Ha.
Neil and I had a wee chat* about the whole kerfuffle about the BBC (and now, Sky) choosing not to accept an advertisement for a Gaza appeal. I was saying that having watched both the BBC and ABC (i.e. Australia’s independent network), I always had the impression that the news, no matter how hard they tried, always had a lefty slant. In some ways I am a bit of a lefty (does that make me a lefty libertarian — is that possible), so I prefer BBC News over, say, Fox (I tend to watch that in slack-jawed horror for a few minutes before the idiocy compels me to change the channel).
But the point is they try to be independent, so this chest-beating liberalism by actors and what not is stupid. What these protestors are saying is, You can be as independent as you want as long as your independent assessments come down on our side. Plus, once the BBC offers enough money all will be forgiven.
And with people burning their teevee licences, they do know it means they aren’t legally allowed to watch anything on the telly, right? No satellite or anything. No more Dave for you!
* Neil has never felt that the BBC has a lefty bias.
No effort, no benefit, Labour tells jobless:
After a year out of a job people will be assigned to a private or voluntary provider appointed by the Government to help people back into work. They will be expected at that point to do four weeks’ full-time activity to get them back into a 9-to-5 routine.
If they are still unemployed after two years they would have to work full time, doing community jobs such as street-cleaning, volunteering or work experience to help people to keep the habit of working.
…
Others who refuse to take part in schemes to help them into work could lose up to a week’s benefit. Those with debt or drug problems will be expected to sign up to counselling.
Incapacity benefit is being phased out and will be replaced by the employment and support allowance, which includes a medical assessment for new claimants.
Brendan Barber, the TUC General Secretary, said: “At a time of rapidly rising unemployment, the Government needs to stop talking as if every benefit claimant is a potential scrounger. People losing their jobs need practical help as quickly as possible.”
I saw a report on this plan on the teevee last night, too. The benefits claimants were pretty indignant. Here’s a wake up call: the government needs to consider the lowest of the low, so they need to take into account the dole bludger who is screwing the taxpayer.
Someone who has been unemployed for a long time and is claiming benefit should prove that they aren’t playing the system. This is not an issue. Only those who have found it more profitable to claim benefit (and/or work cash in hand) than find a job will lose out — so what the hell is wrong with this new policy?
(Besides, it’s not as if it will be implemented immediately. They can rape the system for a few months yet.)
Updated to add: Claiming benefits: Your stories — everyone quoted in this follow-up piece is a legitimate claimant, which changes my opinion not one bit.
Given that I know people who laughed at Neil for looking for a job instead of sitting on his backside at home, claiming the dole, I sure as hell would support a ‘work for the dole’-type scheme. Companies are all evil blah blah blah. Companies do not have morals, they aren’t people. If it’s profitable to be civic-minded, they will be.