[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

This an extract from one of my blogs. It is about the kind of poverty that I experienced as a child.
Not the pseudo poverty that is talked of today, the kind where benefit claimants have the latest games consoles, flat screen TV's....in fact all the mod cons that the rest of us worked damn hard to be able to afford.

It is a real blight on the country that some people, like the woman in the article posted by Jay, fiddle around the system taking money away from those who are truly incapacitated and in need. What i don't understand though is why her case was not revued regularly by doctors -surely someone must have rubber-stamped her claim... The type of disability a person has must fall into different classes from permanent, degenerative, partial or transitory -I don't know how the system works but there must be some parameters for evaluating a person's problem and revueing them if necessary...

It is hard to say what is a "necessity" of modern living -I'm sure a Phone, a TV and computer are a godsend for the house-bound for example, and no-one would want them to suffer the cold -I think the main gripe here is not for those who are deservedly on Incapacity benefit but more for those who are permanently un-employed. Time perhaps for them to have to contribute something to the community in order to merit the benefits they claim...