24954 posts you’ve done on here over the years. I’m sure if I wanted to I could find out how many hours you’ve spent browsing the forums. On top of all that you’ve been a pretty active moderator. Yes people do have a life outside of the internet but don’t try use that excuse as the reason why you can’t ever expand on what you write in detail. Because clearly you’ve had plenty of time to do so.
Owned by damo

Most sensible post I've read on the Sin Bin in a long time. Are you're sure you're not my husband, he tells me exactly the same thing when I get annoyed and upset on here

Dally, will you stop posting sensible economics on here. It will just confuse people.......




You are, of course, spot on with your analysis. A lot of people just look at the "Made in China" thing and think that's the entire value chain.

Take a pair of Nike trainers. The value there is in the brand. The shoes may have been assembled in Taiwan, and the $5 or so of materials made there.

The $50 worth of marketing is "sold" from offices in New York.

As you said though, the real driver for the world economy will be if China can develop it's middle classes. If this happens it's not unfeasable that in 20 years they will be posting on their forums moaning about the fact that everything they buy is made in the EU

Me too. It's not like he's just appeared either, his MO has been the same for years. Either way, he's effective. From those lining up to attack the stupidity of his posts, to the ever so earnest statements of support, he's attracting all the attention he craves with the minimum of effort. He must be laughing his arrse off!

I hope he is laughing is 'arris off and having the last laugh - he's just show up some people for what they really are.

Just an update.

I’ve filed a report and I’m leaving it at that.

Hopefully this thread will stay so we can continue to debate about all kinds of issues around unemployment as opposed to just focusing on my own. I have a few other points I want to make in regards to the bigger issues that I will post later.

But hopefully my aggravators will lay off trying to drag the points I make into a tit for tat d[ii[/ick slinging match about the problems I face on a day to day basis.

[uUnemployment in the UK just under 3 million - REALLY ??

Deceptive Government !!

Jobcentre officials have moved hundreds of thousands of unemployed people claiming jobless benefits on to a separate training allowance over the past year, raising concerns the Government is fiddling the figures to mask the true extent of unemployment.

218,700 jobseekers were taken off Jobseeker's Allowance and moved on to training payments of equal value in the year to September 2011, while attending job-hunting courses and classed as officially "employed".

Unemployed people were on a training scheme during any one month over the period, with each course typically lasting six weeks. The courses are generally completely useless and often did not result in finding work.

All these courses do is help reduce unemployment figures, for a right wing government who wants to be seen as reducing unemployment & the green shoots recovery are around the corner !

Lies & deception !![/u


No official link for this as it was posted on a FB group. You can all make up your own minds as to what you think.

Some people will be surprise to know that I have met Sal Paradise briefly at a rugby match. He didn’t spend his time on the terraces preaching about what he see’s as the errors of my ways. It was a pleasant encounter and so it should be because we was both they to enjoy a rugby match.

Everyone else I’ve met from RLFANS in real life has been a pleasure to meet also because I met them in similar circumstances to that of Sal. One person even invited me to sit in the press box at Headingley.

However if me and Sal were to frequent each other in circumstances other than rugby in real life then it probably wouldn’t work because of our clash of opinions. It’d be great entertainment mind - me and him slagging each other off at every opportunity we’d get. I’m sure that some people on here would revel in such camaraderie if those real life clashes carried on here. But I’m sure that Sal doesn’t want that as I certainly don’t. It's best that we debate on here and just leave it at that. If we bump into each other then I’m sure it’ll just be like last time. He certainly won’t be threatening to confront me on the terraces like one member once did on the Leeds forum.

I’ll always be grateful for whatever Sal tried to do for me that time he PM‘ed me with a job opportunity. But how he’s gone about after my rejection to his help in that particular time is a totally different matter all together.

.....Unemployment figures being manipulated????.....They don't do that, do they??....



Its been happening for years and years, under Tory, Labour and coalition governments, so why some clown creates a facebook group about it, I really don't know.

The clown that created the facebook page is disabled and its a page for disabled people who are worried about how we are being treated. In this group we all support each other, give words of encouragement and I have met some brilliant, kindhearted people through being in this group. Afterall we're all in this together!!

The Conservative Party 60sec Ad 'Coming Shortly'.1979 mp4


type this into a video hosting site. A lot of us older people will remember this from the cinema.

I think it’s great that we live in a time when we have got such strong disability campaigners. Sue Marsh was absolutely fantastic on Newsnight the other week and apparently she‘s going to be on more. To top that off the Guardian have won an award for the way they represent people who have disabilities like ourselves.

I have engaged in activism against ATOS via my now defunct Dole Years website (I think you can still get catches). Overall I found it a thankless and underappreciated task so I gave it a miss after a really good try at pushing it. Disability activism isn’t really for me but I’ll still support it in any way that I can and normally it’s by just speaking on about it on social networking websites like this.

The best part of this activism is the people you meet through them and I’m proud to call people from all walks of life my friends and not just those who I share the same circumstances with.

And the sad thing was that the incumbent Government at that time were in such disarray that they couldn't mount a half decent challenge for the next 18 years, even sadder was the reality that the incoming Government didn't have an answer to the jobless queues either.

So do I......I also believe though, that it is equally important to have campaigns to weed out those folk who choose to wear the disabled badge, as a means to avoid work and take money out of the system that they have no right to.

I have great sympathy for the genuinely disabled, but like most things in life, there are people who ruin it for the majority by choosing to cheat the system and this rotten few, unfortunately, tarnish the name of the majority.

So, why doesn't the government issue a binding pledge to INCREASE benefits for truly disabled people when the alleged malingerers are weeded out? Is it because the scroungers are that great an issue and the government likes to highlight them to reduce help to what Cameron calls the most needy in our society?

If they did as I suggest I'd have respect for them and I'm sure any malingerers and scroungers would soon be grassed up. As it is I have nothing but disgust for pathetic weasels such a Cameron.

Personally I do feel that the disability badge is needed as an excuse in most cases in today’s tough jobs market. I feel that John Harris explains it best in his article titled ‘[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/21/long-term-sick-sickness-absence-review?commentpage=1#start-of-commentsStop targeting this imaginary army of long-term sick[/url‘. Meanwhile ATOS have been getting paid millions to assess if people on sickness benefits are fit to work as opposed to been fit to seek work. The two are very different matters.

Seeking work can be a very fruitless task. The people who don’t suffer from some sort of depression when job seeking becomes long term are very lucky and a rare breed.

Work on the other hand is a much more desirable and productive use of someone’s time in society because everyone pretty much gets what they want. Mainly the employee gets money for doing a job whilst the employer gets a service.

The job centre and the DWP unfortunately don’t see it like this. There expect someone who has been unemployed for a long time to magically find work by themselves. The support on offer from the job centre and their providers to help people back into work is a shambles. It’d be a lot more productive if the job centre staff went out to find work on the behalf of the long term unemployed.

Oh they find work for the unemployed alright. But no where near enough and in some cases it’s unpaid work. The staff over promote what ever little success they’ve had in order to cover up the overwhelming failure that is the system for the unemployed in this country. It’s nothing short of propaganda what this lot put out to the public who don’t really care because they not as informed on the reality of whats happening.

You go on a private providers website and you will find success stories galore. Take A4e for example - the only people who seem to praise them are those who’s vested interest it is to praise them and those who’ve been lucky enough to find work off their own backs whilst having the misfortune to attend an A4e job club. But you do your research on the internet and it is littered with complaints from past clients. Heck A4e are so bad they even have they own [url=http://watchinga4e.blogspot.com/watchdog style website that was set up by a former disgruntled client[/url. Yet the government continues to throw millions at this company each year all because a marketing team convinces them that this is the way to do things. It should not be marketers advising what’s best for the long term unemployed - the government should go directly to those who are suffering from the problems and then maybe we’d get things sorted out. But the reality is it’s all a mess and I can only hope that the work programme has a hidden agenda of giving these marketing teams one last chance to sort out the unemployment problems in this country. But the bottom line is people have created an industry out of unemployment in this country and the work programme will no doubt just be given a new name when it runs out. Just like when New Deal was re-branded Flexible New Deal so that these poverty pimps could use it as an excuse that they’ve learnt from they mistakes and are now have a better system to deal with the unemployed.

Now imagine if the government throw millions into creating jobs for the long term unemployed as opposed to using this money to fund the bank balances of Emma Harrison so she can continue run her shoddy job clubs. How she can live in a mansion whilst the people she deals with are probably struggling to keep a roof over their heads is beyond me. You’d think she’d use any profit she’s made in creating jobs for those who’ve come across her services. It’s much easier for her to be poverty pimp though and let the company marketing team keep convincing the government that they worth it.

Damo, I appreciate that looking for work can be a thankless and, often, futile task.

I'm also of the opinion that those who are genuinely seeking work, should be given all the assistance that is humanly possible to help them find work.

However, it has to be a two-way thing....The jobseeker has to show a desire to want to work and not just live in a fantasy world of wanting to work in the ideal job.....Of those who are in work, how many are in jobs that they enjoy??....I promise you, it isn't many.

As for people using the disabled badge??.....As we all know it happens, and it happens far too often.

I have a neighbour who has not done a day's work in the last 15 years....He is registered disabled and claims every benefit he can. Yet, he has the best manicured gardens in the neighbourhood, he spends most daylight hours tending to his garden, he's even managed to climb up into his tree to trim it!!

His excuse is that he had to leave his job due to an injury, yet its glaringly obvious he could turn his hand to something that could be of benefit to society, instead of simply sponging from the state.

Sadly, its folk like this who are ruining it for the real disabled of this country.

The question has to be asked why are people more likely to be lazy under Tory governments?

Unemployment was sky high during the 1980s, it was as high as this now under Major in the 1990s, then it fell for the decade from 1997-2007, before going back up in the last year of the Labour government and now has gone back to the Major level.

What is it that changes peoples social attitudes that hundreds of thousands of people that were willing to work a few years ago, now decide that work is beneath them?

Is it that the Tories have the attitude that life on benefits is acceptable, and its a lifestyle choice, started by Margaret Thatcher, that entices people out of work and onto benefits? When Tony Blair was PM there was none of this, say what you want about him but he was tough on social disorder, crime, ASBO kids, renegade dictators with WMDs, benefit cheats. It was "a hand up not a hand out" under Blair and unemployment fell and employment rose.

It is just sad that along with the Tories comes a new era of laziness and decline.

The same thing happens with people who are IN work, under the Tories they get in trade unions and start going on strike and making a public display of their not wanting to work and wanting to hold their employers to ransom. Again when Blair was PM you didn't have this social unrest, people who were in work by and large got on with working rather than striking but now the Tories are back it is starting again.

I think the Tories are seen as a soft touch so the lazy exploit this. It's a shame that Blair is not still around else he would have sorted this mess out. Perhaps one day he can come back as President of the EU and be able to set measures in place that way.

I think the biggest problem is that the only real assistance the unemployed get in this country is financial assistance. Yes support is they for people who can't write up their own CV (should they be applying for jobs where a CV is required if this is the case?) and those who can't read out the job descriptions But they don't offer any practical help to get people into work - not really.

I agree with you that most people aren't happy in with their jobs. So that just shows how reluctantly people are going about in this world because of the limited choices that they have. If you gave someone a choice between full time work or been unemployed then I think a majority would choose the former. But most people don't have that choice - only those in work do.

The choice for those who are unemployed is benefits or starve to death. It's a very limited and sad choice. Society does need re-thinking and I think we will move towards a better one eventually. Over time things have gradually got better for people anyway and will continue to get better. The Tories won't be in power for ever.

Finally it is not the likes of your neighbour ruining it for the rest of us. That blame probably lays with the media who do they best to sensationalise anything in order to have readers. Some of them have manage to generate a hatred for those who are more victims of society rather than the exploitive individuals that they make them out to be.

If you've been following The Diary of a Benefit Scrounger Damo, you'll have seen Sue went into hospital this week very ill. There was a picture of her on the blog with oxygen tubes up her nose. And this is the woman who has been TURNED DOWN for DLA and like she says, her surgeons have told her she is the worst in the country with her condition and if SHE can't get DLA then who can?

Too many people think (courtesy of the media) that you fill in a form for DLA and hey presto, its granted. Your neighbour DSM might be up trees and have a well managed garden but he would have had to have letters from his GP, his consultant, a specialist nurse (if applicable) and someone who sees him on a daily basis. It is very easy to assume he is lying. Either that or all of his medical team are liars. What also makes me laugh is how everyone seems to KNOW what benefits their neighbours are on. Not saying this about your neighbour but there are some out there with hidden disabilities. I can cut the grass as long as I take regular breaks to sit down and know afterwards my hands will swell. How do you know your neighbour doesn't spend the next day suffering because he wants a nice garden and is too proud to ask for help? Theres plenty of stuff I do that I just know will put me on the sofa for the whole of the next day but I still do them because you'd go stir crazy if you vegetated.

The Telegraph has today exposed the Conservative led government for massaging the job figures. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs ... yment.html Quote The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that 218,700 jobseekers were taken off Jobseeker's Allowance and moved on to training payments of equal value in the year to September 2011, while attending job-hunting courses and classed as officially "employed".'" I think this is disgraceful from the Conservative government and shows how low they will stoop to try and cover up their lazy attitude towards getting wasters off benefits and into work like the rest of us.

The Telegraph has today exposed the Conservative led government for massaging the job figures. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs ... yment.html Quote The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that 218,700 jobseekers were taken off Jobseeker's Allowance and moved on to training payments of equal value in the year to September 2011, while attending job-hunting courses and classed as officially "employed".'" I think this is disgraceful from the Conservative government and shows how low they will stoop to try and cover up their lazy attitude towards getting wasters off benefits and into work like the rest of us.

I think its fair to say we will agree to disagree on the whole disabled argument.....You will obviously side with the argument of those being scrutinised by the authorities, I will always maintain that there are those who manipulate the system to suit their own agendas and should be weeded out.

But back to the point that I'm most concerned by on this thread, and that is Damo's wish to be able to choose his own job, while still being housed and fed by the state??.....Surely, in any society, not just one struggling economically, this is wrong?.....By all means, be picky over where to work, but don't expect the taxpayer to look after you in the meantime?

DSM - If this government force me onto JSA and to look for work, I too have to be "picky", I can't wait for public transport therefore I could only go for jobs within a short distance of my home. I can't work long hours/weekends/evenings etc, I am limited in tasks I can carry out, but you know I am disabled and you are ok as a taxpayer to "look after" me because you know I am genuine. How do you know Damo isn't genuine with his disability and thats why he's "picky"? Maybe he isn't, but you don't know that yet you still jump on him.

Steph, I think you'll find the only peole who "jump" on Damo are those who have suffered him in the past. When he called out BG for his post count and I worked out the daily averages of Damo & BG, I completely forgot the time (some months IIRC), Damo was prevented from posting on here.

Look back though some of his earlier posts. People are not exagerating his bragging about drunken sprees, that also included (again working from memory), ripping the sink out of a pub toilet.

I agree he probably needs help and assistance, I am not convinced that he would welcome it though. Unfortunately I think he may end up featuring in an updated remake of last year's "Strangeways" documentary

Quote ="sally cinnamon"The Telegraph has today exposed the Conservative led government for massaging the job figures. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs ... yment.html I think this is disgraceful from the Conservative government and shows how low they will stoop to try and cover up their lazy attitude towards getting wasters off benefits and into work like the rest of us.'" Hahaha EVERY government does it. The worst offenders were the Labour party in the 90's who convinced 50% of the people in this country that they should go to University..........and the fees are the result.

Quote ="sally cinnamon"The Telegraph has today exposed the Conservative led government for massaging the job figures. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs ... yment.html I think this is disgraceful from the Conservative government and shows how low they will stoop to try and cover up their lazy attitude towards getting wasters off benefits and into work like the rest of us.'" Hahaha EVERY government does it. The worst offenders were the Labour party in the 90's who convinced 50% of the people in this country that they should go to University..........and the fees are the result.