They are all on benefits. I don`t know the precise details but some are on levels of benefit that would mean seeking employment at the minimum wage would, in economic terms, be grossly foolish.

The long term impact makes you want to weep. People with no concept of responsibility to others, family, community or society, with no capacity to work or even structure their day, who have no concept of the link between work and reward. Little things grate too. They are contemptuous of the cleaning ladies, never stop to pick up change, spurn hospital food in favour of takeaways, lie like cheap Woolworth`s watches and talk about being “paid”. They don`t want to change. The ones that do go to the specialist unit less than a mile away.

It gets worse. Some will be NFA and exceeedingly difficult to discharge. They will have been accommodated in the past but have thousands of pounds of rent arrears and massive bills for the damage they have caused. They are sectioned in a legally, morally and ethically dubious manner in a desperate attempt to curb their drug misuse. Legal representation, tribunals, Outreach intervention, PICU nursing and the like don`t come cheap. All this money is being diverted from those in more genuine need.

The contrast with older people is just staggering. People who are always fretting that they`re too much trouble and thank you effusively for everything you do.

When I was younger there was healthy competition to get a days spud-picking and earn a bit of money. I watched a news article the other day and the journalist asked young British people why they didn`t want to pick strawberries. They looked incredulous that they`d even been asked and every one dismissed the suggestion with something approaching contempt.

This is why the scroungers have to be stamped on. To get rid of the perception that you can do what you like and the government will pick you up and wipe your arse

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I`m afraid I`m currently working long days. I wil reply more comprehensively when I get a minute.

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Old boy, sifting through the rubbish bin in a park.

“There I was minding my own scrounging business and I spied this bloke with a camcorder. Well, what could I do but put the half eaten burger back in the bin?”

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Evidence based ranting. Ha! Ha!

I will settle for nothing less than video footage of said ‘good numbers’ caught in the act of scrounging.

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OldSchoolBaby wrote

” I`m afraid benefit “scum” do exist. In good numbers.”

If you know that can you enlighten those of us who don’t as to who they actually are!

Is it a case of a generic grouping (of sorts) that has been identified as scrounging scum?

And where is the evidence to show this?

I ask this because you made a statement and< I think, it needs justification.

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Beakie you`re right the whinging will be deafening but the closure of the Henderson and the like should not be the starting point. We need to address the small scale waste first. It would be amazing what impact we could have if we all learned to turn lights off.

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I agree with OSB, the benefits bill needs to be reined in. People with genuine needs are being ripped off by scam artists as well.

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According to some commentators the current national debt exceeds the trillion mark, in other words every British households has been saddled with a debt of £70,000+ thanks to the so-called policies of successive governments.

Those genuinely entitled to benefits should be given them without being made to feel like they are a burden to the workers (in my humble opinion) - unfortunately they are not helped by a minority of scam merchants, but perhaps more importantly by unsustainable levels of public expenditure.

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I don`t know Cambridgeshire at all. There may be regional variations. I have heard of Liverpool G.P`s retiring early as they felt they had merely become barriers between their patients and their objectives in terms of benefits. I haven`t got any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, from the poor old Cynon Valley. I believe depression was eradicated when we won the Grand Slam though.

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one of my relatives (lets call her J) is in her 50’s, has had two hip replacements that didn’t take and requires a third. She also has damaged ligaments in her shoulder, requiring surgery, and arthritis in her wrist and knees. She is in constant pain which keeps her awake at night and needs help with various ADLs. After working all her life, she has been told by her doc she will never be able to work full time again, but she works part time as she needs the money.

Now take my other relatve (lets call her E). She is young(er), unemployed and has only held one job for about 6 months. She suffers mild to moderate depression and occasional panic attacks, but is able to attend college and go out drinking with friends several nights a week.

It took J over two years of fighting to be awarded DLA, which basically brings her income up to something approaching adequate.

E was awarded it immediatley on application.

I do wonder sometimes…

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