chem1st Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 With the ongoing economic troubles due to the housing bubble, unemployment is getting out of control. In times of recession/depression suicide increases, unfortunately the burden of recessions falls mostly on the young, poor and vulnerable and not on those whom caused the problems in the first place! This year there have been suicide attempts at job centres, one man slit his wrists. Whilst another set himself on fire. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/20/mental-health-benefit-claimants-risk One day in May, a man arrived to sign on at Birkenhead jobcentre in Merseyside. He was late. He had been late repeatedly and had missed several of his fortnightly appointments altogether. The jobcentre supervisor told the man that his poor timekeeping had become an issue and put him at risk of being "sanctioned". "You have two options," he said. "Start turning up to the appointments on time; or continue like this and your claim will be disallowed." According to a health and safety report relayed to the Guardian, the man replied: "I have a third option." He reached into his pocket, took out a knife, and cut his wrists. Local police confirm reports of the incident and say the man was subsequently sectioned. The man is understood to have had a history of mental illness dating back to at least last August. He had been in receipt of employment and support allowance (ESA) for depression and arthritis, but in February he had been reassessed and found fit for work. He had started an appeal, but withdrew it and went on to jobseeker's allowance. Such incidents are rare and complex by nature. But they are part of a wider concern among health professionals, campaigners and claimants alike: that the mental health of some of the UK's most vulnerable people has been increasingly put at risk by the government's rapid attempts to push through massive cuts to the benefits system. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/29/man-on-fire-birmingham-job-centre A man has set himself on fire outside a Birmingham jobcentre after what reports suggest was an argument over benefit payments. The 48-year-old unnamed man is understood to have doused himself in flammable liquid and tied himself to railings after a dispute inside the Jobcentre Plus in the Selly Oak area on Thursday. Police arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire after the jobcentre was evacuated. The man was later taken to hospital with burns to his legs. A source with links to staff at the centre told the Guardian the man had been recognised by the staff as vulnerable with outstanding health issues but had recently been found fit to work precipitating a move from one benefit to another. This had caused payment delays. Our welfare system clearly isn't working. I keep banging on about access to land, people cannot grow their own food, this is insane! Only today figures were released showing shoplifting is up in Rotherham by 50% and the biggest rise has been people stealing FOOD! Foodbanks are springing up across the country and experiencing never seen before demand! Shocking figures have revealed that every week a new food bank opens in Britain as more people find themselves struggling to make ends meet. And the number of people needing emergency aid is expected to rise with many food banks operators worried that the full impact of the recent budget will not kick in until 2013. There are now over 190 food banks nationwide, 88 of which were launched in 2011 alone. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131010/Staggering-rise-British-food-bank-One-opens-week-families-pay-packet-away-having-money.html#ixzz22QSCOqmc People are denied the ability to grow their own food. People are denied benefits (vouchers for food). And now people are sent to foodbanks (which they can only use a few times). Pretty soon people will be forced to travel to new foodbanks. This is like a return to the 'spikes' of old times. One of the scandals of our time is the unfortunates sleeping rough on the streets of our towns, . Sixty years ago - ironically before the NHS was founded - each homeless person would have been entitled, by law, to a warm bed and an evening meal for one night. Where? In one of the dreaded workhouses. Each workhouse had a separate building, known as a casual ward or “spike “ where the tramps were accommodated. The tramp would be given a bath on arrival: a simple meal - bread,. cheese and cocoa or the like - and ushered to a cell. He would be given breakfast and, after having done some unpaid work in return for his keep, would be free to go on to the spike in the next town. http://www.charlotteville.co.uk/thespike.htm It is interesting to note the rough sleepers count of London in the past! Some of the more punitive aspects of the workhouses were missing from spikes, but the standard of housing was basic. In the 1930s there were 17,000 people in spikes in the country, and 80 were found sleeping rough during a street count in London. It was in the 1960s that the nature of homelessness changed and public concern grew. From a post-war low of six people found sleeping rough in London in 1949, the numbers began growing. Cathy Come Home, a gritty TV drama about homelessness, helped raised awareness of the problem. Organisations like Shelter and St Mungo's started up. St Mungo's began housing some of the hundreds sleeping rough in the capital. http://www.mungos.org/homelessness/history/_20th_century In the 1930s, 80 people were found to be sleeping rough in London. In 1949 a low of but 6 people were found to be sleeping rough in London. Today 446 people sleep rough in London, and many more in squats and asylum camps. This is repeated across the country. The housing minister Grant Shapps said roughly half of the 446 rough sleepers in London were non-UK nationals, "so anyone heading here with tales of Dick Whittington in their head needs to realise that the streets of London and our other cities aren't paved with gold". http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/23/number-rough-sleepers-rises-fifth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem1st Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Leave Chem alone. He is doing a good job highlighting all housing, hardship and unemployment issues. It is important that the voices of minorities be heard. Thank you poppet2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackLakeland Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I can never understand why we have these sort of crack downs on benefits when there's not many decent jobs about. Come the revolution, my pitch fork is sharpened and ready.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 The system clearly isn't working. It costs too much, is poorly targeted and creates the wrong incentives. It allows some people to milk the system whereas people in genuine distress who have paid in all their lives to fall through the cracks and end up in the gutter. There has rarely been a clearer need for the parties to put politics aside and work together to improve the system. They all need to start agreeing and define what our benefits system will look like for the next 10-20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardoor Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 You simply cannot trust the job centre anymore, never believe anything they tell and get everything signed in writing, no matter how 'nice' or pleasant your adviser appears to be, this government only want them to exist so they criminalise poor people and hope they die. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/01/jobcentres-tricking-people-benefit-sanctions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister M Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 There was a 'controversial' article in the Telegraph recently that caused a bit of a stink (it even incensed Telegraph readers). Basically the writer (the attention seeking controversialist Brendan O'Neill) complained that many of claims of hardship and mental health difficulties caused by unemployment and the benefit system are being 'hijacked' and politicised by people with an axe to grind. The original article http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100168469/this-exploitation-of-suicidal-people-is-a-new-low-for-campaigners-against-welfare-reform/ Here is one rebuttal http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/brendan-oneill-is-a-knob/ After another http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/mental-health-political-issue?INTCMP=SRCH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkey104 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 So two people with mental health issues have harmed themselves in a job centre! Why does this mean employment is getting out of control? And yes food theft is on the up because bacon, cheese etc are easy to steal and even easier to shift in the pubs. Nick a bit of bacon and cheese and that's your hit sorted for the day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny128 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 there are jobs if you have a skill and know where to look, if you are not too bright and have no skill then you will spent the rest of your worthless life bottomfeeding off scapes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 If people struggle on benefits, why don't we get these stories all the time ? It's not like we've had full employment. That said when times are good I can't understand why government after government pee it up against the wall in various vanity projects ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 The man failed to turn up to appointments repeatedly. Being sanctioned for that is hardly something that is a recent thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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