Our benefits system has been forced into the light and shown its ugly head. The first time it caught my eye, was in the show Benefits Street, run by Channel 4 and aired in January of 2014. Some of the people on the show were really in a difficult position and deserved the money they were receiving. However, a few of them made me absolutely furious.
There was one particular episode where a woman was chatting to a single mother. The single mother was saying how hard she’d been trying to get a part time job that meant she was around for her kids. This other woman was laughing at her and saying what was the point, she could just go on benefits and the government pay you to do nothing.
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| Mark and Becky, a shot from the series Benefit Street by Channel 4. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/why-channel-4s-benefits-street-misrepresents-uk-welfare-unemployment-1431345 |
I found it hugely aggravating. And it occurred to me just the other day, that we are penalising the wrong group of people. Many unpleasant citizens of this country blame foreigners for stealing jobs, my thought is this: shouldn’t we be getting rid of the people who contribute nothing to our society, not necessarily foreigners.
It seems to me, there should be a revision of everyone on benefits in the country, somehow. There should then be call outs to meet those people who have cases where they could debatably be working. After these are reviewed and a number of people are identified as being fully able to find work, perhaps they should be given 12 months to find work and get off benefits, or the money stops completely.
That might sound harsh, but the fact is that if our economy really is struggling, maybe just being born and bred British isn’t enough of a reason to stay. We should all be contributing, as much as we can. In the same way we'd support our family financially, our economy should be treated the same.
Ian Birrell, a columnist for the Guardian spoke up about the number of foreign immigrants who are claiming benefits, in contrast to UK figures:
“As at February 2011, 16.6% of working age UK nationals were claiming a DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) working age benefit compared to 6.6% of working age non-UK nationals.”
By more than double, UK residents are more likely to be on benefits. Yet recently, I’ve seen quite a few articles on media sites about how outraged people were, when an Asian Islamic family were able to move into a large council property. There’s been many like that, targeting people based on religion and origin and not thinking of the bigger picture. It also begs to wonder whether papers like The Daily Mail and The Sun which often display closet racism should be called out and forced to stop. It’s easy to inspire hatred to grow at a certain bunch of people.
Last November, Cameron was under a lot of pressure to try and cap the number of migrants moving over to the UK, from 240,000 to around 100,000 a year. He submitted his plans eventually to the EU: that in order to enter the UK the immigrants must have a solid job offer. This is likely to be refused by the EU, as one of their main principals is for people to be free to move where they like.
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| http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11209234/Immi gration-from-outside-Europe-cost-120-billion.html |
Someone else I spoke to a while ago had an interesting suggestion: give everyone on benefits £10,000 each. Half of them will probably waste it buying televisions and games etc., meaning you get a big shot into the economy, and the other will probably save it and use it to better their lives, and may even get them off benefits. It sounds like a crazy idea, but it might be worth it.
Perhaps, instead of benefit receivers getting money, you give them something undesirable like food coupons and a small amount of money for luxuries. Or, when you sign up for benefits the government pay your rent and a set food plan is delivered and paid for per month, the benefit receivers don't choose the ingredients, unless they have allergies etc. Perhaps it’s a vicious and un humanitarian in approach, but something painful like that might just be the cure to a culture of couch sitters, it would also force people to be healthy. No offence to anyone who does work incredibly hard - these are just ideas I wanted to express.
Food for thought though, eh?
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REFERENCES
WEBSITES
Anon. 2014: Benefits Street. Retrieved from:
Anon. 2012: Are migrants less likely than UK Nationals to claim benefits? Retrived from:
Watt, N. 2015: European commission set to reject David Cameron’s migration demands. Retrieved from:
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