Another reason to cut benefits

[Ticktock]

You get veg on offer all the time.

Also, the basics are not expensive. ‘Below The Line’ Budget Recipes « A GIRL CALLED JACK

I know people who have a weekly shopping budget for groceries of £10 for the two of them, and cook from scratch.

After a redudancy with no payout my wife and I were surviving on £10 a week for groceries. And this was from Tesco, using a mix of cheapy blue-strip and regular items. It's not all that difficult. Sure, my limited cooking skills led to some repetition, but it's doable. 1 big dish (like macaroni cheese or a meatloaf) will last 2 or three days, supplemented by things like veg risotto, pasta, chilli, etc, gets you through the week.

[Mich the Tester]

Paid for by you and I by the vast subsidies that keep prices here high and subsidise the prices of exports. I seem to recall a story once where rich farmers in Africa were going bust due to cheap imports of subsidised American rice.

The system is broken.

No and yes. No, the subsidies keep our prices low but we end up paying more in ludicrous high tax rates. Yes, the system's broken.

[Old Hack]

Simply put, not matter how cheap you could live healthy, I could live cheaper unhealthier, and I think that's the problem.

If you look at the price of filth in supermarkets against the price of healthy stuff, that's evident.

Around this part of the work, this time of year is interesting, as all sorts of produce is put outside houses for sale. Yesterday, saw 3 lbs toms, 2 cucumbers, a jar of pickled onions, a large cabbage, 2 courgettes and 6 duck eggs for £4.50.

[vetran]

I'd like to see welfare claimants work in their local parish on projects likely to enhance their area i.e. clearing scrubland, making the parks better, street cleaning, small DIY things. Things that they could actively benefit from in their local community. You get the bonus of working, and doing something good, which would keep the spirits higher. I'd also opt for a two tier system; #1 Breadline, for those who don't wish to participate in the work, and #2 Higher for those who do.

Agreed, there are a lot of projects that wouldn't cost a lot or displace workers.

just getting them out working would remove a lot of the fraud which I suspect is endemic.

[Old Hack]

Agreed, there are a lot of projects that wouldn't cost a lot or displace workers.

just getting them out working would remove a lot of the fraud which I suspect is endemic.

You'd certainly reduce the pool of suspects.

I think it would benefit any parish to get people giving it a lick and spit to be honest. Planting trees, painting benches, clearing little, etc, etc etc

[doodab]

I think it would benefit any parish to get people giving it a lick and spit to be honest.

You can't make them work in glory holes, even if they are adapted confession booths.

[Paddy]

how do you work that out?

£6.19 * 40 = £247 a week 3 months a year. Should pay for the wife & kids to live in a shoebox in the south east and eat once a month.

Mate of mine worked out he needed to be on > £8 an hour to be better off in work. He actually is a very hard worker and wanted to work.

The financial side is important as is the work ethic side.

The problem can be easily solved by employing half a dozen well paid girls to pick the fruit naked. There will be a queue of volunteers to help.

[doodab]

The problem can be easily solved by employing half a dozen well paid girls to pick the fruit naked. There will be a queue of volunteers hoping to have their plums harvested.

FTFY

[eek]

You'd certainly reduce the pool of suspects.

I think it would benefit any parish to get people giving it a lick and spit to be honest. Planting trees, painting benches, clearing little, etc, etc etc

problem is that is what people do when sentenced to community service. How would you go about making that look like something else for the unemployed?

[Ticktock]

problem is that is what people do when sentenced to community service. How would you go about making that look like something else for the unemployed?

Orange jumpsuits and a ball & chain?