Quote Originally Posted by joebloggs View Post

have you ever been on the dole or benefits tone?, if not your are lucky sure sometimes you make your own luck and earn it, but bad-luck can come anyone's way , I've been on the dole thankfully the last and only time was under thatcher, not a place anyone wants to be



well being on benefits will not pay for a trip to the phils (nor should it) or a state pension (thou i think it should be enough that you can save something) , your wrong about the previous government, you mean previous governments, it was the same under thatcher and major as well as Blair.



if you've paid in, then you should be able to take out, if you haven't thats a different matter. those who paid in why should they do community work ?



you've answered my first question, but what about people who don't have any savings and have to sign on straight away, some people have applied for 100s of jobs and got nowhere, thou some people have probably never applied for a job, so you felt uncomfortable, what would you feel like after 6 months or a yr ?



i think anyone who works should get enough to live off, a crazy idea but a fair days pay for a fair days work , not all employers are the same tone, i know of people who have work for the same employer and not had a pay rise in 10 years, yet they live in £1m+ houses



and some people avoid paying tax, move money off shore, claim benefits they shouldn't.



obviously it depends on your age, I'm sure its more difficult to get a job for a someone in their 50's compared to someone who's in their 20's, also if your skills if you have any are in demand.
Talking about pay rises Joe, all my working life never had a pay rise in 50 years, I had to move to a different company every five years for my pay increase, never known a company that gave annual wage increases!