On 1 Jul 2014 at 11:37am Tory Voice wrote:
We have all seen them are lounging around at our expense on our very own benefits streets.Why not have local websites where the long term ,i.e .longer than two years unemployed, are named and shamed? That will encourage the lazy beggars to get a job I`m sure!
On 1 Jul 2014 at 11:54am Dickie Dido wrote:
Interesting idea but might take up a lot of web space 
On 1 Jul 2014 at 12:01pm Monsieur Petard wrote:
TV, you must be in a pretty busy job to be posting on this forum at 11.37am, when most people are at work.......
On 1 Jul 2014 at 12:02pm Mr Spoonz wrote:
Quite frankly anyone who votes Tory or indeed UKP deserves to be publicly ridiculed
On 1 Jul 2014 at 1:18pm Zzz.. wrote:
Lets do the same for the stupid and illiterate.
1. Tory Voice
On 1 Jul 2014 at 1:50pm Curly wrote:
At the risk of sounding like a Tory (which I'm definitely not) I'd like to see people earning their benefits. There's lots of jobs that need doing. As long as it's not replacing someone currently in a job, send them to work. Lots of organisations need volunteers to keep functioning, so make that a pre-requisite of getting benefits after 3 months. We shouldn't be paying for idleness and that way the whole of society benefits.
On 1 Jul 2014 at 1:50pm Curly wrote:
PS. most people on benefits are the elderly and the already employed, so it's only the unemployed and on benefits who should be sent to work. Everyone else is earning it.
On 1 Jul 2014 at 2:37pm 8 miles from home wrote:
Most of the unemployed on work programmes are being sent to work in the Charity shops.
On 1 Jul 2014 at 3:25pm Osbourne wrote:
Just stop the benefits. Find a job
On 1 Jul 2014 at 5:30pm Mr Spoonz wrote:
Most people on benefits have a job, if the scumbag capitalist employers paid more we wouldn't need benefits!
On 1 Jul 2014 at 6:10pm Welsh Miner wrote:
I`m with you dickie dido
On 1 Jul 2014 at 6:42pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
If people were forced to work for their benefits, they'd have to be paid minimum to do all the things that need doing, otherwise they'd be accused of undercutting workers.
The problem is, few people would be prepared to pay for it all.
Personally, I'd like to see publicly funded job creation, doing useful things like cutting verges etc, and the extra money earned by the new workers would generate tax and increase demand for goods and services, thus creating more jobs funded by businesses.
On 1 Jul 2014 at 8:42pm Ed Can Do wrote:
The problem with "if the scumbag capitalist employers paid more we wouldn't need benefits!" is that the scumbag capitalist shareholders who own those companies demand a certain return on their investment and if the companies were forced to pay a lot more for their labour, the only way to maintain their profits to appease their shareholders, many of whom live in nice places like Monaco and Switzerland and care not one iota about living standards in the UK, would be to increase their prices, making the increase in wages completely pointless. Everyone will still be able to buy the same amount of stuff, they'll just pay for it with bigger denominations of currency.
There is no simple cure for poverty, unemployment and the benefits trap. If there was someone would have done it by now. I would suggest that we have made it a touch too easy to be unemployed in this country to the extent that a few people (And it's only a few) now see it as a viable lifestyle choice. Those people have kids which are supported by the state and those kids grow up with no aspirations, seeing living off benefits as the norm. The cycle repeats and the problem increases.
I believe the only way out of the cycle is to drastically improve the quality of education in this country. Teach kids that there is more to life than living off the dole and give them the skills and work ethos they need to do this. It's not a quick fix and there can't be a quick fix but so long as politicians care more about being re-elected in five years time than the actual state of the country all we'll ever get is headline grabbing, quick fix attempts. Sad really.
On 1 Jul 2014 at 10:50pm Mme B wrote:
Isn't it obvious that TV is not a tory voice but a rather witless socialist voice trying to stir things up.
On a serious note, joblessness is such a complex subject I must leave the subject to the rest of you, who are more politically articulate.
On 1 Jul 2014 at 10:56pm Mme. C The French TV wrote:
Sacre Bleu
On 2 Jul 2014 at 12:01pm Merlin Milner wrote:
A tiny 3% of the welfare spending goes on benefits to unemployed people, 42% is spent on the elderly and 21% spent on working families.
On 2 Jul 2014 at 1:36pm Curly wrote:
With all respect the proportion is irrelevant Merlin. 3% is a small % but still an enormous amount of money that funds people - some in Lewes - to do literally nothing all day. That's not right, fair or giving us value for money when instead we could all benefit from them using their time more constructively while looking for a job. What are your party planning to do about it? And what do you think should be done about it?
On 2 Jul 2014 at 1:47pm Merlin Milner wrote:
Indeed. However without an understanding of the proportions, some may be led to think that the majority of welfare spending goes on unemployment benefit when it is 'only' 3%.
Regrettably, there will always be unemployment. As to what to do; not my specialist area. Talk to me about business and manufacturing and will happily talk till the cows come home.
The best policy for any government is one that is not vindictive, to understand those in dire circumstance, offer proper training if needed, not to outsource the problem to the private sector, offer 'carrots' that are worthwhile not electioneering.
On 2 Jul 2014 at 1:51pm Curly wrote:
I agree Merlin. I'd hope that you'd know your party policy though as a member. Getting people to work isn't vindictive, it's accepting that some people play the system, some people are habituated into a benefits cycle, and some genuinely want to escape it. Giving everyone the opportunity to improve their self-esteem, get training, and get a habit of working while giving something back will help everyone.
On 2 Jul 2014 at 2:08pm Curly Whats? wrote:
I`m getting habituated into trolling this forum and taking the piss - Help -Gisa Job
On 2 Jul 2014 at 2:15pm Merlin Milner wrote:
I never said or implied that getting people to work is vindictive. I generally agree with you. Just making the point generally that any policy should not be vindictive, especially in its implementation. That goes across the board of all departments. The right to buy for example was vindictive towards poor mostly Labour councils since monies raised could not go back into housing. Causing great problems in the inner cities and thus housing shortages, high rents and reduced council income.