Tories are certainly getting stuck into our benefits system...

marklv

vaporate wrote: »

More idiots I see.

Politicians are lining their own pockets, and some guys here cheering at cutting your own entitlements lol. Laughable.

The unemployed are far too demonised, by sheer ignorant retards on here.

You do know all of you are only one quick chat away from getting the chop.

There simply is not enough jobs. No argument. PHD or no qualifications, makes no difference.

People who want beenfits cut can give up their share of their entitlements lol

Of course. Full employment is an economic impossibility in a capitalist, democratic state. It cannot ever happen, as employers need a constant supply of unemployed people they can tap into if the employees demand more money. Otherwise, what is to stop employees setting their own salaries? Without a jobless pool of skilled staff, salaries would rise sky high and cause massive inflation.

ash28

drc wrote: »

I'm just wondering why foreign aid is such a sacred cow that they have ringfenced it? Surely when we have a £160billion defecit per year, the UK must forego giving aid to countries that have their own space programmes (India etc)?

Foreign aid is administered by the Department for International Development, the running costs of DFID comes out of the overall aid budget.

DFID works from two UK headquarters in London and East Kilbride, and from over 50 offices overseas. We have over 2,300 staff, almost half of whom work abroad. Our PSA focuses on progress in 22 countries – 14 in Africa and 8 in Asia.

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/

I have no problem with foreign aid per se (except perhaps India and China) and for all our problems here, we are still a rich first world country. You aren't going to die for lack of a malaria injection that costs about 6 or 7p or a mosquito net costing less than a pint of beer. Your children aren't going to be ill or die through lack of clean water.

One issue I have is how much of the aid actually gets to the people who need it. Some of the aid is government to government, so how much actually gets to the people who really need it? And how much of it lost in bureaucracy or disappears into overseas gov't coffers or into the pockets of corrupt officials.

Others are the costs of running DFID, the fact that the biggest recipient of aid is India - I know there is grinding poverty in India, but if a country can fund a space programme and develop nuclear capability and supply the NHS with half of it's doctors (not sure about that) it can spend a bit more money on it's very poorest people - it is also a country like China with huge foreign reserves.

I think the way aid is administered by gov't here needs a total rethink, and we need to make sure the aid gets to the people who need it.

mbga9pgf

marklv wrote: »

Bo**ocks! If I come to you and smash both your legs to pulp with a jackhammer, would you still be able to do your normal job? I bet you would be whining like a pig and crying out for assistance, being the cripple that you would be. Miserable git.

No, I couldnt.

But I have the balls and the mental attitude to do something else.

Thats my point.

For the rest of the benefits whiners on here, f*cking suck it up. Me, and millions of tax payers have paid your way for far too long.

Time for you to find out what life is about. Deal with it. MNo-one has a right to a free and easy life. Least of all those who cant be bothered to work, or those that choose to have too many children and cant afford them.

You lot really dont know how despised you are in this country by the majority of hard working employed (or recently unemployed, having worked their whole lives).

At least leeches have some uses. You lot are worse than useless.

mitchaa

vaporate wrote: »

More idiots I see.

Politicians are lining their own pockets, and some guys here cheering at cutting your own entitlements lol. Laughable.

The unemployed are far too demonised, by sheer ignorant retards on here.

You do know all of you are only one quick chat away from getting the chop.

There simply is not enough jobs. No argument. PHD or no qualifications, makes no difference.

People who want beenfits cut can give up their share of their entitlements lol

So it is perfectly okay to milk the benefit system?

Using the excuse that there are not enough jobs is weak, very weak. There are jobs, If you wanted a job right now, If you tried hard enough you would find 1.

Look at it from the taxpayers point of view. Why should we get up everyday, work 37-40hr weeks, only for those that choose not to work and to lay about all day to be given our money that we have worked hard for?

I go to work Monday and Tuesday just to pay for someone elses benefits. I only start earning to feed myself and my family on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Why is that fair? It's not but I get on with it and do it anyway.

Can you not see why I am and those that do contribute are slightly aggrieved that there are long serving diehard benefit scroungers living off money that we have earned but yet they are too lazy and bone idle to go and earn it themselves in order to support themselves.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, It is 1 of life's biggest failings going through life being unable to support yourself if physically able.

Those that do not work will never see the frustrations of those that do. You would think benefit claimants would be grateful that there are people out there working and thus feeding them.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

marklv wrote: »

Bo**ocks! If I come to you and smash both your legs to pulp with a jackhammer, would you still be able to do your normal job? I bet you would be whining like a pig and crying out for assistance, being the cripple that you would be. Miserable git.

Have to agree with you and to be honest a lot of the replies on here show a lack of inexperience and immaturity.
We just don't know how we'll respond to illness any of us and until we've experienced it,we should'nt moan about the unfortunate ones who have.
We're all just one step away from being that "benefit scrounger"that everybody moans about.
Circumstances can change overnight,I've seen it happen to others too many times to be too complacent about it myself.
It realy does'nt pay to be pompous.

chucky

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Have to agree with you and to be honest a lot of the replies on here show a lack of inexperience and immaturity.
We just don't know how we'll respond to illness any of us and until we've experienced it,we should'nt moan about the unfortunate ones who have.
We're all just one step away from being that "benefit scrounger"that everybody moans about.
Circumstances can change overnight,I've seen it happen to others too many times to be too complacent about it myself.
It realy does'nt pay to be pompous.

but at least it makes you feel important and think you're popular on an internet forum :eek:

mbga9pgf

Someone freshly out of work is not a benefits scrounger.

Someone offered work (even temporary) who choses to not do it because it is "beneath" them, or the simply cant be @rsed are scroungers, something the government are fixing right now.

Its not pompous, its realistic. The choice should be simple. Either do the paid work you are offered, or starve. Mothers should be offered abortions if they dont think they can afford to have children, and we desperately need to sort out our immigration "problem" if there are too many people in the country for the job opportunities.

The times of fluffy policy are OVER.

ILW

I cannot see what right a claimant has to turn down any job that they they are physically capable of doing. Maybe the idea of three offers and then JSA or whatever is withdrawn could have a positive effect.
I cannot see the argument that a qualified architect (for example) should not be flipping burgers or working in a care home if that is all that is available to them.

drc

I think the benefits system is divided between those on benefits who are single/childless and those with children. If you are the latter, you are likely to get a lot of help in the form of tax credits/LHA/income support and all the extras such as free school dinners, free prescriptions, free laptops, sure start maternity grants etc. I have seen this myself on numerous "mothering" websites (I'm a mother myself btw not some perv checking out these sites ) and every day there is a post by some single mother with several kids going on about how she is spending £1k on new leather sofas/the latest nursery suites/the most expensive Next clothing for her kids etc etc or how much disposable income she has (and invariably it is much much more than the working mothers/couples on the forums).

In contrast, those who are single or couples with no kids do not get all the passport benefits that having children give you and so singles/childless couples do get a paltry return from the benefits system and invariably scrimp and save.

lemonjelly

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

Have to agree with you and to be honest a lot of the replies on here show a lack of inexperience and immaturity.
We just don't know how we'll respond to illness any of us and until we've experienced it,we should'nt moan about the unfortunate ones who have.
We're all just one step away from being that "benefit scrounger"that everybody moans about.
Circumstances can change overnight,I've seen it happen to others too many times to be too complacent about it myself.
It realy does'nt pay to be pompous.

Great post.

I work with a great number of people on benefits.
In my view, there are lots of issues with the benefits system. If some of these issues were resolved, I feel it could positively impact on benefit claimants, as well as non-claimants.

Disability benefits should be better investigated. That investigation needs to be thorough, but also sensitive. There are people out there who have spurious disability claims. If we had a more appropriate process, the genuine claims would pass, and the number of fraudulent claims would be reduced. Further, if claims were properly assessed, this would reduce the numbers of appeals made because of poor decisions.

Co-habitation is also a bigger issue than a lot of people are aware. There are a heck of a lot of "lone parents" with a partner living with them. Again weed out these fraudulent claims, & this would benefit the whole system.

Tax credits are ridiculously manipulated by the self employed out there.

However, I assume that you are all aware that the benefits system loses more each year because of errors, rather than fraud? Historically, this has consistently been the case.

In my mind, the processes & systems in benefits administration need radically over-hauling to improve efficiency, reduce errors, & ensure appropriate benefit payments are made to those in genuine need.

However, the sense of superiority displayed by some on here beggars belief. It is very easy to end up at the bottom of the pile, or on the scrap heap. All it takes is the wrong boy/girlfriend, the wrong collection of friends, the wrong boss, a business going under, a redundancy notice.