14 Comments »

1. Labour party 2001 manifesto –

   "We will not introduce ‘top-up’ fees and have legislated to prevent them."

   Isn’t it time these people drowned in the sea of lies they tell?

   Comment by Ron F — 26 Mar 2004 on 7:21 pm | Link

2. Labour party 2001 manifesto –

   "We will not introduce ‘top-up’ fees and have legislated to prevent them."

   Perhaps we should make politicians subject to the trade descriptions act.

   Is a target of 50% of the population going to University a sensible one.

   Surely 100% literacy at 11 would be of far better benefit to the nation.

   Comment by Les Smith — 26 Mar 2004 on 10:44 pm | Link

3. Being from scotland we dont have to loose any sleep over our tuition fees {yet}.
   but I have to say that the government telling lies is no unusual thing.
   after this, I hope he never gets the chance to treat us like morons again.

   but then morons are better for the spin doctors {they after all run this country} to tell us: "you are free {to do as we tell you}"

   Comment by Dikkie — 28 Mar 2004 on 2:17 pm | Link

4. I just went and had a look on the PMs biography on the downing street website.
   the first quote is: "Education is the best economic policy there is."
   This is when we all start to laugh/cry

   Comment by dikkie — 28 Mar 2004 on 2:22 pm | Link

5. Tony should be congratulated for having the courage to fight this one.

   When will people wake up to the fact that the public benefits of tertiary education are negligible in comparison with the private benefits accruing to the individual, and the public benefits of targeting resources to primary and secondary education?

   Comment by Arkady Hodge — 29 Mar 2004 on 1:43 pm | Link

6. Introducing a market in education will lead to poorer students only being able able to gain access to lower quality education, taught by underpaid, poorly motivated lecturers.

   It will lead to lower wages for those working within less reputable colleges and institution. Clerical staff will be paid more or less depending on where they work, not on their abilities.

   As someone who works within education, I think it will be a very bad thing.

   I can see no reason why benefits cannot be targeted to primary and secondary education as well as having a decent system for tertiary education.

   Comment by Lodjer — 29 Mar 2004 on 4:49 pm | Link

7. Tough on education, tough on the causes of education…

   Comment by Anita — 30 Mar 2004 on 11:45 pm | Link

8. I am a 29 year old woman, who has always supported the governement or always tried to be subjective when matters/issues are discussed to ensure that I see both sides to an issue.

   Recently I have become more irriatable with the way in which people who simply choose not to work reeping benefits from the government are better off in this society than those who try to earn an honest living without the support of the government.

   The recent suggestion that teenage mothers MIGHT be given \xA35000 cash bonus to help ease the pressure of parenthood and find them work is even more infuriating, and can only help push this problem even further. If the government thinks teenage pregnany is high now, well implementing this idea will only increase the problem further, the government already made that mistake when they started giving free council homes to them!

   I did all my GCSEs, as I wanted to leave school with a decent start to my life. I then passed my ‘A’ levels after being told that I would never do it by others, as it used to take me longer to conentrate on work than others. I then went onto passing my BA Hons Degree obtaining a very good upper second degree.
   All this was funded through myself, having to borrow loans, etc pretty much what everyone else studying now has to do but only worse now I guess as they do not have grants to help them.

   Throughout all this I did 4 years worth of work experience (Working for free, using my loans to support my travel/food costs) to ensure I had experience to back-up my studies.

   I successfully managed to get a job in TV straight out of university (Very low pay – \xA3140 a week plus tax taken off), but I felt it was worth it in order to succeed and to pay off debts in the future that I incurred throughout studying.

   6 years on and I am earning an average wage (20k) which in London is as good as earning \xA310k by the time tax/ national insurance/ cost of living is deducted. As I am not earning enough to buy a home outright, last year I opted for a shared ownership property which I own 35% of as that option felt better than renting privately with nothing to show for it. Now you have the issue of rising council tax, rising domestic bills, rising interest rates, the list is endless, but the unaffected ones are the able-bodied people on benefits who do not work out of choice not through injury or disability.

   My monthly income is \xA31200, my monthly outgoings is \xA31120, leaving \xA380 to live on in London for the month.
   I am nearly 30, and believed when I was younger it would be very irresponisble to get pregnant until I was secure financially. Well just like housing it is impossible to save for that all important deposit to better your future, and unfortunately my biological clock is ticking, and I am now pregnant, as I could wait no longer until the time was right, becasue that time I felt would never come.

   I have since found out that you only get 3 months Statutory Maternity Pay, of which the first 6 weeks is paid at 90%, the remaining weeks at \xA3100 a week – Imagine living off \xA3100 a week in London! A further 6 months can be taken but with NO pay! Therefore one has either got to give up work and unemployment bandwagon that many others have chosen to take especially in London as they are better off, or simply struggle to make ends meet to avoid living off the governeent, and put the child into a nursery, which I don’t mind as interaction with other children is beneficial, but at an avergage cost of \xA3900 a month in London, try fitting that into my monthly incomings when you don’t even qualify for working tax credits or any sort of help or reward.

   The point to this story is simple, it is very well known that people who choose not work, and scrounge benefits off the governemt, get low cost housing, bills deducted, non-stressful lives as they have the luxury of staying home and getting up when they feel like it, if they have children nursery fees are paid, as well as support benefits, therefore they are able to save these and use them on luxury holidays, something millions of people like myself who have worked all therir life to survive CANNOT afford.

   They also have enough budget to drive luxury cars i.e Mercedes, BMWs parked outside their council homes or hostels (Imagine driving a luxury vehicle but claim you have no money to afford to rent a flat therefore you’ll wait for the government to place you in a home), whereas people like myself simply cannot afford to buy a basic car. I can’t tell the last time I spent more tha \xA33.00 in a shop on clothes and that was a lucky sale purchase, yet people on benefits are always neatly attired.

   It seems the more I work hard, the less it seems to get me, and I refuse to back down and live unemployed, my mother has always brought me up to work hard, and achieve things myself which I am very proud of, but at this time, I am finding it increasinly difficult to stay afloat whilst able-bodied people who can quite easily work sit back and relax whilst spending mine and others hard-earned cash.

   Comment by Samantha — 23 Jun 2004 on 1:04 pm | Link

9. For someone who takes some pride in their education you seem quite happy to display an alarming level of ignorance.

   Why do you assume that people living on benefits have chosen not to work? A large number of lone parents on benefit do not have any qualifications; many also do not have any previous work experience; many also suffer from health problems or have children that do; they also face the same, or worse, problems securing childcare as you said you will. Being out of work is not really a choice but a fact of life.

   Most lone parents want to work and provide a better future for their children than they will get on benefits because unlike you they realise that people are (financially) much better off in work than they are on benefits.

   Lone parents are not teenagers who get pregnant to get a council house. I thought that idiotic Daily Mail stereotype had died out years ago. The average lone parent is divorced and in her thirties – she also works for a living.

   As for your statement starting \x93it is well known\x85\x94, that is just complete rubbish from start to finish. Its not well known because its not true and clearly written by someone who has never lived on benefits or spent any time with people who have.

   I would also point out that your distinction about whether or not someone is \x91able-bodied\x92 and their ability to work is just the king of prejudiced thinking that disability campaigners have been arguing against for years.

   I genuinely hope that things do work out well for you and I appreciate that life isn\x92t easy but I hope you don\x92t have to find out how much more difficult it gets when you have to battle against other people\x92s ignorance and assumptions.

   Comment by Uncarved Block — 23 Jun 2004 on 8:58 pm | Link

10. I blame your mother.

    It seems you are jealous of the life you think unemployed, single mothers live, but you won’t adopt this lifestyle yourself because your mother ‘has always brought me up to work hard’.

    have you spoken to her about the stress and poverty she seems to have caused you by these unhelpful attitudes?

    Perhaps you should try rebelling from her ethics and enjoying the life you think other people live.

    I hope that helps.

    Comment by Karl — 25 Jun 2004 on 11:49 am | Link

11. In reference to Samantha’s comment, I would love to know what world she is living in if she believes it to be true that people on benefits live such a lifestyle.
    I would advise her to live a little maybe and not inflict that terrible attitude of hers on to her poor child

    Comment by Sarah — 24 May 2005 on 4:49 pm | Link

12. Truth is, we can all be holier than thou. There are many sorts of people out here. Some live without ever experiencing poverty, others struggle to survive as they slide into the inevitable slough of despond on welfare, some escape from it and thrive and still others embrace it and cheat the pants off the system.

    Comment by Mr Pooter — 25 May 2005 on 2:11 pm | Link

13. In reply to many of your responses to Samantha – I am a single mother who has lived on both sides – I was on benefits at one point but now work full-time.

    I’m 25yrs old and had my son whilst in my 3rd year of a 4yr BA Hons degree. I wasn’t entitled to any maternity pay as I was a full-time student. I also only temped during my degree so had no saving or a supportive husband or boyfriend. When my son was born, I went back to uni and completed my degree. I had to go on benefits as my student loan was barely enough.

    I decided to return to work to further my career still in hope that eventually I’ll be earning the big bucks. But I am suffering more than I was when I was on benefits. Though when I was on benefits, I wasn’t holidaying or by new clothes or cars but it seems that I am being punished for being a working mother. Like Samantha, my outgoings are more than my incomings and financially every month I am drowning and find myself having to borrow money – which makes me feel so terrible.

    My thought is: At this stage in my life I feel i may have to put down the hope of a career and just get a job that pays well so that I can begin to have peace of mind.

    Comment by Miss O — 1 Jun 2005 on 1:39 pm | Link

14. If you are having a problem with the cost of living in London, why don’t you leave? There are many more cities in the country that you could live in, with a much nicer environment. In some cites people even talk and are friendly to each other rather than walking round in their own self importance!

    Shops charge a reasonable price for everyday items too.

    Try it, I did. My life is so much better, instead of spending 3 hours traveling, I now spend 30 minutes.

    Comment by jon s — 15 Nov 2006 on 1:57 pm | Link

---

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.