I'm not saying he isn't a real person, or that his situation isn't as described, but every post he makes seems obviously designed to get people biting, in my view. There's no way he'd say half the things he does if he wasn't looking for a reaction.

Isn't that a recognised symptom of Asperger's?

As cod'ead says, he is a real person and what you read is his real life and his real attitude, he actually did appear on Radio Leeds one evening





dancing and rapping I just wish they'd have recorded what they were saying when they escorted him to the door.

As for having a drink one weekend, well I can point to to dozens of posts that he's made where he's declined invitations to go to games at Headingley because he is too skint, even the unemployed deserve a session now and again.

Not from what I've read (which isn't a lot, granted). A common symptom is saying things without knowing or thinking about how people will react, but it looks to me like Damo is doing exactly the opposite of that. He knows how people will react, finds it secretly amusing, and so courts their ire for his own entertainment. That's how it looks, anyway.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has recently decided to give his two penny's worth on the youth unemployment crises facing this country - Quote ="Some Journalist via The Sun" FECKLESS Brits on the dole should learn from hardworking foreigners who have taken their jobs, Boris Johnson declared yesterday. The London Mayor said some young people are out of work because they lack the "energy and appetite" for it. And he heralded the tens of thousands of foreigners working in the UK's hotels, coffee shops and fast food outlets as a shining example.'" Source: www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... hnson.html I’m sorry but I think Boris Johnson is completely out of touch and unreasonable by declaring that some young people who are out of work lack energy and appetite for working. He is later quoted in the article that there’s jobs in London and that he does want to help young people get them. Well here’s how you can help Boris: You could withdraw these companies right to decide who they employ and get the job centre to find them a near suitable candidate who’s long term unemployed. It will then be that employers responsibility to make it work because for far too long it has been beneath them to give anyone a chance who does not fit in with they ideological idea for a candidate. It works both ways. It appears to me that potential employers seem to be just as fussy as the unemployed when it comes to choosing. However young people are not fussy and I'm sure that Boris would have called [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1268411/AMANDA-PLATELL-Shattered-dreams-betrayed-generation.htmlVicky Harrison a bunch of names before she decided to commit suicide because been on the dole become too overwhelming for her[/url. Yet I bet that some people would still torment her on here since she's died just to suit their bias opinion.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has recently decided to give his two penny's worth on the youth unemployment crises facing this country - Quote ="Some Journalist via The Sun" FECKLESS Brits on the dole should learn from hardworking foreigners who have taken their jobs, Boris Johnson declared yesterday. The London Mayor said some young people are out of work because they lack the "energy and appetite" for it. And he heralded the tens of thousands of foreigners working in the UK's hotels, coffee shops and fast food outlets as a shining example.'" Source: www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... hnson.html I’m sorry but I think Boris Johnson is completely out of touch and unreasonable by declaring that some young people who are out of work lack energy and appetite for working. He is later quoted in the article that there’s jobs in London and that he does want to help young people get them. Well here’s how you can help Boris: You could withdraw these companies right to decide who they employ and get the job centre to find them a near suitable candidate who’s long term unemployed. It will then be that employers responsibility to make it work because for far too long it has been beneath them to give anyone a chance who does not fit in with they ideological idea for a candidate. It works both ways. It appears to me that potential employers seem to be just as fussy as the unemployed when it comes to choosing. However young people are not fussy and I'm sure that Boris would have called [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1268411/AMANDA-PLATELL-Shattered-dreams-betrayed-generation.htmlVicky Harrison a bunch of names before she decided to commit suicide because been on the dole become too overwhelming for her[/url. Yet I bet that some people would still torment her on here since she's died just to suit their bias opinion.

See?

Going by your logic, Boris Johnson must be a troll because he has an opinion that many people (mainly the unemployed and those who sympathise with the unemployed) find disgusting.

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"London Mayor Boris Johnson has recently decided to give his two penny's worth on the youth unemployment crises facing this country - Source: www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... hnson.html I’m sorry but I think Boris Johnson is completely out of touch and unreasonable by declaring that some young people who are out of work lack energy and appetite for working. He is later quoted in the article that there’s jobs in London and that he does want to help young people get them. Well here’s how you can help Boris: You could withdraw these companies right to decide who they employ and get the job centre to find them a near suitable candidate who’s long term unemployed. It will then be that employers responsibility to make it work because for far too long it has been beneath them to give anyone a chance who does not fit in with they ideological idea for a candidate. It works both ways. It appears to me that potential employers seem to be just as fussy as the unemployed when it comes to choosing. However young people are not fussy and I'm sure that Boris would have called [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1268411/AMANDA-PLATELL-Shattered-dreams-betrayed-generation.htmlVicky Harrison a bunch of names before she decided to commit suicide because been on the dole become too overwhelming for her[/url. Yet I bet that some people would still torment her on here since she's died just to suit their bias opinion.'" Are you serious? Most ridiculous thing I have heard on here (and that's saying something).

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"London Mayor Boris Johnson has recently decided to give his two penny's worth on the youth unemployment crises facing this country - Source: www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... hnson.html I’m sorry but I think Boris Johnson is completely out of touch and unreasonable by declaring that some young people who are out of work lack energy and appetite for working. He is later quoted in the article that there’s jobs in London and that he does want to help young people get them. Well here’s how you can help Boris: You could withdraw these companies right to decide who they employ and get the job centre to find them a near suitable candidate who’s long term unemployed. It will then be that employers responsibility to make it work because for far too long it has been beneath them to give anyone a chance who does not fit in with they ideological idea for a candidate. It works both ways. It appears to me that potential employers seem to be just as fussy as the unemployed when it comes to choosing. However young people are not fussy and I'm sure that Boris would have called [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1268411/AMANDA-PLATELL-Shattered-dreams-betrayed-generation.htmlVicky Harrison a bunch of names before she decided to commit suicide because been on the dole become too overwhelming for her[/url. Yet I bet that some people would still torment her on here since she's died just to suit their bias opinion.'" Are you serious? Most ridiculous thing I have heard on here (and that's saying something).

No I’m not been completely serious. All I’m doing is giving Boris Johnson’s opinion a taste of it’s own medicine. Companies should have the right to choose who they employ as the unemployed should have the right to choose who they get employed by. Freedom of choice is something I value dearly.

Boris Johnson is showing why he won't get further than being the London mayor, because he has these moments when he likes to be controversial for the sake of being controversial and say things to get cheers from his right wing chums, at the expense of alienating a lot of other people. This is why in the unofficial succession to Cameron battle, which is probably going to be Osborne v Johnson, Osborne will win hands down because much as people might see him as a smug sinister rich kid, Osborne wouldn't shoot his mouth off like this.

The comparison with foreign born workers is not a very good one anyway. There's a perception that immigrants come over here and do unskilled labour that home workers won't do but most of the immigrants that have come in the last 10-15 years are not in unskilled jobs, in fact there are higher percentages of them in the more skilled jobs than the native population are in skilled jobs. The reason there are tradesmen and construction workers from Eastern Europe over here is because they have trained in it over there. Also the ability to speak multiple languages is an advantage which employers like, which is again something that the Europeans have. So you can't compare like against like.

The bigger problem is that there is not enough unskilled/low skilled work to go round in the UK now, for people that don't have qualifications. In a globalised market it is easy enough for firms to outsource unskilled parts of production processes to the developing world where costs are cheaper anyway.

Its also to be noted that the interview is quite a long face-to-face interview in The Sun, thats the Tory supporting Sun, in a year when the Tory Mayor Johnson is up against Ken Livingston who probably belongs to a party that is definitely not Tory but no-one else seems to want to own him.

He's playing to the gallery.

He is but there are rare occasions where a large part of the electorate would agree with him. I'm sure we've all crossed paths with people who think entry level service industry jobs are beneath them.

Damo, I don't want to state the obvious, but it is possible to be employed whilst still looking for your ideal job.

I'm not sure I should be paying tax to fund youngsters who believe that certain jobs are beneath them.

I haven’t cross paths with people who you describe at all because there myths. People like yourself and Mintball use this myth in an attempt to distort the truth in order to support your own bias and narrow minded point of views.

A lot of people have turned down entry level service industry jobs because the terms and conditions were a shambles. For example the thousands of youths on The Work Programme are doing the same job for free alongside those who are getting paid the national minimum wage. Is that right?

If someone turns working for free at Poundland does that instantly make them the type of people you tend to describe them as? No it doesn’t.

It makes them people who have decided to take a stand against big corporations that would be more than happy to go back to slave labour if the unions and governments weren’t in they way.

A lot of unemployed people would be more than happy to take on entry level service industry jobs if they were offered the fair working terms and conditions as everyone else who currently works in these jobs. But the problem is that there’s not many of them going about at the moment and even those [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/20/tough-times-bottom-of-job-marketoff the dole in these jobs are been exploited[/url.

Now I think you and Mintball were against this kind of [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemploymentexploitation by those who should know better[/url as they was a big debate about it on here the other month. But the way you've both conducted yourselves on this thread has left me wondering if you now support the coalitions plan to get people working for free in entry level service industry jobs because you seem to skip pass the free labour part and look at things very black and white.

surely there must be something in the rules of this site about bullying!!!!!!
damo is getting it right left and centre and its way beyond banter and IMO is totally out of order.
so sometimes he says stuff we might disagree with or riles us, but doesnt EVERYONE in the sinbin!!
bang out of order how some treat damo in here.

Yeah I agree, pretty nasty unjustified stuff.

Yes but some of Damo's bullies are mods so they are hardly going to enforce it.

He brings on what he gets.

Anyone else got any complaints you can contact the admin.

Nobody is bullying him.

S**t, I must have imagined working for 15 years in a service industry, 10 at manager level, interviewing, hiring, training and managing entry level staff. Thanks for pointing that out.

Or it could be you and your fellow wasters don't have a clue.

Well here’s how you can help Boris: You could withdraw these companies right to decide who they employ and get the job centre to find them a near suitable candidate who’s long term unemployed. It will then be that employers responsibility to make it work because for far too long it has been beneath them to give anyone a chance who does not fit in with they ideological idea for a candidate.

When Damo writes total rubbish like this then it'll get treated with the stupidity it deserves. If I create a position in my company then I reserve the right to employ someone who I believe will be the best person for that position, not be told you will employ who the job centre decides and if it doesn't work out then it's my fault. Sorry Damo but with an attitude like that then you deserve everything you get.

I think what Damo suggests is commonly known as 'having your cake and eating it....'....

Care to expand on that?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen you ever explain anything on here. This is probably because you’d be unable to defend your points if you ever went into detail about anything. Go on shock us all.

At the same time, do you care to explain why you believe an employer should not have the right to choose their own staff, and instead have random idiots foisted on them by the local job centre, and when, a few weeks down the line, things go awry, the employer should be held responsible for the employee's failings?