Lewes Forum thread

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Volunteers wanted

On 8 Dec 2014 at 1:57pm hedger wrote:

Anyone interested in hard work with no pay outdoors?

Check it out here »

On 8 Dec 2014 at 4:28pm Sussex Jim wrote:

This appears to be an ideal project for young single people who are signing on at the Jobcentre (plus?) because they say they cannot find work. Something to do for perhaps three days a week in between "jobseeking".

On 8 Dec 2014 at 5:17pm bastian wrote:

Sussex jim, why do you always have to do that. This person is in need of people with an interest, they aren't a bay sitting club. Have they advertised at Plumpton?

On 8 Dec 2014 at 5:39pm Bay watcher wrote:

Watching not sitting - it`s just a load of billhooks

On 8 Dec 2014 at 5:40pm Sussex Jim wrote:

Sorry Bastian: But I do despair of young single people thinking they cannot find work and idling their lives away when there are worthwhile projects they could be doing-paid or not.

On 8 Dec 2014 at 7:01pm Tonic 4 Troops wrote:

Yet more right wing snide comments coming from SJ or should I say Sussex Gin.
Have you ever met a "young single unemployed person' Gin?
I can't stand his generalised remarks on a section of society that he obviously knows very little about.

On 8 Dec 2014 at 7:36pm Sussex Jim wrote:

Tonic, I was there, forty years ago. I thought I could bum around for the summer; and signed on. The man in the dole office selected three unappealing vacancies, which I excused myself from. He folded his arms and said "Look, Mr. Sussex:If you are refusing jobs you could well do, we will stop your dole."
I had to find work at once- to support myself, and pay my mum for board and lodging.
What a pity the same standards no longer exist.

On 8 Dec 2014 at 8:50pm Tonic 4 Troops wrote:

You pay your poor old Mum for board and lodging!
Who's the snivelling old bugger who constantly takes a swipe at the unemployed & less fortunate in society?

On 8 Dec 2014 at 11:28pm skeptical green wrote:

Jobseekers will be unlikely to be able to volunteer. The rigid box ticking regime now imposed by our Con Tory friends means that they have to show they have spent their days sending off cvs for dozens of jobs they have no hope of getting. They can only go on approved schemes otherwise they will get what is called sanctions i.e. jobseekers allowance stopped for 3 months so they become destitute. There appears to be no discretion to allow appointments to be rescheduled or skipped to go on worthwhile projects to acquire skills that might help to get a job or confidence and self worth from helping others leading to the same. The Times and th BBC recently reported a case of a youth losing benefits from such sanctions for going on his own initiative on a YMCA course to learn job interview skills! He had told the job centre but they had not replied. YMCA complained but just got a mealy mouthed reply. Recently published research done by Church organisations shows that one of the main spurs for using foodbanks is delay in benefit payments or these sanctions. What is needed is to give job centre staff the discretion to allow jobseekers to do a variety of voluntary work and projects like the one mentioned with their blessing and encouragement and no loss of benefits as it all helps to get people into work and widen their experience. It would also help to change job centre staff back into humane folk trying to help people into work rather than agents of a punitive bureaucracy akin to poor law guardians or the means test boards described by George Orwell that they now present to their clients. Also the tax and benefit regime needs to be reformed to make it easier for people to shift from unemployment into part time work without being worse off as that is often a good way of proving yourself and leads to full time work. Blaming the poor or resurrecting old ancient ideas about their being deserving and undeserving categories of poor people and clear distinctions between them is a waste of time, what is needed is practical help unhindered by dogma.

On 9 Dec 2014 at 12:06am Bongo wrote:

Looks like it's a SIG (special interest group) judging by the website. I think what he's doing is extremely important, passing on knowledge like that for future generations. I'd volunteer if I were a lot younger and fitter!