To Think Rishi is Delusional

[Sunshineguy]

The Prime Minister wants people to shrug off increased ill health. Is he delusional? Fatigue is categorized as a mental health issue for long term disability benefits. Fatigue is also the most common symptom of Long Covid. Is Rishi right to say we're a nation of shirkers? Or is he ignoring the presence of a new virus that is disabling people? Has your health improved or worsened since Covid arrived?

It seems like he's desperate now. He's trying to reach out to an unfortunately large majority of the population who believe people on benefits are taking all our money, oh and illegal immigrants are the reason why you can't get a doctors appointment.

It's laughable, but people will lap it up. It may even win him some votes.

Honestly people need to wake up, it's not the poor who are taking all the money is it? It's the rich. Big corporations, millionaires. Not paying their fair share. Rich tory twots who stay rich with the tories in power. People should be united and in uproar over this but instead they pit us against one another to cover up what's really going on.

I agree to some extent.

I feel that there's been an overreaction, particularly on MN, to what Sunak is saying.
(BTW I'm not a Tory voter.)
All parties are concerned about the high numbers of young adults , compared to other similar countries, who are not in work , education or training and who seem to have just opted out.
Also, so very many people are now ( particularly on MN) actively being advised to get signed off by their GP when times get tricky.

Sadly the country, nor the existing taxpayers, can afford to subsidise it all.

Yes , I agree that the current government, but also the previous government ( to a lesser extent) have contributed to how shit most people are feeling about their lives and much needs to be done. However, the exponential rise in sick notes is doing our economy no good.

The WFH culture is also not helping.

Its advocates insist that it's a better work/life balance. Its detractors can see that solitude affects mental well-being and increases anxieties, particularly in relation to interacting with strangers and even colleagues.
You've only to look at the number of people who refuse to answer their phones or doors.

Out of control rents needs , desperately , to be addressed. The Cost of Living needs to be addressed. Affordable housing needs to be addressed. Private rentals need to be severely controlled. No more Buy to Let mortgages. Affordable childcare needs to be addressed.
I'm sure most would agree.

However, that won't address the fact that too many young adults are simply feral . Many towns and cities are testament to that.

The autism/adhd explosion is too much for the NHS to cope with too. This needs to be explored as well but, it will cost the ever decreasing number of taxpayers an enormous amount of money to get to grips with.

Whoever gets into power next will be sucked into a quagmire of ills that will be enormously difficult to climb out of.

Easy for him to say with his millions he's so smug.

This in a a nut shell.

So three separate people who are in long term sick leave have confided in you that it's all a big con and they just "don't want to work"? If that's true, get better friends.

Dear little Rishi is a billionaire who is married to a billionaire. I don’t think he knows much about real people

My sister in law has long covid, she is really struggling

dd has ME (pre covid) and they are very similar

Working From Home has also opened up work to a huge number of people that would otherwise not be able to do the jobs they now do from home, me included. I’d have to get signed off if I was still five days per week in the office. As it is, I have a more restful three days with no commute and two exhausting days with a commute tacked on.

@HappyEater I have had neuro problems ever since. Migraines, neck pain, sore dry eyes . I am ok still working but it certainly did a number on my nervous system- could be covid, could be vaccine- I couldn't say as had close together

I think there is just the ethos of fit and healthy people working from leaving education until pension age.

As previous generations did. 🙄

I think there's something to be said about people learning to live with moderate mental health issues. It's part of the human condition; life can be hard. Living off the state shouldn't be an option unless you're genuinely seriously incapacitated.

Rishi knows exactly what he's doing.

He knows his government is largely responsible for creating a problem where more people are finding it hard to access employment BUT he's not creative or in touch enough to think of a solution that would actually work so instead he wants to publish people while simultaneously chronically funding the community and statutory services that would normally help people find work.

Because its not just about finding a job - it's about sustaining it. It's about being able to access a job that pays you enough to cover the cost of housing which has doubled in the last 4 years. It's also about having good enough transport links and the infrastructure to help people in rural areas travel to find work without having to pay so much out of their wage to do it. It's about addressing waiting lists so people who need support can actually access it to manage their mental health and keep well and improve their resilience. In my area of the UK we get no help for childcare and we pay £12k a year towards it, what's a single parent supposed to do when that's what it costs just to go to work. What about women who are more likely to be carers?

Rishis policy will target the most vulnerable, those who are homeless, those with trouble accessing childcare, those in need of but unable to access healthcare, young people leaving care.

We already know from the changeover in dla to pip that it's hard to assess mental health sufficiently to give a fair service and I've worked with so many people who lost their benefits in that changeover who for very genuine reasons are not well and should in my opinion be given those benefits.

And for context this last year the employability service I work alongside took a 40% funding cut. He can't have it both ways.

I’m glad it’s working for you.

After a pretty healthy life into my mid 50s I've had a host of health problems since having Covid in March 2020, including long covid, more than one autoimmune disease (never had any before covid) and cancer.

In the course of my job I've seen lot's of people really try to stay in work, but they just can't stay well enough. It's really sad. Punishing them isn't the answer.

Work can be beneficial for "some" MH issues but that comes with some caveats.

You need an understanding employer. Flexibility. Some investment in what you're doing. We won't all get jobs we love but if you actively hate it, well that won't help your MH. A reliable (not 0 hours contract) wage that makes a tangible difference to living your life on benefits.

My adult DS has ASD. He was on disability benefits but was desperate to work. But didn't come across great in interviews. And of course the longer he was unemployed, the more unemployable he became.

He actually got a job in the end through my contacts. He loves earning a wage and the depression he had when unemployed has lifted. So I have seen it can be beneficial. But no employer wanted to take him on. Which is a barrier a huge amount of people are going to face. He also had a degree so wasn't coming in with zero qualifications, which many others will be.

I don't agree with the idea of having some private company dealing with signing people off though. Look at the mess they've made of pip assessments! It's going to be more of the same. Vulnerable people who can't work will be told they are fit to work and will end up in worse poverty than they are now. Sadly I think suicides will increase.

Are we also really going to just let people become homeless and starve if they can't prove they've done enough to find work in a year??? Is that who we are? That's shameful.

I don't think he's delusional. I think his playing election games and will say whatever he thinks will keep the right wing of the party in line and get a certain part of the electorate frothing at poor people because it's a useful distraction.

The overton window in the UK has moved to the right in the last 10 years sadly. We need the adults back in the room to get some moderate centrist policies that benefit normal people.

robot ri$hi has no empathy function, as evidenced by his 'are you in business' attempt to connect with a homeless man

This is not about "fit and healthy" people in case you missed the point of the conversation. It's about people who are suffering physical or mental health conditions. Also, nobody has ever worked as an "ethos", they worked for the rewards: money, security. These rewards have been stripped away for many. A lot of people will never be able to buy a home or retire. Many can't afford to raise families. So what's the point?

It's electioneering. Nothing else.

Love the anecdote.

Personally I don't know anyone with health issues after covid. I'm not denying there aren't people with long covid, but I've not met, or heard about, them.

Amazing isn't it, how so many people think that working for a living is something that only their generation has had to do. Not to mention that the work they have to do is so much harder than what previous generations did. 😦

The rewards have been stripped away? Did I miss the news that people no longer get paid to work? I've been around a long time, and when I was young there were a lot of people who didn't own their home, or ever expect to, and I imagine that was an even greater number in previous generations. As for retiring, of course people will be able to retire - get a grip!

Pay has not been keeping up with things like inflation, the housing market etc. In-work poverty is at an extremely high level. As for pensions, the system is collapsing and there are already discussions that state pension age may need to be pushed until 70. I'm a Millennial, several decades away from retirement, and I'm pretty sure I will not get there ever, as the goalpost will keep moving. So it's you who needs to get a grip, actually.