[WillowTheWhisp]

There are so many different aspects to this a short of writing such a long post that no-one will bother to read it I think we all try to get a short sharp point across which may not cover all of what is in our head and then that is picked up on by others.

This point of a 54 year old skilled person for instance. There are some professional people who aspire to retire at 55 on private pensions so that skews the picture more than a little. I can quite see that a 54 year old out of work brain surgeon would probably baulk at the idea of mopping loo floors for a living but that's an absolute extreme and probably quite unlikely. There may well be some intermediary possibility though that he wouldn't disregard if he really wanted to work - or if he'd been in a lucrative position then he may well have no need to do so.

In areas where whole workforces have been laid off (mines closed for example) retraining has often been the only answer.

There are people who are physically unable to work and they should have the reassurance that they will be adequately looked after in a civilised society. Not all physically disabled people have the brain of a Steven Hawking for example.

When I mentioned earlier about getting people into work who are capable but just clever at avoiding it and that this would save money so there'd be more for the people who need it I was not implying that the individual people are not paid enough each, I was picking upon the point that the Government is trying to cut back on the cost of the welfare system to the taxpayer and my (probably not very well put) point was that genuine claimants should be entitled to all they are entitled to and it wouldn't cost the taxpayer more because if people who were able to work were working and not claiming then the money that wasn't going to them would be available to go to the ones who it should go to and they shouldn't have the worry of medical assessment after medical assessment to try to get them into work when they are the ones least able.

And I still don't think I've properly explained what I mean. (I'm supposed to be washing and doing stuff to this flippin laptop which is driving me potty)

When it comes to the bod who was doing out pointing I suppose I felt that the onus was on him to be honest and above board and that it was a matter for his own conscience if he wasn't. Maybe it should have been up to us to report him or look for someone else, but he would have just gone and done work for someone else and we'd already had enough hassle trying to find someone willing to do the work so we didn't.

Before I married my first husband I had actually been engaged to someone else but broke it off when I found out he was working cash in hand whilst claiming the dole. I couldn't have lived with that. Does that make me a hypocrite for not reporting the builder? I don't know. I just don't feel at ease with the 'snoop on, dob in' scenario and yet I would report a burglar breaking into a neighbours house.

Like I said. I'm far from perfect even if I do get accused of being 'holier than thou'