I fully agree that anyone claiming a benefit OTHER THAN A SICKNESS OR DISABILITY BENEFIT should be made to do community work. There's a guy on another forum who's 28 I think and has never had a job since leaving school at 16. WTF he should do voluntary work or SOMETHING like community work to get a reference. He says "I doubt I'll ever get one" and "there's nothing to get up for" Well it won't and no there isn't unless he gets off his bum and does ANYTHING like scrub floors or toilets. He never seems short of money to buy CD's either and lives at home with parents so I'd stop cash payments if I was PM and give vouchers to be exchanged for food and other basics.

 

Before anyone starts on me again I have a legitimite reason for not working and Dr's notes and DWP panels to back me up.

 

I'm sorry mate, but I'm totally with Craig, you, my friend, ARE one of the people that I regard as being "layabouts" tbh, as opposed to genuine unemployed or disabled.... Sorry if that sounds insensitive, but frankly, I work with disabled students who are a DAMN sight worse off than you mate, so I simply dont buy the excuses.... And, no, not just the 'obvious' disabilities such as being blind, deaf or cerebral palsy, but people with autism, aspergers and mental illnesses, such AS depression funnily enough.... And they can function well enough to do their uni work, so, frankly, I'm not prepared to buy that someone has had a 30-odd year depression which has completely prevented them from taking part in any kind of work or education function... If you can function well enough to go on these "dozens of sites" you go on every day, then you can function well enough to use a computer in an Admin/IT environment, or be self-employed mate......

 

For your own sake, please, a bit of self-respect works wonders....

 

"We've got 3.5 million layabouts on benefits, and I'm 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let's get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not keep sticking it up."

 

Please point out to me where he distinguishes between 'incapacity benefits' or says 'except incapacity benefits'. Sorry Chris ... but the "Venerable Caine" meant you as well! I think in order to have a valid reason to claim benefits as far as Mr Caine is concerned you need to be in possession of no more than one arm or leg at the very least! And if you do only have one arm or one leg ... I apologise ... which is more than you'll get from Mr Caine!

 

Norma

 

Yep... That's what he said, then he obviously meant Chris as well..... :lol:

 

Neither did Caine distinguish the hundreds of thousands who have lost their jobs due to the recession, nor did he distinguish the people who are actively seeking work or are planning to go back into full-time education in the Autumn to try and improve their prospects... :rolleyes: This is the reasons why priveleged celebs should really NOT make political speeches about realities they know very little about, lest they be hoisted on their own petards for not doing the proper research or make their points sufficiently clear enough..... There have been plenty of celebs who have talked intelligently on political and social matters, Caine, however, is not one of these.....

Why exactly should the depressed be considered disabled? Depression is an illness, and it's quite frankly ridiculous to suggest that it is in any way whatsoever equivalent to a missing limb...people with depression CAN still work, even if they don't want to or feel they are able to, whereas those with severe physical illnesses/missing limbs can't!

 

And quite exactly how does depression render one unable to perform community work may I ask? This may be quite a personal question, but why are you depressed? Helping out others would certainly boost feelings of self-worth through contribution, and if you've never tried it how can you fob it off with a (rather flimsy) excuse of 'I'm not fit to work'? Unless, of course, you consider helping others, such as visiting the elderly or helping those with difficulties voluntarily to be work...in which case that really does say a lot about how you view that sort of thing.

 

^ Quite.

Surely sitting at home all day with "nothing to get up for" is only going to exacerbate feelings of depression?

Surely sitting at home all day with "nothing to get up for" is only going to exacerbate feelings of depression?

 

Actually, yes, this is true.... A couple of the students I work with who suffer from clinical depression say to me that actually getting up in the morning to go to uni gave them a sense of purpose which helped them better than anti-depressants..... So, something to think about innit....?

 

politicians- there all the same :arrr:

 

lynda :heart:

I'm not prepared to buy that someone has had a 30-odd year depression which has completely prevented them from taking part in any kind of work or education function... If you can function well enough to go on these "dozens of sites" you go on every day, then you can function well enough to use a computer in an Admin/IT environment, or be self-employed mate......

 

For your own sake, please, a bit of self-respect works wonders....

 

 

oh Scott... 200% SPOT ON.

 

'Depression' is a woolly load of old cobblers - it's probably the most common of all the sickies excuses... and why? Simple... depression is IMPOSSIBLE to PROVE. I'm not saying depression's not a terrible thing... but to prevent you from ANY work for a period of time? It's nonsense - total, absolute, straight-down-the-middle nonsense.

 

To say depression prevents someone from working for 30 years is ludicrous in the extreme. It DOESN'T prevent you from working.... and as you've said, depression is greatly HELPED by regular exercise (not laying about tip tapping on a computer at home all day), by regular REAL contact - and by a schedule and responsibilities to stick to.

 

Throughout my working life, I've worked with many people who suffer with depression - all of them found a regular job, exercise, contact and a schedule to stick to kept them on an even plane.

 

It's utter balderdash that Chris has used this most feeble of all the sickies excuses for a mind-boggling 30 YEARS. For ANY length of time, in fact - it's an easy, common old cop-out from the most ghastly of the workshy. It seems some people think being on the sick is their career - and let's be honest, the stupidly high payments for 'Incapacity' benefit would be enough to send anyone to their bedroom to while away a few weeks chatting to strangers on forums. Career sickies..... even worse than the rancid chavs I see in work day after day who think Jobseekers Allowance is their God-given right whether they can be arsed to jobseek or not.

 

Still - it must be working for 'Crrrrazy' Chris..... Incapacity Benefit's a nice little earner - it's bought him a computer at least - something a work colleague of mine was saying she's saving up for when I was chatting with her in work today. :angry: :angry: :angry:

One of my work colleague's can't afford a PC, she's had to get two jobs to provide for her and her son.

 

I have a $h!tload of respect for her, she had her kid young and she went back to work quickly and works hard. Single mums like her earn an infinite amount of respect from me.