[fight_truth_decay]

Lord Digby Jones (right) meets two out of work young men: Ben Gillett (left) and Tim Cruise

"Any claimant who turned down three job offers should lose their benefits and be put in hostels, relying on 'subsistence rations' of food and water," he said.

Lord Jones made the suggestions in a television documentary after meeting two young unemployed middle class men on benefits who claimed that there was no point in them looking for work because they were raking in £12,000 a year in state benefits. He told the youngsters, Ben Gillett and Tim Cruise: 'If I was watching this I'd throw something at the TV and say, "Get off your backsides and work" and we should cut all your benefits and starve you into going back to work.'

One of the pair, along with his girlfriend, was receiving the equivalent of a £16,000 a year wage in jobseekers' allowance and housing benefits.

Lord Jones said he told the Government about his ideas when he was trade minister between 2007 and 2008 but his suggestions triggered horror and disapproval.

'I told them, "We are creating a victim society of people who think they have no responsibility". 'They all just said, "What? What are you talking about? You can't say that". I might as well have admitted I had mugged my granny.'

The Panorama documentary about the young unemployed is on BBC1 tonight

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268744/Labour-peer-Digby-Jones-says-cut-benefits-young-people.html#ixzz0mCupK4FQ

Most of us all know someone or another's acquaintance waiting for just the right job to come along...or one I know is trying something out part time to see if she really really likes it. No hurry.

[screaminsunshine]

They should do the jobs illegal aliens are now doing for a start.

[Dem Guard]

Yeah, Start with Pelosi!

[MrEdd]

Are there jobs in the UK, or has government regulation driven them overseas?

Often bread and circuses are required to prevent corrupt governments from being removed violently by the populace.
Thus, in the end the foolish welfare projects remain the priority while essential infrastructure decays.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Without reading the article, the headline presents a straw-man argument employing the classically fallacious either/or option.

No one is suggesting “starving” people back into work.

There are millions who have abused the safety net society was good and charitable enough to create and have converted that net into a hammock.

What we are suggesting is that we 1. end the luxurious lifestyle, 2. encourage and even demand some sort of work for their handouts and 3. return “shame” to being a bum.

[reaganaut1]

People who’ve worked their whole lives and find themselves out of work because their industry is dying – ie coalminers, carmakers, welders, and, er, journalists – shouldn’t be forced to scrub toilets, pick up litter or do anything else that might heap further humiliation upon them.

The author may be more sensible than the average Briton, but he is still a fool. People who lose their jobs SHOULD take the work that is available if they cannot live on their savings. Scrubbing toilets is no fun, but it need not be "humiliating" unless one has developed a certain attitude toward physical labor.

[icwhatudo]

Within 5 days of his last unemployment check, my neighbor and his wife both “magically” found jobs. He was on unemployment for over 1 1/2 years.

[Blood of Tyrants]

“shouldn’t be forced to scrub toilets, pick up litter or do anything else that might heap further humiliation upon them.”

So HONEST WORK is “beneath them”?

[cjshapi]

If those two are any indication of the average unemployed male looks like it appears there should be plenty of work for barbers.

[hampdenkid]

I think St Paul had a pretty good idea in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

[mountainlion]

What a heartless group these brits, starve someone that does not have a job! Britobama seems worse. I see where he got the ideas.

[concerned about politics]

On the other hand it’s perverse that a million young people aged 16-24 are not in education, employment or training, and that they’re allowed to waste their lives. These are formative years in which people’s characters are fixed. If they spend their entire early twenties at home smoking a bong while mummy and uncle Government pick up the tab, what hope for their future?

I agree. There's millions of American freeloaders living their whole lives on welfare while our families pick up the tap.
Has anyone ever noticed the food they can buy with their food stamps? My gosh. As a working family, I don't think we've ever been able to dine as well as they do - and we're the ones paying their bill.
The war on poverty is a miserable failure. It's time we surrender and bring our wages back home. It's way past time the democrat freeloaders got their own jobs.

[Jagdgewehr]

...it’s perverse that a million young people aged 16-24 are not in education, employment or training, and that they’re allowed to waste their lives.

Well, socialism is a perverse thing.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Should The Unemployed Be 'Starved' Back Into Work?"

In the USA that ship has already sailed. From now on Unemployment Bennies will be extended for years. It might just become permanent.

[Frenchtown Dan]

Sounds good to me.

Only one little problem though. What happens when there are no more taxpayers?

Seriouslly, we have to stop sending jobs overseas and stop giving money away to freeloaders. Some unfortunate people do need a handout, and those should be helped to get back on their feet. But avoiding work to be a leech and suck the taxpayers dry should be criminal.

[Joe 6-pack]

"People who’ve worked their whole lives and find themselves out of work...shouldn’t be forced to scrub toilets, pick up litter or do anything else that might heap further humiliation upon them."

While I would not particularly enjoy it, I think that I would find scrubbing toilets for a living far less humiliating than sitting on my ass letting other people subsidize my life.

[djf]

I’m sorry but I think welfare/etc should be as close to subsistence existence as possible.

I still on occasion take food to the food bank and am flabbergasted by the people pulling in there to get food driving newer Camrys and Ford Explorers, whatever!

Hell, all three of my rides are older than most I see in the parking lot at that place.

[LastNorwegian]

Can’t really blame them. They have a choice of either exploiting the system or letting the sytem exploit them. -Through extortionate taxes, ethnic cleansing and failure of law enforcement etc... Why should they show any loyalty towards their country when their country shows no loyalty towards them?

This is what inevitably happens when the social contract is broken. And it is a good thing. The sooner the system is bankrupted the sooner can our civilization be saved (if it’s even still possible).

[The Duke]

Clockwork Orange PING!

[WellyP]

I agree 100%+!!! I had NEVER taken a penny in assistance from the government until I got my SS last year. If I could do it, I expect THEM to do it! It builds character!

[tacticalogic]

Should the employed be taxed into poverty to feed them?