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Original poster

The Sun launches 'Beat the Cheats' campaign.

70 replies

madhairday · 09/03/2012 11:54

I really haven't even got the words.

This guardian article says it all Are Sun readers ready to Beat the Cheat

Another vicious attack on disabled and sick people, backed up by the wisdom of IDS, no less.

OP posts:
JuliaScurr · 09/03/2012 12:05

At last! They're going after Philip Green for tax avoidance! No, wait...

Tanith · 09/03/2012 16:42

I once read a story about something similar, written many years ago.

It was called 1984.

GrownUpNinjaWarrior · 09/03/2012 16:46

So, if I am getting DLA, will it not be okay for me to go swimming? Because I thought keeping active and watching your diet was good for your health when you have health problems?

I can't really walk without pain, but swimming is alright. But from the sounds of it I am supposed to be hiding away at home out of sight. The point of DLA is that it makes it possible for me to live surely, and part of that for me is looking after my health for the future.

Not to mention how arduous a physiotherapy session can be.

Trickle · 09/03/2012 16:50

This would be the news paper that is ethically and morally superior and has never been involved in any wide spread illigal activities like say corruption of law enforcement eh?

F*ING HYPOCRITS!!

Wormshuffler · 09/03/2012 17:03

They only seem to be publicising people who have been convicted of making fraudulent claims, so no , you won't need to hide away unless you have said you can't swim.

GrownUpNinjaWarrior · 09/03/2012 17:17

I can definitely swim on a good day. Well, float might be a better description of it sometimes, but yanno what I mean. Wink

Original poster
madhairday · 09/03/2012 18:16

The thing is worm it just stirs up the whole benefit scrounger thing, and therefore people will be shopping their neighbour they saw doing some gardening or going shopping, or any other normal activity people on DLA/ESA can't possibly do. Why can't disabled people enjoy white knuckle rides? Why can't they play golf? It just contributes to the whole vitriol spouted by the govt, the wrb and society as a whole against disabled people. Who can not possibly have a life, after all. Hateful stuff.

OP posts:
Nancy66 · 09/03/2012 18:25

I think I'm right in saying that the cases the Sun publicised of people claiming benefits, including disability - the bungee jumper for example - WERE proved to have been committing fraud.

The Guardian piece is inaccurate and nothing more than the paper having another (ill-informed) swipe at the Murdoch press.

Mrbojangles1 · 09/03/2012 19:45

GrownUpNinjaWarrior well if your getting DLA and you were saying your could barely move, and have to crawl around your house

Then I suppose it would raise some eye brows if you were caught sizzling down the big slide and Windsor pool.

Mrbojangles1 · 09/03/2012 19:48

Nancy66 yes I read a case of somone who sated they couldn't get out of bed with out a carer it was later discoved this invidial will be competeing in the para Olympics so though they actally were disabled they we're not telling the truth about how inderpandant they were

LovedayPan · 09/03/2012 20:02

Hmm..I know that nancy66 is spectacularly missing (deliberately) the point of the article regarding 'the public' being encouraged to attack a swathe of the population on the strength of a few dodgy claimants.
Your suggestion that it is an attack on the Murdoch press is even more risible in teh light of your own experience as a 'journalist', of sorts.

Wormshuffler · 09/03/2012 20:30

Does it not Piss you off though that people claim it fraudulently?

TheSkiingGardener · 09/03/2012 20:33

I thoroughly support the maximum provision of DLA to those who need it.

I think those who lie should be prosecuted AND persecuted.

I hate the Sun though and their motives are purely about circulation

pointythings · 09/03/2012 20:58

The article shows some interesting statistics about the number of calls shopping people for 'fraud' who are actually found to be cheating the system - the rate is very, very, very low. To my mind that suggests that there are a lot of people calling based on ignorance, prejudice and jealousy.

Unless and until Sun readers all have medical qualifications, they should keep their noses out - all this is doing is stopping disabled people from having any quality of life for fear that they should (heaven forfend) be seen to be enjoying themselves on those occasions when they have a good day. And of course any therapeutic exercise, as often recommended by their doctors, will be seen as evidence that they can work and are therefore cheating...

All this will do is drive the rate of calls up, increase hatred and related hate crime against disabled people (and this is already on the rise, thanks to this government) and set people against each other.

Speaking for myself, wormshuffler, if one cheat gets benefits they aren't entitled to out of my taxes and that means that 9 genuine claimants then don't get harassed, spat on, chased by ATOS for yet another assessment of a condition that is never going to get better and vilified by the red tops - then I don't mind paying that money. The new culture of vilifying the disabled at every turn has too many victims and virtually no victors.

solidgoldbrass · 09/03/2012 21:04

What took that shitbag Murdoch so long, though? Encouraging Sun 'readers' to turn on the people around them (rather than, you know, the bankers who wrecked the economy) has been News International's favourite obsession for decades.

tralalala · 09/03/2012 21:11

there is a really dirty little cheat living near my mums. He has an island on his duck pond you know.

cornsilkidy · 09/03/2012 21:15

Iain Duncan Smith is behind this campaign is he? Not long ago he was claiming via the Daily Mail that all parents of children with ADHD got a free car, which as he surely knows is blatant fabrication. Vile, vile man.

cornsilkidy · 09/03/2012 21:19

HERE more disability bashing by Iain Duncan Smith

Voidka · 09/03/2012 21:24

The problem is that for every 1 person that claims fraudulently, 1000 people are claiming legitimately.

But the articles in the Sun and the Mail make it sound like every DLA claimant is claiming fraudulently, and they fail to explain that DLA is not an out of work benefit.

cornsilkidy · 09/03/2012 21:27

DLA fraud is calculated at less than 0.5%

blackoutthesun · 09/03/2012 21:28

i thought the fraud rate was something like 5%

i do wonder how much it will cost to investigate all these calls?

blackoutthesun · 09/03/2012 21:29

ah x post knew it had a 5 in Blush

Nancy66 · 09/03/2012 23:52

not sure why so many of you think that stopping benefit fraud - something that costs the country over a billion is such a terrible thing?

Yes, of course, there are super-rich tax dodgers but that's not really something the ordinary man on the street can do much about.

edam · 09/03/2012 23:56

Bit rich of the Sun, given how the wholesale law-breaking that's gone on in their media empire... while all the headlines were about Rebekah Brook's sodding nag, the real story was about the Sun de-railing a murder investigation because one of the private eyes they were shovelling cash towards was the prime suspect.