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2005-01-27 Britain

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Posted by anonymous2u 2005-01-27 12:42:16 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 BD, et al, is this a Scottish problem or all of Britain?

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-01-27 7:16:34 AM|| 2005-01-27 7:16:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 All of the UK. This is the Labour Government's way of deceiving the British public about the true levels of unemployment here. They get away with it because the media, well, I don't need to go on...

Posted by Bulldog 2005-01-27 7:42:48 AM|| 2005-01-27 7:42:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 BD: I think incapacity benefit existed prior to the Labour Government being in power and the Tories certainly, like all governments, massaged the unemployment figures in the nineteen eighties to their political advantage.

I was given the choice of taking incapacity benefit when I was ill several years ago. The sum offered was pitiful and I got on with things. However, for some it does provide a more lucrative opt-out than unemployment benefit. Although a staunch believer in the need for a welfare state that provides a helping hand, I do, however, think a review of the social security system in the UK is long overdue.

Posted by Howard UK 2005-01-27 8:12:09 AM|| 2005-01-27 8:12:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 I wouldn't say it's an exclusively Labour thing or even a Labour invention, but it's been exploited by Blair and his spin machine like by nobody else. The fact that "the share of the UK workforce actually in employment remains well below its peak in 1989" demonstrates that the problem of unemployment is worse than before Blair became PM - yet Blair's actually managed to make the public believe that unemployment has gone down...

Posted by Spike Mylwester 2005-01-27 8:41:36 AM|| 2005-01-27 8:41:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 As ever...

Posted by Bulldog 2005-01-27 8:41:59 AM|| 2005-01-27 8:41:59 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 when i was stationed there, i got the distict impression that the conditions had as much to do with the culture as anything else (no offense scotland). work didn't seem to be valued like it is here (by here, of course, i mean houston). i'm not passing a value judgment, cuz i don't know that work is what i value most either. no doubt the dole does not help to encourage the (moral) value of work. but then niether does (what seemed to me) to be the view of brits that scots were 2nd class citizens. i still remember the change of attitude when i spent bank of scotland money down south, and it wasn't a positive one.

Posted by Rawsnacks 2005-01-27 10:23:29 AM|| 2005-01-27 10:23:29 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 It can be hard trying to get rid of Bank of Scotland money south of the border. Same goes for Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank. I know. It's not because you're Scottish - it's because it's so damn rare people are either suspicious of it or know they themselves might have difficulty passing it on (like a mangled coin or any torn note). IIUC it's not even a legal obligation to accept other British notes in England. In England we only have Bank of England notes. Much simpler. I dread to think what happens when you try offloading one of the four(?) Northern Ireland issuers' notes...

There's a saying about the Scots / English that I think sums it up pretty well:

The Scots say they're superior to the English, but don't believe it.
The English don't say they're superior to the Scots, but the do believe it...

Posted by Bulldog 2005-01-27 11:39:12 AM|| 2005-01-27 11:39:12 AM|| Front Page Top

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