[Margaret Pilkington]

Well Eric, I take your point...in the end everything does boil down to politics.......but the thread was about neighbourliness first and foremost....the story about the couple who committed suicide was (I think) there for illustration.

As for benefits being a career option..which you don't think it is, then why have we got families where no-one works? Where three generations have lived without contributing to the NI system....the only way they pay any tax is on the stuff they buy.

I take your point about large companies evading their responsibilities...and this is wrong too. governments bail out companies in the hope of saving jobs...and it doesn't happen often. The banks were a diferent ball game.

I don't blame the poor for being poor, (i have been there - read my blogs) but you do not have to remain poor.....and you have a responsibility to try and do something for yourself......no-one has a right to live off the state forever.