Career benefits scroungers, as loved by the gutter press, do exist obviously. But it doesn't hurt to repeat that the majority of people who claim benefits in the UK don't want to claim them, only claim small amounts and only claim them for short periods.

Some of the posts on this thread about people leeching off the state, skiving, soaking up the largesse of the state, benefits free for all etc are quite repulsive and look like an insight into a smug self satisfied state of mind that has no regard for anyone else who is in a less fortunate position.....e.g. - people who claim benefits are all scum - nuff said.

I just returned from a trip to Chicago, great place, but I was saddened by the number of people begging on the street. There were a few younger people among them who, outwardly, appeared to be capable of working.  Here and there were young guys with limbs missing - presumably casualties of foreign wars, but the largest group were predominantly black middle aged or elderly people, all quite inoffensive and polite. Okay, nothing unique about this, we have people living on the streets in London and a percentage of them are plainly layabouts, druggies and alchies. The difference in Chicago was that there appeared to about five times as many homeless on the street and that far more of them appeared to elderly or sick people who had fallen on hard times with little in the way of a safety net to help them along. Governments in the UK appear to be pushing us towards the US model of social care, with similar gaps appearing between the haves and have nots. Much as I like visiting America it's not the sort of society I want to see in the UK.

Last edited by 4F Hepcat (2015-10-02 09:54:08)

The point is: All that good service will be at risk in a nationalized industry, all those waitresses and waiters who only get paid the state's minimum wage, along with everyone else.

Can you imagine the glory of the nationalized canteen system under Corbyn?

Still, I see his new advisor is planning a 3 day week and why not, when the power cuts start, there will be very little choice!