At last! The government appears to be taking steps in the right direction to remove some of the people who sit on their behind, living on what the rest of us work hard to earn.
I appreciate that there are many genuine claimants in the UK and I am more than happy in the knowledge that the public purse, something I contribute to, is helping them. I have no problems with people who genuinely cannot work and genuinely need the help and I am proud to be part of a country that looks after those people. However I am equally aware that there are plenty of people who don't need the cash or don't deserve the cash. To some, benefits is a way of life and that has to change!
The recent changes to the incapacity benefit system that was announced a short while back look great. I appreciate that not everyone's happy with them, but I suppose if you've had an easy life on your behind so far that you're not going to want to work now are you?
The changes appear to be a good step in moving from the current system, which appears heavily abused, to one where people who genuinely need the money and are deserving of it will get it. A fair and decent system.
The rest of the benefits changes are looking good too. I have often wondered why we don't have a system where long term claimers have to do jobs in the community or take up training? Why we didn't penalise those that didn't attend appointments or try their best to support themselves. For far too long we've been supported the lazy at the same time as the deserving and hopefully these changes will start the ball rolling.
We, as a country, cannot keep paying the lazy. Eventually the money will run out. There won't be enough of us working to support them and without them putting in to the pot themselves we'll be sunk.
Payouts for those that deserve it, not for those that don't.
The days of watching Jeremy Kyle on a flat screen TV while the rest of us work to fund your wasted lifestyle are coming to a close my benefit sponging friends, it's time to work and leave the money in the pot for those who genuinely need it.
Remember MySpace? That site that people used to use as a social networking tool? It's still about, lurking in the shadows of the internet despite being dated and replaced by other sites that are more up to date and more importantly, take your privacy seriously.
It seems MySpace is desperate to keep people coming to it's site though, obviously not happy about being forgotten about as something that was once interesting but now is just an annoyance.
If you have a MySpace account the chances are that even if you don't log in any longer or don't use the site you'll still get those annoying emails about what's going on with MySpace, despite the fact that you don't care. You'll probably get bored of deleting those desperate emails from your inbox and eventually get around to cancelling your MySpace account. After that you'll think you're safe, surely MySpace wouldn't spam you after that? Well you'd be wrong...
Having got fed up of emails from MySpace and realising that even though I had a page on there I didn't use it, probably because it's shockingly dull and causes my inbox to be invaded by unwanted emails, I decided to cancel my membership. I went through the process of having my account removed and was happy, it was done, that should be the end of them pestering me. Unfortunately that wasn't how things were going to happen.
Even though I'm not a member of MySpace any longer they still send me spam. I get regular emails from them containing information and images that I really don't want to read or see. This is despite the fact that I've even contacted their privacy team about this and despite the fact they claim they take privacy so seriously.
For every email MySpace have sent me I've sent one to their privacy team complaining and pointing out that I don't want to be spammed by them. Each time I get a reply that's completely unrelated to what I've written to them about and the spam continues. I really cannot escape!
MySpace have no interest in my privacy and I regret the day I stumbled across their site. Despite their claims to take your online security seriously, they do not. They aren't even dealing with my complaints properly.
So my advice to other internet users is if you value your privacy and don't like spam, DO NOT JOIN MYSPACE.
That is of course unless you want to hear about some block called Tom, that you've never met and don't give a damn about. If you are interested in hearing about some random bloke and get useless images then jump right in, but I must warn you, it may never end!
MySpace or MySpam?
The BBC today reported that the 'open display of tobacco in shops is to be banned in England and Wales'. Another move in tackling the number of people that are harming their own health and that of others around them by smoking.
I welcomed the earlier smoking ban with open arms. I love the fact I can now go in to a bar and breath. I can open my eyes without them stinging and when I go home my clothes don't stink of smoke. Overall, I love the fact that I don't get second hand smoke harming me because someone else wants to risk their own health and not give a damn about anyone else around them. However I am not sure how I feel about this next move.
The way I see it is the ban on smoking in certain places has made it easier to avoid those who choose to smoke. I don't choose to smoke and I'm happy they can't smoke near me, however I am not sure we should remove their choice to smoke if they observe the law and don't do it where they aren't supposed to. This next move is perhaps a little too far? It's moving more towards removing those who choose to smoke's right to choose that.
If people can't smoke near us non-smokers then why stop them smoking? If they are happy to do so let them. I appreciate it's not quite got that far yet, but removing these items from the open display sale seems to me to be heading that way. After all, I don't wish to alienate someone for their choice to smoke, just ensure that those who don't want to smoke don't have to suffer it. I am not sure this next step is needed.
Even if you remove cigarettes from open view sale you will still get younger people buying and smoking them. Until the day it becomes 'uncool' or 'geeky' to smoke you'll always get those 'rebels' smoking at a young age and hooked before they get to an age where they realise what's happening.
And if we do stop or damage cigarette sales are we damaging our economy? Like it or not, a lot of revenue for the public purse comes from those little stinky sticks of doom. Where will we look to get that revenue back? And in the current financial situation is it a good move?
I think we should perhaps leave the current state as it is. The ban is sufficient and if people want to smoke let them. They can harm themselves as long as they leave us non-smokers alone. It's their lives, their choice.
The other day I found myself in the chance position of talking to a member of the prison population. He was out for the day and I was having a social chat with him when he suprised me with something he said.I'll call this man Bob to protect his ID, but that is of course not his real name.
Bob told me that he was being kept in a category B prison. From what I understand, this is not an open prison which are considered easier. However how Bob got there shocked me a little.
Bob had been placed on probation and had deliberately broken his terms to get himself put back in prison. He actually wanted to get put back in prison! I was shocked by this, why would anyone want to go to prison? It turns out that Bob was having a rough time on the outside, although what he described didn't sound much different to pretty much everyone else's life. As a result, Bob had decided that he wanted a 'break' and decided that the best place for this would be back in prison.
Bob further explained that while in prison he was with several of his mates, had access to the gym to work out and basically had the time to clear his mind before being released again to the public. He explained that his short sentence was his choice and that he actually found it to be a break and enjoyable.
I appreciate that people go to prison for all sorts of reasons, but what does this say about our prison service that someone would willingly choose to go there for a 'break' and that they had their friends there, their recreation there, a time to reflect etc.
Is this what I'm paying for in my taxes? Some sort of relaxation centre to meet up with your pals, get over the last few months worth of stress and relax? Has prison become some sort of spa or clinic?
I'm glad I had this chance encounter. It's not normally something I would get an insight in to and I don't normally get to speak to people like Bob.
Genuinely I hope Bob sorts his life out, clearly he needs to, but it does concern me that he and possibly others see the UK prison service as a health and relaxation spa break. Where's the punishment gone?
Ok, after several hours my blog is up and running.
The one annoyance about setting up a blog that seems to be a common theme amongst service providers is that plenty of people have registered usernames, but never use them!
The amount of usernames I came up with, that sounded pretty good and probably better than the one I currently have, that were already registered by people not using them was ridiculous. There are sites on here that haven't had any use for years, yet their catchy names lie in rot away from those of us keen on their use.
Ah well, here goes, welcome to my Blog :)