"We are all too quick to judge these days, and too quick to throw stones. Many of us are also one month's pay away from being benefit claimants"
^ This
One car accident, one idiot on the phone in their car, one illness, one punch, one fall, one affair, one flood, one dodgy tradesman or one job loss is all it can take before you find yourself without a pot to piss in and it can happen overnight.
No-one can appreciate just how quickly life can change where every single one of your plans, hopes and dreams are wiped out in the blink of an eye until it happens. When it does happen, the benefits system we have, although flawed, it's by no exaggeration, a life saver.
No one with an ounce of self respect wants to be claiming any sort of benefit, working benefit or not, we'd all rather be earning enough to support ourselves and our families. This is where the problem comes in. Most people are not earning enough - this is not the fault of the claimants, the workers, the middle class, the disabled or even the scroungers, this is solely the fault of the governments, their tax breaks for the rich and big business. They look after themselves and their mates with the thinking that if the rich get richer then everyone benefits, the trickle down effect. Only, those at the bottom, ie, US, knows that's not the case at all but feel as though there is nothing we can do about it - we are too busy worrying about how to pay the next energy bill, praying to anyone that will listen that the car doesn't need anything replacing and will pass the MOT and fighting amongst ourselves.
Every now and again the Gov or those with some influence will throw us a crumb to give us the illusion that they care and are listening to us and our concerns (internet porn, chilcare credits anyone?) and not actually solve these problems at all (no idea about the internet porn but the chilcare can be solved with guess what? HIGHER WAGES).
As long as we keep fighting amongst ourselves, which I think is more to do with the fact that we feel almost powerless to fight those who are actually causing the problem so we fight those who are more on our level as it were, then nothing will be changed. Ever. Just as they want, keep the bottom fighting and too busy to do anything else. What's worse, there is supposed to be power in numbers, as the elctorate, we should be able to do something, but no-one does or even knows what to do and so the circle continues.