To be agreeing with new conservative benefits proposal re alcohol etc

[Tigerthebreadroll]

They will cut benefits for people that haven't paid into the system and been unemployed for over 6 months (don't quote me on that number ) by 30 % and it will be given on a prepaid type card. Meaning it won't be accepted by betting shops, for alcohol or cigarettes. I feel that's right . Why should tax payers money be spent on funding cigarettes etc but I have no problem with funding the basics like food etc.
Thoughts?
Basically you will claim full benefits if you've worked and paid into the system. Should reduce generational unemployment hopefully

I don't know the details but on a wider note find it ironic that the Tories have developed collective amnesia given that quite a lot of the difficulties we face now are the result of their time in government.

Bollocks, it increases stress, read Alan Carr's book. All smoking a cigarette does is relieve the craving that nicotine addiction causes.

It looks to me too much like punishing the poor although I agree that some people have their priorities wrong and rely on the state too much.

Many.

The ones who claim for a duck house or cleaning a moat. The ones who claim on their home despite having no mortgage. The ones who claim on a second home, despite already having a home in their constituency or in London, while renting out their own home nearby. The ones who claimed on a flat, so they could let their adult child live there, despite owning another. The ones who charge us for photographs, pet care, thousands for an interior designer, boiler servicing on their swimming pool, installing a chandelier...paying for nappies, kids comics, nail varnish... I could continue but be here all day.

Those were different Tories, that is why Badenoch has appointed the architect of the very succesful Truss mini budget as her shadow chancellor.

Of course the parents will have expenses, but a 25 year old in receipt of any benefits will a) be the person who qualifies for them, not their parent and b) have expenses of their own and if on JSA will be expected to look for work and attend appointments.

Yes great idea. Waste additional taxpayers' money on a scheme where the real world evidence shows it failed.

I was a smoker for 44 years. Trust me, it relieves stress.

Letting them smoke might give the taxpayer long-term savings as smokers die earlier than non-smokers?

Yep and the policy to end smoking as people age probably had a good on them thread.

There are fewer jobs than unemployed people at the moment.

You get made redundant, you can't find a job (because there aren't enough), the government (and half of MN) decide you are work shy, scrounging scum and treat you as such.

Maybe many of those actual hard working people will sink into deep depression and become unable to work and then be counted among the 'sick/disabled' and less vilified.

No we won’t.
Although the Tories won’t be back in power for a generation, and I imagine the scheme would be very difficult and expensive to implement, and probably impossible to enforce.
But go for it. (And make sure they can’t buy sweets or fizzy drinks while you are at it. )

God some people are so unable to put themselves in anyone else’s shoes. So fucking judgemental.

Maybe just stop selling cigarettes and sweets etc?!

But.. what if you live in Rotherham or somewhere like that where there are genuinely no jobs, especially for young people - what if you can't even get the chance to 'pay into the system'?

I do believe that we need to do something about generational welfare - but surely it should be linked to job availability?

The betting, alcohol and tobacco lobbies are huge and highly influential in Parliament. Maybe that's why Badenoch's scheme will never work, or most importantly, will never be implemented.

Farage, man of the people, loves a fag and a pint.

I’m guessing because reducing it by 30% would take it below a living wage, so…?

They’ll need to provide more than that. Cuts in welfare spending almost always result in a decrease in the health of the population and a much larger rise in healthcare spending to deal with it.

Yes, like other treats. Smoking drinking and gambling and are added extras that you do if you can afford them.

I would be slow to judge, but I reckon there are many chancers out there, and many very unfortunate people who just cannot work. There should be a distinction.

I would research European countries that have a fair benefits system, where their populations are not benefit bashing every minute, see how it works there, and emulate them.

Employer incentives is one thing that could be considered for each person hired who was on the dole. There is I suspect some reluctance on the part of employers to hire those claiming, preferring someone moving from job to job. Fix that for a start.

But of course that probably means higher taxes for a fairer society. We can have both but are probably not in favour of more taxes for ME, but at the same time want fewer benefits for THEE.

Doctors, not so long ago, would tell patients to go smoke when going through hard times.
My own grandma, with the war and a twat of a dad and husband was told by her GP to smoke, while pregnant because it relieves stress!! (she never did). Same for soldiers, they were packed in their rations.

The power of suggestion, marketed by tobacco companies is really strong and ingrained into society. I think people who smoke or even those who only smoke when stressed do actually feel less stressed and make the connection, despite the physical truth being different.

She doesn't even look English.

Why should we care what people spend their money on?

I thought Labour were meant to be nanny state writ large?

Isn't this a bit too Big State for the Conservatives?

Are these expenses still happening? I thought since the expenses scandal 17 years ago and the convictions that followed these expenses had rightly been clamped down on. If someone is claiming for a duck house 17 years after an MP had to resign for doing so they’d have to be pretty bloody stupid!