deficiencies tend to have low fertility. This is because bollocks are zincy and fannies aren't, so when sperms are in a low-zinc environment they swim like mad because they think they're in a fanny. If a man doesn't have zincy bollocks the sperm go into omg-we're-in-a-fanny-find-the-egg mode and tire themselves out and die.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:02, closed)

*sniff* Poor little blighters.
(An Alien sneezed on Bill Oddies binoculars, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:19, closed)

Please tell me you teach sex ed

(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Fri 28 May 2010, 16:21, closed)

Don't we need zinc for other things though?

(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Fri 28 May 2010, 17:55, closed)

Because
if you did the boys, the girls would be coming to succesful middle aged men like us offering us free shaggings in order to get pregnant.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:05, closed)

I meant do the boys AND the girls, not the boys instead of the girls.

( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:09, closed)

The boys probably won't get pregnant anyway.

(sabre-tooth monkey, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:58, closed)

Quite
I was fixing a computer for one the other day - 3-4 kids, so nice big house is a nice village, certainly more than I could afford to buy. Big flat-screen TV, games consoles, the aforementioned (quite nice) computer plus two laptops - I had to hurry though, as she was off to work. She got really quite aggrieved about it - the nasty government were insisting she work something trivial like 14 hours a week in order to keep her benefits.

So she got a job, and worked her 14 hours. It didn't take much time for her to find one - the pub up the road was hiring - which really raised some questions as so why the lazy, useless, dole-scrounging cunt had been sponging for all those years previously.

She genuinely considered it to be unfair and unreasonable that she be asked to work this token amount, and seemed to expect me to agree. Looking around at all she'd been given, I could have quite cheerfully kicked her in the tits.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:38, closed)

My mate
...a Thames Valley copper tells me that such folk are known as 'Trishites' after daytime tv's Tricia. They waste so much police time it's just ridiculous. Every 'threatening' text message sent from one slut to her moron friend, fighting over Mr. blacked-out BMW has to be investigated and written up. Huge plasma tellies, dog turds in the back garden, children who are just told to 'shut the fuck up' day and night. Human garbage. How do you wake these people from their slumber; instil some degree of empathy or community spirit or selflessness? Fucked if I know.
(Happybara The jungle came alive and took him, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:40, closed)

They don't.
Their parents never worked, and their parents never worked, so they don't see why they have to.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:48, closed)

It's hard to talk about this subject
without sounding like a daily mail reader but I have to say I agree with all your comments. Breaders or Sproggers aspire to have children just for social housing....lets improve their lifes for them and make it less worthwhile to scrounge rather than getting a job. I fear the govts measures won't be harsh enough but the gravy train needs to stop somewhere...
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:25, closed)

You should send this to that Iain Duncan Smith
to help inform his current plans to reform the benefit system.
(square go, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:47, closed)

IDS seems pretty clued up
I don't think he needs to be told any of that.

Of course, whether his reasonable ideas actually have a decent implementation remains to be seen..
(EssY, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:51, closed)

I've got quite a lot of hope in that area
IDS is working really hard on it and he's got some great stuff
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:01, closed)

no problems with benefits system reform, PROVIDED THAT...
When anyone who is employed becomes unemployed, they get full benefits immediately AND active help to get a new job i.e. the dole office people* spend less time trying to distinguish genuine job seekers from scumsuckers and more time trying to help people find jobs

*Or, more likely, the private recruitment consultancies that it'll all be PFI'd out to at vastly inflated expense.

I've been unemployed more times in my life than I'm proud of - every time because of redundancy, and every time I've spent the hours of a full time job, and more, looking for a full time job.

We don't need to throw the baby of supporting genuine job seekers out with the bathwater of cutting off the support of the pondlife that taint the whole benefits system for everyone else.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Fri 28 May 2010, 17:37, closed)

humm
its just as well you had this rant and not me, otherwise I would have smashed my keyboard to bits in anger.

I work in a school. It's truly depressing.
(tb2571989 dies at precisely, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:49, closed)

We have neighbours
In an identical house to ours. They are unemployed, have four kids and they are so much better off than us. My wife and I both work full time, have one child and we struggle. I can't understand why people on benefits don't struggle to make ends meet, surely we can't be giving them that much money!
( Peej, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:54, closed)

Maybe they're claiming cash in hand work on the sly.
Or they spend the child benefits that are meant to buy clothes etc. on gin and fags.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 14:57, closed)

You'd be surprised...
Not only how much money they're given, but how much money they don't have to spend on things like Council Tax, prescription charges, sight tests and dentists, and how much can be claimed back through tax credits.

Again, I'm not anti-unemployed, but I'm definitely not in favour of a system that makes it more profitable for your neighbours to be out of work than for you to be in work.

Crikey, I'm starting to sound like a politician...
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:00, closed)

Part of the problem being, of course, that in order to match their benefits,
The rent of a house that size and the council tax it would invoke, the medical bills, and the free dentistry, etc, they would have to get jobs of about £25k plus, and that doesn't include the babysitter's fees for while they're working.

£25k jobs tend to demand some form of technical expertise and experience.

Which they don't have.

So it ain't gonna happen.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:05, closed)

'xactly.
I don't understand why a council house tenant is entitled to one bedroom per child. Most of us in my class at primary school shared bedrooms with our siblings, it was seen as a bit posh to have your own bedroom before you were about ten.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:14, closed)

Definitely this.

( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:15, closed)

I think it's something to do with the massive overcrowding that epitomised the slums in the early 20th C.
and that, after a certain age (I think - may be wrong) - 14 or something - girls particularly are legally entitled to their own room. I think this is to provide an area in which they can start generating more babies, in order to then get a house of their own.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:23, closed)

Yes
there needs to be some kind of incentive to get out of the trough. Unfortunately a job is less an incentive as a deterrent which undoubtedly means the entire system is fundamentally shitted up.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 28 May 2010, 16:06, closed)

hmmm
unless they present the incentive in a , FUCKING GET A JOB OR WE EXTERMINATE YOU kind of way, or a less drastic approach would be to, make sure that the money that is claimed is a lot lower than they would recieve working for a living. Hazzar, a solution
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Fri 28 May 2010, 17:11, closed)

Or make it hard to stay unemployed (or unemployable)
I like Bob Todd's second post about the Scandiwegian system. A lot.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 17:41, closed)

SKANDEEWEEJ
I like it.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 28 May 2010, 19:43, closed)

well said

( zulu eh?, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:09, closed)

I still reckon there's something to be said for nationalising all "menial" jobs - cleaning bogs, sweeping the streets, cleaning graffiti, generally fixing shit etc and doing away with job-seekers allowance entirely.

If you find yourself without a job, rock up at the job centre and you are given a "menial" job... no real questions asked... You choose your hours and the hourly rate is calculated to be the same as JSA if you work say 25 hours a week - then that leaves a good 2 hours a day to actually job hunt.

Don't want to work, then you get nothing.... simple.

Yes I know it's very generalised & probably unworkable but it's just an idea. Imagine how clean the place would be with 2.5 million people picking up litter for 5 hours every day.
(The_Mighty_Spleen, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:14, closed)

It's a bit patronising to professional cleaners to suggest that any old random can clean etc. to a professional level.
Menial doesn't mean stupid.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:16, closed)

Oh come on.
Anyone can pick up litter and scrub a khazi.
( 100% Cock Raw like carrots., Fri 28 May 2010, 15:18, closed)

Clearly you've never met my flatmates...

( wheresthefish Partly filled with wrong, Fri 28 May 2010, 16:52, closed)

Yes I know it is, but you could say the same about 99.9% of jobs. But if people are already being paid the money it must make sense to try and get them to actually be doing something as well.

Plus if the only way to get JSA is to do the more dull/unpleasant/soul destroying jobs that "nobody wants to do" then it might provide more incentive for the career unemployed to re-evaluate their career.

Plus when I was unemployed I wasn't hunting for jobs 37.5 hours a week.
(The_Mighty_Spleen, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:20, closed)

Good points.

( Bob Todd whee, Fri 28 May 2010, 15:27, closed)

so the pros get a promotion to supervising teams of the doley cleaners.
simple.

thats a good idea.
(Matty73, Sat 29 May 2010, 2:16, closed)

You, sir.....





...are quite right.
( 100% Cock Raw like carrots., Fri 28 May 2010, 15:17, closed)

Did this win already?

( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Fri 28 May 2010, 16:49, closed)

Just give them food and/or rations
No need to give jobseekers money.
Yes, it would still be infuriating to find your neighbour had their rent and food payed by you -- but at least then you could tell the tax man they had a plasma TV and have them all sent to a labour camp.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Fri 28 May 2010, 18:18, closed)

Interesting idea,
you could call it a "final solution".
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 18:25, closed)

You could, yes.
But you could stop being a cunt also.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Fri 28 May 2010, 18:40, closed)

OK. Sorry, thought you were being sarcastic.
Talking of labour camps and suchlike. The trouble with draconian measures is they dehumanise, and that's never going to help.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Fri 28 May 2010, 19:50, closed)

When did I mention Labour camps?
I said you should be given free food, drink, and shelter -- heck, throw in a second-hand TV and cable.
if you want more you have to work.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Tue 1 Jun 2010, 20:05, closed)

I don't like this,
I fucking love it! Well said sir/madam. Couple on my road who have BMWs while living on benefits in a council house. How does that work?

Unfortunately how many underclass scum are so far gone that they'd rather do anything other than work. Saw a pre-election piece where some daft bint opined that you couldn't stop people's benefits because they'll just turn to crime. If they choose to break the law rather than contribute to society then lock the fuckers up say I.
(The man with the flan swashed his buckle on, Fri 28 May 2010, 19:17, closed)

Yeah!
Take the £6 BILLION of benefits in this country, trim it to £1 bill, spend the rest on jails for all the criminals. Sorted.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 28 May 2010, 19:50, closed)

if someone chooses crime over working and contributing to society,
then they should be locked up. What part of that is so difficult to understand?

If people choose not to work, rather than be unemployed and actively searching for work, which is different, then they should receive subsistence level benefits payable in vouchers for food, clothes and travel. I don't believe they should starve, but they shouldn't be getting Sky TV on the taxpayer either and many are. In the meantime invest heavily in helping the willing back to work.

There's thousands of immigrants working in shitty jobs your average Chav could be doing, where did all those vacancies come from and why aren't more Brits working in KFC and cleaning toilets? Because theyd rather sit on their arses and expect me to pay for them instead. Maybe more kids would pay attention at school if that wasn't an option.
(The man with the flan swashed his buckle on, Sat 29 May 2010, 14:04, closed)

Maybe you should move to the southern U.S.A..
Lower taxes, 1 in 100 adults in jail, legal to buy assault rifles.

Move to the Bible-belt and you can stop complaining. You can have exactly the kind of society you are describing. It exists, so why not move there?
(stuntsmile, Sat 29 May 2010, 6:15, closed)

Yeah,
Because that's EXACTLY what he was talking about.
(The man with the flan swashed his buckle on, Sat 29 May 2010, 14:07, closed)

I reckon
If instead of giving out money, the Benefits Agency instead gave out books of tokens containing vouchers which will give a person the means to live in a moderate level of comfort, but will encourage people who scrounge from the system to find work to pay for the luxuries such as Plasma TVs and Sky.

May be a little extreme, but a friend of mine who studies Economics said that this idea would save taxpayers' money, and hopefuly have the added benefit of getting the scroungers into work as they suddenly find they cannot afford the things that they enjoyed previously.
(General_Manchego, Sat 29 May 2010, 14:21, closed)

I like this idea
The only issue I can see with it is that suddenly you'll have that standard of living/quality of life argument appearing again. People will claim that they need certain luxuries for their mental well being, and so on. Also, there'd be nothing stopping them from claiming t'internet for "job research" purposes and then just sitting on that all day, watching online TV.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Sat 29 May 2010, 14:30, closed)

The Internet is free in libraries
So that argument does not wash
(EssY, Sat 29 May 2010, 14:40, closed)

Its not the internet connection I object to,
as we all know having teh internet is most definitely not a human right, its the money being spent on booze, fags, designer trackies and Sky rather than decent food and clothes for their kids. Vouchers mean you can't do that. Of course some would sell their vouchers to get the above, but I can't see anyone giving that much cash for being able to buy kids clothes even at a £1 voucher:£1 rate.

The issue is that they need to work out the average spare cash that someone on minimum wage has after they've paid their rent and council tax and then pay a percentage of that as benefits as if you get your rent and council tax paid, everything else left after fuel and food is discretionary spending, a luxury that many workers don't have much of.

If people working on low wages struggle on to support their families with what little they have left after paying the essentials, doleites shouldn't be getting more than them, regardless of their circumstances. It just insults anyone who grafts hard in shitty minimum wage jobs through possession of pride and a work ethic to have it otherwise.

You'd see the teenage pregnancy rate drop like a stone when they realised that having another mouth to feed makes life harder instead of easier, just like working people have to.
(The man with the flan swashed his buckle on, Sat 29 May 2010, 22:24, closed)

Yeah
I've always thought something similar to that, but they get their benefits on some sort of card, and they are restricted to what they can buy with it, so no fags or booze, and thus less of a stress on the NHS, and not luxuries, so there is an incentive to work. It means people who need it get fed and clothed, but no one would want to live on it for long.

It might effect the economy a little, but giving tax money to scroungers to give to businesses probably isn't a an efficient use of taxes anyway.
(stubbledchin, Tue 1 Jun 2010, 13:07, closed)

I have known people
who actively admit that they are having their next child to up the amount of benefits they get and get a larger house.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Sat 29 May 2010, 15:54, closed)

I agree with this also.
Yet I'm one of the many long-term 'unemployed' in this country.

I have not looked for a job or bothered looking for a couple of years now and purely because of how much I'd need to earn to pay for everything I need.
There's a difference between what is needed and what isn't.

We have 2 cars (one is a ford KA we were given by a friend the other a MG midget that I bought several years ago) the MG hasn't been on the road for about 3 years because I cannot afford it.
Our house is privately rented, which the council do pay our housing benefit (although it's called 'local housing allowance' round here.
They don't pay all of the rent though, we still have to pay some of it and that was our choice.
The reason for me not working is a sleep disorder for myself and the missus has a myriad of other medical conditions that affect her day to day life.
I believe that general lazy twats shouldn't get as much as they do, but people with complete and total proof of issue should get the help if it's needed.
We struggle (believe it or not) to find our living costs, and don't have many luxuries, we have a 32 inch telly that we've had for many years, I have my computer and the missus has her cat.
Some people do take the total piss, my missus is unable to walk sometimes so needless to say life doesn't always flow very well, but I think we deserve the help we get and like I said If I could get a job that would pay for a carer to be with the missus while I was out at work all day, then I happily would.

Unfortunately the living costs are what causes the issues (IMO), if everything wasn't so expensive and/or a decent wage wasn't so low then things would be easier.
I had no choice but to give up well paid job in engineering to care for the missus and our kids. Going from owning a lovely 3 bed terraced house and being comfortable finacially to having to claim from the government to pay our rent and sometimes not being able to afford to put petrol in the car to bring the missus to the hospital is incredibly soul destroying, but the benefits we get help us to survive as without them we wouldn't be able to afford to live.
As it happens we do still struggle sometimes, but we wont jump on the benefits bandwagon and claim everything we can because we're not like that, we claim what we need to survive, nothing more.
Income support, LHA, council tax benefit and the middle level Disability allowance. Nothing more, the fact that some people do it simply because they can is what irks me.
(Mensa Reject has gone out, I'll be back on, Sat 29 May 2010, 23:46, closed)

I think that
we just have to accept that there is a group of people out there who just aren't competent at life. They are probably better off unemployed than in the workplace fucking it up for everyone else.
Historically, there have always been a large number of unemployed people, and they have always had to be fed and clothed by someone.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sun 30 May 2010, 12:15, closed)

I imagine that you don't get quite so many
of those in the 3rd world or in this country 100 years ago. The fact that we're not letting them starve to death is a good thing and represents progress, but the majority of those people have the ability to work and would if they had more pressure put on them.

The sad fact seems to be that life is only really hard for those people on benefits who really want a job and don't have the attributes to fiddle the system (if they don't have young kids, have savings or even a mortgage, god forbid!) and those who have to live on carers allowances.

Its obviously not hard enough for the feckless to bother as you have getting on for 3 or 4 generations who've never worked in some parts. If they can afford the trappings of modern life (designer clothes, satellite TV, mobiles, PCs) and have enough money left over for booze and fags without working then something has gone wrong. Its not fair to everyone else who has to work hard and in many cases have to make big sacrifices to buy what they want.
(The man with the flan swashed his buckle on, Mon 31 May 2010, 15:22, closed)

This appears to be quite popular
so may make the first page. In which case, er, thanks.

But really, look at the posts that nimrodinho and Juan Quar (mainly) have created for this QOTW. There are lots of them and they're short, witty and funny. But because there are lots of them they probably won't get the same first page credit. Which is a shame, because they're brilliant and they made me laugh a lot. So if you're reading this some time after this QOTW has closed, please take the time to click on the other numbers and find all those witty little one liners that are much more "b3ta" than my rant.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Sun 30 May 2010, 17:13, closed)