I'm a wobble-bottom, feather-bed me!

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

Most obese people cope just fine with work - or if they don't, it's got precisely nothing to do with their weight.

It's just another excuse.

I agree...its just you can't tell who from just looking I think.

Anyway, I think a lot more people could work in someway with a plethora of medical conditions. I know I could work, certainly with some allowances. I'm still riding high on last weeks earnings and while I know that's a one off, it frustrates me...because I just could.

One of the big issues with return to work is that we, I very much include me, get used to the demands of the quiet life...doing more is mega tiring and exacerbates things for a while.

Kohoutek

sjaypink wrote: »

.........bit scared to say, but...........

if I was 44 stone I'd have trouble working............?

If their obesity is caused by medical problems, I can see the argument. But if it's not caused by medical problems, why should they receive benefits?

We need to change our benefits policy so it starts from from the assumption people are not entitled to anything and gives relief to people only in significant hardship. If someone is just incompetent at running their own life, why should they get anything?

carolt

Desertfox wrote: »

Maybe eating too much is part of the health issue? I can't understand anyone in their right mind actually wanting to weigh 44 stone. Dole money isn't worth that much.

Where did the 44 stone figure come from?

I assume most of these people weigh far less.

I also suspect it's pretty hard to reach 44 stone unless you do have other health issues that make you gain weight - its a pretty huge number.

To get back to your basic point, though, I agree people who are vastly overweight must have 'issues' that need dealing with, but we should be targeting our cash at providing them with psychological help, not just paying for them to continue that lifestyle. It's not good for them, and it's not good for taxpayers either.

Someone with confidence issues, say, would be much better off gaining esteem from working - plus the exercise involved in getting up and going out to work - than sitting at home watching Jeremy Kyle and eating junk food I've paid for.

chopperharris

so you get on incap and dla for being fat and lazy , im waiting for the too ugly to leave the house without causing fright being a qualifying factor and im sorted.

Seriously though what other society lets folk get these benefits for being fat , then give them more money to eat beacuse of it , then gives them a car to get to the shops , a badge to park nearer , and use of a scooter when they are going round the fxxking aisles.

The key to weight loss is mobility , not motability ,with restriction of calories and not more money to buy more.

Me I cant really talk , if i fell forward i would end up back on my feet eventually.Im so rotund that if i walk backwards you can hear a beep , beep , beeep,I gave blood last week for the first time , I asked them my bloodtype and they said it was lard positive.

lostinrates

Kohoutek wrote: »

If someone is just incompetent at running their own life, why should they get anything?

So, scrap state pensions, if people haven't organised their own...and unemployment benefit..for people incompetent at arranging their careers? HB? Build a house you lazy b8ggers, and NHS? get your self some medical insurance?


FWIW I agree, obesity is not an ''illness'' in the way its often portrayed and I also think for some people, with obesity and also some emotional illnesses avoiding real life actually can be UNhelpful. Purely my opinion though, from someone with no medical qauls just an opinion.

bouche

amcluesent wrote: »

More than two thousand obese people claim benefits because they are too overweight to find a job

The numbers claiming disability benefits on the grounds that they are incapacitated by obesity have nearly doubled from 1,100 when Labour came to power to 2,040 last year.'

The annual cost to the taxpayer of paying the £89.80-a-week incapacity and severe disablement allowance to those with obesity as a “main disabling condition” now stands at nearly £10 million a year.

Nice one! Cheers! Pass the chip-buttie!

FAO anyone silly enough to work and pay sky-high tax in England's socialist utopia - you plonker!

You do have a wobby mind and a wobbly heart and soul if that's your complaint. Hope you fall flat on your face sometime sooon:T

wymondham

Break open the Cadburys for me then, here I come!!

bouche

wymondham wrote: »

Break open the Cadburys for me then, here I come!!

Kraft, you mean;)

lostinrates

Desertfox wrote: »

You assume all health problems can be diagnosed.

Eating non stop until you're unhealthy sounds like a mental health issue to me.

an excellent point and I think very likely we will, in the future, look to treat this with as much vigour as we do the other eating disorders.

I can't imagine how 44 stone would look on average TBH. It nmight have all sort of issues for employers...floor and seat reinforcements...stair cases? I don't kno what buildings can cope with and how employers costs might be impacted.

Kohoutek

lostinrates wrote: »

So, scrap state pensions, if people haven't organised their own...and unemployment benefit..for people incompetent at arranging their careers?

I think our unemployment benefit is very ungenerous, because in the current economic climate, the majority of claimants are people who have been made redundant and fallen on hard times. Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Norway have very generous unemployment benefit, coupled with programmes to help people retrain into new careers if necessary. We just have a derisory £60 a week.

People who have been in employment contribute towards unemployment benefit and state pensions through paying national insurance - they deserve to claim benefits when they're made redundant or retire.

However, we have a extensive class of people who have never made significant or sometimes any contributions to national insurance that claim enormous sums in housing benefit, council tax benefit, child benefit, incapacity benefits etc. It's often a perverse incentive not to work.

I don't believe in the something for nothing argument unless its to relieve significant hardship. I don't think it's helpful to society to allow people to live off the state easily. Look at the enormous budgets for welfare in the UK and US - the out of control budgets and culture of entitlement are a key reason why both countries are heading towards bankruptcy.