claiming Benefits, by those who dont care...

[Sam Slater]

Yes....he seems to be the forgotten thinker to the Brits but well looked upon in France and in the US. I have read, and got, The Age of Reason, by Mr. Paine, but not read The Rights of Man yet.

[Guilbert]

>American Civil War

Whoops, did not mean Civil War, I meant American Revolution (against the brits).

I am sure I was thinking "revolution" but it came out "civil war".

Funny how certain phrases just roll off the tongue without even thinking (or in this case the keyboard)

[randyandy]

Max

Do you actually know this person or did you make the little scenario up to have a go at people on benefits?

If you know him and his 'activities' instead of moaning here do something about it.

Firstly if he is a known drug user tell the Police - I am sure the 'intelligence' will be helpful.

Secondly report him to the benefits agency - like the Police I am certain they will also be appreciative of your 'intelligence' and will go as far as investigating any claims made.

Your 'friend' probably acts like he does because he is a lazy twat although his drug habit could also explain his lethargic attitude so letting the appropriate authorities know may not only help you with your concerns it may also help your 'friend' as well.

[max_tranmere]

You say 'report him' but he is technically not doing anything wrong (other than spending alot of his cash on weed - but loads of people seem to do that - and just loafing around). He is surely able to work, in that he isnt bed-ridden and physically unable, but 'having bipolor', as he said he has, and many others in our society today apparently claim also to have, seems to be sufficient for your Doctor to sign you off.

[max_tranmere]

What, me or him? I met this guy, he is a friend of someone I know. He said all this to me face-to-face. If I had just read it it would have been differnt. Some people on Benefit say they would like to work again, this guy isnt even 30 (younger than me) and is already definate that he is 'just gonna chill' for ever more.

[max_tranmere]

The Daily Mail always go on about these sort of things. When you meet someone who tells you his story however, and it coincides exactly with a Daily Mail story, then yes, you do begin to think that maybe some of the stories that paper puts out are accurate.

[max_tranmere]

Just dossing isnt, sadly, against the rules - so long as technically you have something wrong with you. I have worked since I was 18, more than 20 years, but if you have something wrong with you (from what I understand) which is enough for them to sign you off then they regard you getting out there and having a go at doing sport and things as part of the therapy. This is weird, because you would be able to work. You could be a sports coach or whatever, but even if they knew this guy has all these recreational activities going on they wouldn't - technically - regard him as being someone who is breaking the rules. Other than smoking weed, of course.

[max_tranmere]

Loads of people would love to opt out, and it is fine if people just want to loaf around, but it is surely wrong for someone to do that at other people's expense. In-built into that guy's comment about how his days of work are behind him and how he just wants to chill for ever more, is the demand that other people do NOT do that - because for him to do it he is demanding money from the Government to enable him to do it and that money has to come from somewhere. So, in a round-about way, this guy is saying that others should keep working, but he himself is entitled not to. Unless he would be happy having no money to loaf about with for the rest of his life - and nowhere to live. It is a very inconsistent, contradictory, view that this guy has.

Separate point: you mention that line in Jackie Brown. I've seen that film many times and know most of the lines in it. I think the Bridget Fonda character says in reply: "not if your ambition is to sit around all day and watch TV...". I'm pretty sure that is what she says. It is also Samuel L Jackson who says the first line to her.

[max_tranmere]

I agree that an eternal holiday sounds great, but, as I said in a previous comment, this kind of holiday is at other people's expense. I totally agree that what the bankers have done is terrible: far worse, far more damaging, and far more cynical an act than just taking money from the State while sitting back and not working. Many are of the view that many 'top' bankers do just that: their mistakes have cost the nation, and millions of ordinary families, very dear. Many of the receipients of all this Government bail-out did little of value in the first place - they never created anything or helped anyone, just gambled on things. And when they lost, THEY didnt lose - everyone else did - then the government came galloping over the hill and bailed them out. They retained their jobs, their ridiculously high salaries, and are now getting huge bonuses again. Totally undeserved. To weigh it up, I would say these people are bigger wankers than people who rip-off the Benefits system.

[max_tranmere]

Yes, I genuinely met this person, and he is open about all of this. He would presumably tell anyone he encountered - he told me therefore I am sure he would tell anyone. From my experience, people feel more and more able to open up about things to the wider public if a lot of the people in their inner-circle are like them. It seems more and more normal if those who are your close pals do it all too, therefore you will see it all as second-nature and tell people you just met in a one-off instance as well. He seems to have a lot of friends in the same situation therefore he sees all this as ordinary. His friend, who I know, works. I work. But most of his immeidate pals it seems are like him. I didn't meet any but he mentioned a few.

Many graduates, for example, leave Uni, move to London, share a house together in some rundown neighbourhood, and all go on the Dole together, get the DSS to pay their rent, and they live on the weekly Dole money and spend a lot of it on partying and getting stoned. I encountered quite a lot of people like that in my 20's (I never went to University but knew lots who did). Maybe some just carry that forwards. If you are on Incapacity Benefit you apparently, from what I've heard, can get other Benefits too, and it is more solid than being on the Dole. With this guy 'having bipolar' (he may genuinely feel that he has, and professionals who he saw seem to agree - although I am sure he could work) he is morally doing something wrong by taking money and just dossing around, but technically is not as, rather strangely, he is entitled to all this as he has something wrong with him. So the only thing the authorities might be interested in is the fact he smokes dope - but so many millions of people do that I doubt the authorities would have time to nick them all.