help me help me i'm turning into a conservative!!!

[bednobs]

do you thinks it's just because i'm getting older? After reading 3 questions on here about people's "entitlement" to benefits it makes me mad! Why do people think they'll be better off? is it because they will be? Don't people have any pride or control over their circumstances? I really agee with giving people things that are truly struggling, by why cant that be in the form of food stamps? or energy vouchers?
Why not make being on benefits socially unacceptable so people have an incentive to work? Clearly money is not enough of an incentive
Am i just ranting, or should i give up and get a blue rinse?

[cazzz1975]

I would get the blue rinse anyway its very fetching :D

[Abdulmajid]

Forgive me if I am reading your tone of words wrong (that is the title), but are you stating it is in some way bad or insulting to be a Conservative?

[bobtheturkey]

how many times on here have i said unemployment benefits should be scrapped? i would give them a month to find work or face a firing squad, i have no problems with carers receiving benefits or parents who look after disabled kids etc but i cannot see for the life of me the logic in me as a hard working taxpayer buying some able bodied lazy idiot his lunch simply because he is too lazy to find work

[kawa4]

here.s one 4 u y do the rich get child bennifit?

[poohshunny]

We hear all the time that there are not enough jobs. One of the women I work with came into do her shift about a month ago and asked if there were any extra shifts needing covered. Her husband had just been made redundant. They were really worried that he would struggle to find another job because he is in his 50s. Within a week he had found a temporary position through an agency, and now has a full time permanent position. He went out with the intention of finding a job to continue supporting his family as he always had, and found one without a problem. It's not a case of no work, it's a case of not wanting to work in todays society for far too many people.

[natterley]

Im a single mum.. work everyday and I am worse off than I would be if i was on benefits... i couldnt not work... i would get so bored!

[cazzz1975]

not necessarily poohshunny, lots of timeserved engineers cannot get work now because we have almost no engineering left in this country, they are often rebuffed for other jobs despite going on courses to change career as they have not enough years of work experience..


its not all "laziness"

[bednobs]

lol abdul, thats because it IS a bad thing!
I have always been of liberal or labour mind and finding myself agreeing with anne widdecome is a really frightening experience i'll have you know!

[bensmum]

lol at bob's firing squad idea. I was always slightly to the right of Attila the Hun politically but if anything I have become less conservative as I get older.
Actually for a conservative I am a very good socialist!

[Abdulmajid]

bednobs.

As Harry Enfield said

"L is for Labour. L is for Lice"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MGA4R_d0Gso

If you have not seen this (apologies I have posted before) it will sum your old politics up in 1 minute 26 secs.




ANN WIDDICOMBE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bobtheturkey]

attila the hun one of my heroes!

[tigerlily11]

I can't talk because my husband is registered disabled after a car accident and was signed of in his profession(engineering), so I'm on said benefits. But I would like to say please don't tar us all with the same brush. I am working towards a degree right now and about to take up volintary work so I will be doing something. And there are others out there doing the same. But I can understand your point of view. I feel awkward round my older son and daughter becasue they both work hard and it makes me feel low to think that others are paying for me.

[~max~]

I agree, actually, because the amount of benefits SOME people receive is far from being an incentive to find work, as it was meant to be originally, and becomes a way of life. I am off work at the moment, through illness, but I'm not claiming anything. I am getting SSP from work, but that's all, because I simply don't want to milk it and there is no physical reason for me to be not working. The fact that I can't handle "working" at the moment is nobody else's business and should certainly not be paid for by other people. I have been working full time for 7 years and have paid taxes, and I shall return to work soon.
All the people I see around here who are not working because it's easier to get pregnant and get a council house, knowing that your family and friends' circle is tight enough for you to never want for anything (I know beneits aren';t enough!), well that is just wrong.

[annie0000]

I have to say that I absolutely agree with you bednobs. I would happily pay for those who really need help to have a decent standard of living, even if it meant paying more tax. But it really frustrates me when people are claimimg benefits when there is no reason for them not to be working. If you look at the migrant workers for instance- they don't seem to have any problem getting work. Thats because they can't get benefits and because they are willing to work hard. There is always work about, maybe not exactly whaat you want to do, but work there if you need it. I have been made redundant twice and have never claimed benefits in my life. I have been working for nearly 25 years and have always supported myself and my family. i don't know what the solution is, but god forbid that I ever vote tory!

[China Doll]

Up until the beginning of March this year I have worked since the age of eighteen including putting myself through university. Now I find myself in a situation where at the age of 29 I've had to move back to my mums for the time being which is lucky because if I didn't have that facility I would be classed as homeless. I've been trying since I had to leave my previous role to find work which has involved spending all day every day filling in application forms and hoping something breaks. I work in admin so it's not like I'm looking in a particularly specialised field.

On Wednesday I have an appointment at the job centre to complete my application for job seekers allowance. I have never claimed any form of benefit in my life and I'm ashamed that I have to go and do this. Socially acceptable? To who? Not me. But I have to do it and carry on applying and searching at the same time.

Oh and the work that I've done the last six/seven years that ... I worked for the public sector.

So pride, well I have that in spades. Control, I'm trying to regain it. In the mean time, i'm particularly glad to recieve some form of small allowance (if I qualify, I don't even understand the whole thing) if it means I can contribute to the house bills.

I'm just using my story to illustrate thefact that there are individual circumstances behind those claiming benefits and that I think the idea that it's socially accpetable or that those claiming it have not a care in the world or no incentive to work is out dated and if true at all only for a minority of people.

[puss_boots]

I will not rant and rave about the benefits because once I get started I even get myself mad. But.........but I have worked since I was 16 and paid into the system also I have saved and paid for my retirement out of my meagre wages. Now then I was 60 in January and I still have to work because my husband who also paid for 40 years in to pension fund and who gets this paltry sum every month is just over the amount that we are suppose to be able to live on. Can we get any help with ever increasing bill.....not on your life....but come and live here from anywhere else and just line up to get hundreds of pounds thrown at you. I'm off now before I blow a gasket.