BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:55 PM

@ Richard and Lizzie

Get to your corners. I myself and my son had ADD and ADHD respectively. It was not until the teen years we could sort out how to cope with sense overload and too much information.

Richard it is was damn lucky that your stepson had a mother who knew how and had the time to do what was needed to sort him out. Most children with ADHD and ADD are not so fortunate.

Lizzie sadly there are many children who are being misdiagnosed and dosed up accordingly because the parents and schools can't, don't or won't cope any other way with children exhibiting behaviour problems.

So let's not tar everyone with the same brush, ok? That is the preserve of certain others who take joy in divide and conquer games.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 03:32 PM

A lady on D.L.A. and other benefits appeared in court today.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3767600/Benefits-cheat-rumbled-on-slide.html

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 12:09 PM

Teachers open doors! You choose whether to enter, or not.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 11:25 AM

Lizzie, In your earlier post you said "This thread was started purely to upset, which the person who's done that sits behind his screen chuckling in delight."

I agree with that at least.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 10:57 AM

It was cut and paste from The Telegraph.
I gave the link.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 10:53 AM

I did not perpetuate any myths.

Yes you did. You posted this:

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is determined to stop what he regards as abuse of free cars for the disabled...

The cars are not free. Severely disabled people have to pay to lease the cars from the mobility component of their DLA. That component is not a car allowance. It is intended to compensate them to some extent for the particular difficulties and expenses they incur when moving around. The recipient may use it in any way they choose.

I posted without comment a KIA advert

And you didn't notice the blatant error, motability instead of mobility, in the ad??

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 10:49 AM

Having had a hyperactive stepson whose mother taught him to take charge of and responsibility for his condition, and who went on to get a first in philosophy, I think I know exactly what I am talking about. The people who make excuses do the damage and create the ineducable.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 10:34 AM

Then you are as ignorant as he.

Thank you

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 10:32 AM

Lizzie, I know you mean well, but this is something I will agree with Richard on. Arise, bright Phoebus awakes!

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 10:24 AM

I give up, Richard, you are so blinkered that at times it makes me want to weep...

You will never understand the damage your outlook causes..and that saddens me, for there are many others who think as you do, and so the damage goes on...and on...and on.

May I suggest you read Barry Finn's words again, in his song, above, for Barry understood, totally.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 08:33 AM

I did not perpetuate any myths.
I posted without comment a KIA advert and a Daily Telegraph motoring article.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 08:30 AM

"LEARN!! EDUCATE YOURSELVES!! UNDERSTAND THE HORRENDOUS DAMAGE BEING DONE BY THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND and DON'T **WANT** TO UNDERSTAND!"

Exactly so Lizzie. Don't stare out of the window at the pwetty squiggles but apply yourself. You and the other starers are THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND and DON'T **WANT** TO UNDERSTAND

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 08:17 AM

Kia Motability
Motability is a worry-free car lease package for disabled drivers. It can mean a brand new car every three years, for anyone receiving the higher rate motability component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), or War Pensioners' Motability Supplement (WPMS). You don't even need to be able to drive – as part of your lease you can nominate up to two drivers.

The package includes: Insurance, Servicing and Maintenance, Full RAC breakdown assistance, Annual Car Tax, replacement tyres, windscreen replacement, Many adaptations at no extra cost, 60,000 mileage allowance over 3 year lease.

Well, Keith, I think that's all very fair and a good example of how we should be treating the most severely disabled. Please note that it is not the "disabled" who can take up the Motability scheme - it is the most severely disabled (and the name of the component they receive is "higher rate mobility component - it helps to get this right), and the rules as to who receives this benefit are extremely stringent. You must be in receipt of that component to qualify for the Motability scheme. Many severely-disabled people cannot drive a car so it's perfectly right that they should be able to nominate carers as their drivers. Of course, there is the potential for abuse there, but tell me what benefit doesn't have. I reckon that a good many MPs use their allowances to buy whisky, but hey ho. And I note that in another post you attempt to perpetuate the myth that motability cars are "free." They are not. The mobility component is not a car allowance. It is a benefit intended to help meet the costs of getting around for people who have severe difficulty doing so. That allowance may be used to offset the costs of leasing a car. A more expensive car will cost more than the allowance and may incur an advance fee of up to £2000 or more. If you stick to just spending your allowance and no more you will not exactly be getting a Roller.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 07:56 AM

Sorry Richard, I was unaware you were addressing me. Your remark was addressed to someone called Whiteman.

Yes I did receive injuries while serving in Ulster.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 07:26 AM

LEARN!! EDUCATE YOURSELVES!! UNDERSTAND THE HORRENDOUS DAMAGE BEING DONE BY THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND and DON'T **WANT** TO UNDERSTAND!


Rory Bremner 'ADHD & Me' - BBC iPlayer

Rory - BBC article ' ADHD rings such a bell with me'

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 07:18 AM

And so many of them are the ones who, despite Rich Talents, end up in the Job Centres for most of their lives..being called 'unemployable little b'stards' by folks who have such narrow thinking brains, such un-feeling souls, such a deep inability to think "WHY are their lives like this?" that the whole Feckingly Awful Circle keeps on and on spinning out of control, more and more and more......


As I said...there but for the Grace of your God!

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 07:15 AM

I see you have not come clean on your previous claims to have an injury or a disability or something Bluesman. Do I really have to go to hunt for it?

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 07:14 AM

I think it's a mark of what a wonderful country we 'were' that parents with children who have severe ADHD are given help towards a car, to the value of £2,5000 a year...

I never knew you could get it.

I watched my friend struggle terribly with her son, who has Aspergers and ADHD. She barely wanted to take him out to public places in the end. They were lucky, they could afford a car, for her husband had a job and his dad is very wealthy.

However, had she NOT had a car of her own then taking her son *anywhere* on public transport would have been a total bloody nightmare...and the very people on this thread who are tut-tutting would have been the same ones who, if having to share a bus/coach/train with a child like hers, would be saying "How DISGUSTING to have a child like THAT!!" annoyed at having their peace and quiet disturbed, probably wanting 'kids like that' to be banned from public transport entirely!

Bastards!


And yes, Ben is now all growed up..much better having been to a special school (his grandpa paid) where children with ADHD/ADD/Dyslexia/Autism were fully understood and cared for, each child taught in the way they could learn, naturally, thus removing the 'You are SO STUPID!' label from their souls....

He still has problems, but is able to step back, mostly, and cope with them. He will ALWAYS have problems, but again, as he gets older, hopefully, he will be able to cope more and more.

Ben is one of the lucky ones...Parents who both care, Grandparents who are filthy rich...Had his grandfather NOT been around, then his life would have been very different, for whilst in the state system he ended up on the outside window-sill of his bedroom, wanting to end his life. He was 10 years old..bullied senseless by both pupils and teachers who could not cope with him...

He wouldn't LEARN in THEIR way, you see...and being around so many other children scared him senseless.....

So fook everyone on here who thinks that 'children like this' are making it up, or being foul..for it is a life-long way of life for them...they merely think differently..and they are NOT YOU!

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 07:01 AM

YOU WOULDN'T KNOW IT TO LOOK AT ME^^^
(Barry Finn)

"You're not listening to me. Are you deaf in both ears?
Don't you see what you've caused? Have you been blind all these years?
Could you just give an answer, so I know you're not dumb?
For Christ's sake, you bird brain, has a cat got your tongue?"

Cho: I'm as cute as any other kid. I can run, jump and shout.
You wouldn't know it to look at me. At times, I can't work things out.
I'm not stupid. I'm not lazy. I try very hard.
With a little compassion, I could go pretty far.

Well, school is a torture. The teasing won't quit.
My thoughts go off track and my aide has a fit.
There are some things I excel in, so much that I'm bored.
You wouldn't know it to look at me. It takes all that I'm worth.

The kids scorn and laugh at me. I don't have a friend.
You can feel my heart break. I wonder when this will end.
The mistreatment and abuse I take, it's really a crime,
But I'm told to ignore it, though it happens all of the time.

I know it's hard on my family. I can't change a thing.
The aunts and uncles blame it on my folks and say it's poor upbringing.
The love and affection others get all the time,
I only hear people yell at me, when I ask, "Where is mine?"

I never feel comfort, no shoulder, no hug.
A system to support me was pulled out like a rug.
If you can't understand this, you may be worse off than me,
But I won't hold it against you, 'cause you're deaf and can't see.

I may be mildly autistic or just plain O. C. D.
I may twitch with Tourette's, or have A. D. D.
If you see me cross my eyes, instead of my T's,
You wouldn't know it to look at me that I have special needs.

Words, (c) Barry Finn, 1998.^^^
Tune, traditional Australian, "One Of The Has Beens."

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 06:59 AM

Yes Lizzie.
I work with excluded children.
The condition is real but does any other country provide the parents with such a benefit?

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 06:56 AM

Well, you'd best take the ADHD 'mystery' up with Rory Bremner, hadn't you...for he too has it...

It is a brain which sparks and fizzes..a thousand thoughts that go out into the universe like bright lights..

You'll find that MANY of the best creative people have it..

I can tell those who do have it in an instant, see the way their minds work, their bodies move...

As a child I was never still, ever..
To this day, when I talk my head is having several other conversations...When I talk to someone with a like minded brain we can cover a myriad of thoughts in a few moments,sparking off each other as each word instantly opens up a new path with thousands more thoughts upon it, each of those also leading to many other paths...

Watch Lee Evans....watch many of the great, fast-witted, fast-thinking comedians, entertainers....

Then get your narrow minded way of thinking out of its box and into Reality Land and realise the damage that is being done to so many.

I found most of my teachers boring as hell...
I have no interest in talking about one subject, in one way, or learning something in someone's else's way..I do not want to study the same book for two years, listening to some boring ol' fart pontificating about what Shakespeare (insert author/poet of choice) ACTUALLY MEANT from 'that sentence' because I know that ONLY Shakespeare himself would actually know...

Some of the best and brightest brains end up on the streets because of how they've started in life, often being told how stupid/thick/ignorant/lazy they are, when they are the exact opposite....

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 06:12 AM

We all know that unscrupulous parents seek diagnosis of this pie in the sky thing called "ADHD" to get benefits. In my day it was called bad parenting.

Many people, including teachers, are sceptical as to whether the condition isn't simply a way for bad parents to excuse the bad behaviour of their children. I have heard it theorised that ADHD is a problem caused by middle class parents who aren't prepared to smack their children and demand a label when their children struggle at school, or that ADHD is a problem caused by working class parents who feed their children junk food and abandon them to the television.



There are thousands of people on DLA under the age of 16, the government are aware a lot of it is fraud. DLA fraud is on the rise, facts prove this.

There must be a clamp down on the massive fraud. The government is able to justify the cuts and I am glad to say, increased checks are in store for everyone on disability benefits.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:59 AM

Some 200,000 cars are registered to be used by the disabled person's relatives or friends.

More than 3,000 families with a child suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or "naughty child syndrome" are eligible for the scheme, which can be worth £2,500 a year towards a car.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is determined to stop what he regards as abuse of free cars for the disabled as part of his campaign to curb the UK's annual £192billion benefits bill.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8842236/Motability-car-charity-moves-to-stop-abuse-of-benefits.html

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:53 AM

Lizzie, this may help.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipsychotic

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:50 AM

Kia Motability
Motability is a worry-free car lease package for disabled drivers. It can mean a brand new car every three years, for anyone receiving the higher rate motability component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), or War Pensioners' Motability Supplement (WPMS). You don't even need to be able to drive – as part of your lease you can nominate up to two drivers.

The package includes: Insurance, Servicing and Maintenance, Full RAC breakdown assistance, Annual Car Tax, replacement tyres, windscreen replacement, Many adaptations at no extra cost, 60,000 mileage allowance over 3 year lease.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:50 AM

Well you can all talk until you are blue in the face, the changes are on the way so accept them. I feel reforms to the benefits system are fair.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:45 AM

Yes, thank you, I fully realise why her cheeks are red..

Richard, for a lawyer I truly don't understand why you can't get your head around the fact that people learn diffently. You cannot have a system where ALL are forced to learn in one way.

It does not work, it has never worked, it will never work.

And as 'every 20 minutes a child is born with autism'...and that 'circle' involves MANY different ways of seeing/understanding the world, I can only say that unless the Edukashum System can get their head aroud that fact, we will see more and more people spat out by a System which basically doesn't give a fuck for anyone who is not 'academic'.

Kick the Academics out of The System and let The Empaths take over..and THEN there may just be a chance that this Humanity may survive...for at present we are on a Handcart to Hell, for sure..


Thank you,
Fluff

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:20 AM

"they are The Gentle Ones, harmed deeply by society and by those who regard them as scum,"

Sounds like you might possibly be describing a particular subculture known as 'Crusties', they are a kind of anarchic anti-capitalist hippy. Many choose to 'drop out' as a semi-political act of non-participation in the 'evils' of our current system as they see it (environmental damage caused by rampant capitalism/economic and social inequality/the individual being swamped by faceless government etc.). The rosy cheeks of your woolly clad lady might be the consequence of living an outdoors life - many also live on boats and in vans.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 05:09 AM

Now there's a surprise. Not. Remind us White Man, what was that a few months, maybe a year ago, about you having a medical disability? And yes indeed, Medway Maritime Hospital did kill my late wife.

Much more surprising, I was agreeing with the fluffy one, until she went off again trying to defend those who don't want to learn, but just to stare out of the window at the pwetty squiggles.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:22 AM

The post above is mine.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:21 AM

Steve, people have to accept change, you must first understand why the changes are needed. The government has made intelligent decisions about how to introduce the change. I fully support it.

You will always find people wishing to blame something that goes wrong in their life on government. They just need someone to blame. I recall some years back, someone blaming a death by natural causes on the National Health Service. They made all sorts of wild accusations about the level of care they administered.

Our health service and benefits system are second to none. Both are in safe hands with this government.

Abuse of Mobility is nothing new.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/westminster_hall/2000/apr/04/mobility-benefits-northern-ireland

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:11 AM

And as for the dogs, well..often they are the only creatures who love that particular person with all their heart. Everyone needs love...and I've never seen any of the Desperate Folks ill-treating their dogs.

As to the babies, I see so many people who seem to loathe their children, who work, are 'wealthy'...but their children are out of control, unloved, but with every materialistic gadget going...They are breeding the next generation of those who wait outside the job centres.

As for being abusive to staff..well, it's easy to be abusive when you're desperate, I guess....and there are MANY very desperate people out there. It is going to get a LOT worse, so open up your hearts to them....


(apologies for the spelling mistakes and missed/wrong words above. The old dyslexia brain cell is working well today, as is the other brain cell which always 'writes and posts' instantly, forgetting to read through first)

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 04:03 AM

The company employed to get people off DLA gets paid for each and every person they take off the list.

Do the math. It ain't rocket science.

I'm glad my Darlin' Dad is dead, for he'd have wept tears at what is happening in his country today. He went to war AGAINST people like this.

Seems to me the Nazis didn't lose, they merely went on a very long holiday to South America for Rest, Relaxation and Re-Grouping before they launched their final and most deadly assault on the world.

This thread was picked up again purely to upset, which the person who's done that sits behind his screen chuckling in delight.

All I can say to anyone who thinks that living on Job Seeker's Allowance is a doddle is....Live the Life first, with no hope of ever getting a job in sight. Live that Life knowing that it will never change, that you will never be able to keep properly warm in the winter, or live anywhere half-decent, or go on holiday, or have fun, or be able to treat yourself now and then...

The same goes for those on most other benefits...It is a life of struggle.

There will always be those who abuse the system, but they are the minority, NOT the majority.

There are many, many MPs who've been far more crooked in their time..and I believe that what is happening at present, turning people against each other, making out all benefit claimants are scum, is a backlash for how the press treated the MPs..They loathed the fact they'd been found out, so they've spun it round, making out that the ordinary bloke in the street, forced out his job, ill, or disabled in some is the biggest scrounger going...

It's been done very cleverly, through news items, special TV programmes etc...

As for some folks who turn up at Job Centres being dirty, having a dog, or a baby, being abusive....well, so often these are the very people who start off in life being stamped FAILURE. They come from unhappy homes, more often than not...are humiliated and shouted at by the school system who wants well behaved clones, not damaged individuals, or those geniuses-in-waiting who have ADHD, or are on the Autism/Dyslexia circle...

And so, they learn to Lose Hope very early on in life, drifting into Unhappy Gangs of the Damaged where they find some kind of Solace and Kindness from each other...

Torquay is filled with such folks...

There is a sweet lassie I see very often called Jenny, she's quite young, with a small child...She's without doubt an alcoholic, her skin is scarlet and weathered and she's often to be seen sitting on the pavement playing her flute.   She's dressed in old woollies to keep out the cold...but she always has a smile for everyone, even those who practically hold their noses as they walk past her...I gave her some books the other day and she was SO thrilled, saying she'd read them to her daughter (some were my children's books from way back)....She sings on the bus, to herself, to others..and she chatters away to everyone, even those who don't want to listen to her...She tells them how beautiful they all are, how much she loves them.....Sometimes she looks very dirty and scruffy depending on how her days have gone, but always her shining smile is there, despite her rough, tough life...

And yes, 'they' gather outside Torquay Job Centre, the Rough'n'Tough, but sometimes they are the very people who will open doors for you..and if you smile at them first they will ALWAYS smile back, for so often they are The Gentle Ones, harmed deeply by society and by those who regard them as scum, who have ended up this way due entirely to themselves...

There but for the Grace of God, whomsoever your god may be

"My Religion is Kindness" - The Dalai Lama.......

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 01:17 AM

If I were a religious man I might say "amen" to that.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 08:58 PM

One more thing: let's nail this business once and for all that it's all "a mess created by Labour." In the last 30 years in this country it has been the Tories who have been the party of mass unemployment, by a bloody long chalk. It was Thatcher who destroyed the industrial base of this country (and kick-started the cult of deregulation of the banks, lest we forget) and who put millions on to incapacity benefit to keep the already highly-embarrassing unemployment figures down. Destroyed whole communities and put droves of hard-working people on to a permanent scrap-heap, she did, and we are still living with the legacy of all that.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 08:28 PM

Just a point of information about the so-called "free cars" that so many sickness benefit-opposers love to rant on about. First, you do not get given a car. You lease a car under the scheme. Second, you can only take part in the Motability scheme if you receive the Higher Rate Mobility Component (HRMC) of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) - currently £51.40 per week. You are allowed to use some or all of this allowance to offset the cost to you of leasing the car. If you choose a cheap car, the allowance might just cover the cost, but if you choose a more expensive car (one you can easily stash your wheelchair in, for example) you can pay extra on top of your HRMC. In addition, you may have to pay an upfront fee (which could be as much as £2000 or more) on top in order to get a more expensive model. So, even with the cheapest car in the scheme, you are not getting it free and you do not own the car. Finally, I suggest that anyone who still wishes to whinge on about this scheme, which is there to help the most disabled people in the country to get around a bit more easily, takes a look at just how bloody hard it is to qualify for that allowance. I apologise to those who find that their prejudices are inconvenienced by hard facts.

I do not receive the allowance, therefore do not partake in the scheme, by the way.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 07:28 PM

Don't worry Steve you are perfectly right in your views.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 07:07 PM

I'm afraid that Bluesman and I have far too little in common for us to have a reasonable conversation about this.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 06:08 PM

I seem to remember Bluesman being on the chat at some stage. Anyone genuinely from Medway will know what that means. I forget what his disability or handicap was. It's very clear that most members of the worst parts of the UK lunatic right are claimants, simply by estimating the spare time they have to harass others. It's quite an irony that if their hoped for devastation of the welfare state took place they would be the first in front of the firing squad.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 05:35 PM

Free cars? That's news to me.

Motability recipients receive assistance "purchasing" the appropriate vehicle to meet their needs. The benefit pays for the modification. Some vehicles are modified for the disabled driver, some are modified for the disabled passenger. But the cars are not free. They are available through lease purchase with some financial assistance.

I have friends in some of the disability networks who fully support the PIP assessments to be carried out by ATOS. They believe the truly disabled will be more protected by the new system. Others are not so convinced. Upon reading how the terminally ill and severely disabled fail the PIP, and that ATOS representatives treat all as though they are cheats, I too have my reservations.   

I echo CS' comment about the unwashed and ill-mannered. Judge not, etc.

My recent visit to the Job Centre to have documents verified I saw people from all walks. But none of them "sloped." They were all engaged in either quiet searching, discussions with staff, or queuing.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 05:01 PM

Steve, I feel the government is right in what it is doing. The mess was created by Labour, they allowed the work-shy to make a laughing stock of the benefits system. Free cars is the biggest joke. Bring back the three-wheeler and see how many apply for one.

Those who suffer from ill health have nothing to fear. Read the stories day and daily in the press about false claims and families living off our backs. This government looks after those who are prepared to work, not scrounge.

Too many here beating on about bankers. We have to reward those in key positions, the wage reflects the skill.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 04:48 PM

The government is doing a decent job of making millions of people suffering ill-health feel extremely insecure, using, for example, foreign agencies such as ATOS, hardly revered for their humanity, at a time when there are no jobs. It is also doing a more-than-decent job of leaving the stinking rich severely alone, even threatening to cut the 50% tax rate whilst indulging in waffle-talk about "mansion taxes," etc. Tax avoidance by big companies and wealthy individuals make the annual benefits bill look like small change, and nothing is going to happen to fix that any time soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 04:10 PM

I wouldn't worry too much about it Steve, the government has everything in hand and doing a decent job dealing with the problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 03:47 PM

You clearly do not understand the welfare system as it applies to people in ill-health. To use not-so-masterly understatement, getting yourself on to sickness benefits these days is not exactly a walk in the park. I could suggest that you actually investigate this for yourself before making such ignorant remarks. Then again, you probably don't want to risk having your prejudices shattered.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 02:39 PM

Most sign on "the sick" that way you get more money and don't have to go looking work. Bad backs and depression top the list according to a guy who works in fraud dept, that I have become friendly with recently.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 02:31 PM

"downside is a minority of the clientele,filthy dirty"


You definitely get some scumbags who can be abusive to staff and generally a bit scary, but as to "filthy, dirty" in particular it's also worth realising that some of those people may be vulnerable people who may for example have difficulty keeping themselves sober and generally together and/or are living rough and without access to soap and clean clothes.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 01:23 PM

Early on in this thread there were criticisms of the Job Centres and the staff employed there. I have to say that the Job Centre in Norwich is absolutely first-rate. The staff are friendly and interested, the Security personnel are very pleasant and the building has been refurbished to a high standard. It now looks like a modern office with matching furniture and light wood tables. The only downside is a minority of the clientele,filthy dirty and reeking of cigarettes and cannabis, who slope in and slope out, having tied their dogs and babies up outside. They're rude to eachother and to the staff and if I were an employer I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. What is saddening is the respectable person with desperation on their face, trying with all their might to scan the Jobs Sections and the websites, obviously devastated to find themselves without work. Not all Jobseekers are scroungers.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 11:05 AM

If they were working prior to leaving the UK, then presumably they are being advised to apply for "earnings-related" unemployment benefit - to which they have contributed in the form of National Insurance. Three months is the fixed term they are entitled to claim for.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 10:07 AM

Ah, a seamless move from hyperventilation about people claiming benefits to which they were not entitled (and getting caught and punished) to hyperventilating about the fact that people are entitled to claim benefits and - shock horror - claim what they are entitled to.

Maybe a course in logic might help.

Subject: RE: BS: Benefits (uk) & The Age of Suspicion
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 12 Mar 12 - 09:35 AM

And there are some people very switched on.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/3381173/Returning-Polish-workers-encouraged-to-keep-claiming-British-benefits.html