cock of the week.

WTF is happening to this country.

"Lord Bichard (pictured), former head of the Benefits Agency, has stunned commentators by insisting that retired people should be forced into doing voluntary work in the community in order to earn their state pension: those who refuse would lose some of their benefits."



What a cock.

He forgets that retired people have already paid for their pension!

I have a better idea, how about we strip these Lord prats of their titles and send those dickheads out to sample what work is all about?

Why do the elderly get targeted, many of whom have worked from 15 up to retirement?

There's a lot of fuckwitts aged 16 - 30* who have no intention of working and are happy to play on facebook all day, these are the ones who should be targeted and made to work to earn a wage and reduce benefits (public work schemes- gardening, care work, refuse collection etc.). My wife has a number of former schoolfriends, many of whom have 5 or more kids and both parents are on benefits (if one of the dads is still with them) and have virtually lived off benefits for 15 years or more- the system is completely wrong in this respect. Maybe we should be more like China or perhaps cap benefits at 3 kids at least.

*there are also many in this age group desperate for work

He could be made to live on a state pension for a month. Then he might just learn what it is like for ordinary people and keep his mouth shut!

F***ing TORY SCUM!!!!!!!

The new buzzword for forcing someone to do something that they don't like is to incentivise them. Pensioners can be incentivised to do community service if you take away some of their money! Well why don't we incentivise lord Bichfest be stealing his pension, what a Cnut.

That nice James Brent has been incentivising Avivas with a sniff of the executive loo, too, poo !

I'd go David Heath, the LibDem MP who rescinds the last wage council in the country. Even Thatcher and Major's governments left farm workers alone, knowing that it is not noted for good pay and conditions, it's one of the most dangerous occupations with a high accident rate, being isolated, under-unionised, and with little choice of other work. Wage Councils were, ironically, set up by the Liberals a century ago - I bet they never thought it would be one of their own to put the final nail in the coffin. For note, the minimum wage of farm workers was just 2p/hour above the national rate - the real benefits it brought was guaranteeing good rents, guaranteeing employers would provide suitable clothing for the tasks, and a graded pay progression scheme - important as there's practically no chance of progression in agriculture. So yeah, well done David Heath.

The Tories wont want to alienate pensioners thats where most of their core vote comes. No way will this ever see the light of day.

mouldyoldgoat wrote:

He could be made to live on a state pension for a month. Then he might just learn what it is like for ordinary people and keep his mouth shut!

this but for longer, you could manage for 1 month on the poultry amount we pay our pensioners... but try doing it for 12 months Bichard you cock

Chemical Ali wrote:

Maybe we should be more like China or perhaps cap benefits at 3 kids at least.

That's already on the cards, Chem. IDS was on the radio yesterday, explaining how people make the decision to have children purely on financial grounds (cos another £13 a week is the only reason to have em innit) and how child benefit will soon only be paid for the first two.

Yes, there are people who seem content to live off the state (not that it's much of an existence), sometimes because that's how their parents lived and they don't know anything else - one of the issues in recent years has been that of families with two or three generations' worth of unemployment. The grandparents were thrown out of work when Thatcher closed down a lot of the traditional industries in the 1980s, neither the Tories nor new Labour did anything to create other kinds of work, and the children and grandchildren have grown up with that. I used to look after construction apprentices, and one of my jobs was to ring them first thing in the morning (often before I'd even got up) because there wasn't an alarm clock in the house - nobody had ever needed one.

Anyway ...

This government is taking exceptions and arguing that they're the rule to justify swingeing cuts which disproportionately affect the worst off (and especially women, disabled people and elderly people) while doing nothing to rein in the bankers and nothing to chase the growing number of companies who use every means possible to avoid paying tax. That's the scandal.

Innit.

Tips true what you say Peggy, there are legions of people out there ready to moan about sponging dolies, workshy population but just look at the situation in Plymouth, Clarks shoe factory, Rank Toshiba, Fine Tubes and Gleasons, plus about another 40 factories at Roborough have all Been closed down, where are the replacements? Apparently making kids stay at school for another two years and incentivising disabled people back into jobs that aren't there is the answer, makes you wonder if the leaders are fit for purpose innit?