Kids can work. I’m sure there’s a paper round that they can do. Heck I remember when I was a kid my mates around the same age as the ones you are coaching now went around cleaning people’s cars and they earned quite a bit of money that day. Lawns always need mowing but that’s beneath these kids because some adults are walking the three peaks for them.

In all seriousness though I wish them all the best.

They are only 10 so not sure many people want bottom half of their cars washed, They have done bag packing at supermarkets etc so maybe thats something you could try

I’ve come to the conclusion why some people on this forum are against this. It is because they misunderstand the whole concept of why Bens going to Brazil. On the other hand we all understand the concept of people representing their country abroad in sport because we’re a sporting community on RLFANS. What this thread has been is a clash of community’s where one doesn’t understand the other.

With regards to gap years then the same can be said for playing in France. Don’t we have kid’s teams in less glamorous locations than France that the under 10s can play against?

It’s just nit-picking of the highest order and it needs to be stopped because it does no one any good. I’ve already had a few insults thrown my way because I have a different viewpoint. I have friends who have gone on gap years and it’s benefitted they lives for the better. Heck even one couple were delivering the Yellow Pages to fund their gap year despite having parents that could pay for them for a full year. That job could have gone to someone who needed it to feed their family. But it went to my friends and not one single person complained because they didn’t even think about things from the prospective that I’ve thought about things. Funny world we live in..

The jobs market is pretty poor today. You later go on to write in your comment that your mate got redundant from a car wash place. Now I’d like to think that working at a car wash place is a job that would be a nice earner alongside other jobs. It’s not something that most people can earn a living out of full time otherwise employment figures would be a lot lower by now.

Getting four jobs to make up a decent wage in this day and age would be quite a feat. But maintaining those four jobs without one of them becoming redundant for a sustained period of time would be next to impossible. As I’ve said before on this forum one of my old friends struggled to even find one part time job despite coming from a better background than most of the unemployed.

The bottom line is people want long term stability and most employers offering entry level jobs these days don’t offer that. It’s a case of you can be fired at any time because your easily replaceable. It’s wrong because people are more important than the job.



People do have to make a choice but what choice do they have?

Take your neighbour for example. He could take on that cleaning job but his family would suffer as a result. So in the end that choice becomes more of a circumstance. I know I wouldn’t want to take on a job that’s a couple of hours a week. I also wouldn’t want to take on a job where people get fired just so employers can use past examples to instil fear into future employees.

There are a couple of people on here who would rather see others worse off by working as opposed to taking benefits which I think is sick. Thankfully most people are un-judgemental and want the best for everyone.



All the best to your neighbour and I hope he finds a suitable job soon.

I think you’ll find I pack bags at supermarkets regularly. Where else am I to store my tinnies?



I pay for my bags too. Those free ones are too small to contain my consumption.

You are correct there are less glamourous places to play than france but our season is on a weeks break for easter so a good opportunity to test ourselves as a team and for the parents to let their hair down

Ben’s going to Brazil to test himself as an individual on a farm that will be totally different to the English farm he’s been volunteering on. We hope he becomes the best farmer in the world and this is a good opportunity for him to achieve that status.

So has he actually got a job lined up over there? Or is he just hoping once he gets over there he will find one. Also I presume he has learnt even basic Portuguese so as to be able to communicate over there, and i hope he has his Visa all sorted out, maybe if it's a yes to all these thinks people will understand it a bit better.

So your waiting for a 'creative' job. I hope you get one. I would love a job as a porn star, being paid to service groups of ladies. In the meantime I have a job whilst it happens. As opposed to being a scrounger. How long is it since you had a proper job and how long did it last? Or is it over picky employers?

I’m not too sure if he’s learnt Portuguese but I guess he’ll pick it up when gets over they. He has work experience lined up so he’s not going into the country totally unprepared. I assume that his visa is all sorted out but stuff like that isn’t the area I’m dealing with.

Porn star. Classy. I could try (I'm not going to) and pull a few strings and arrange you your dream job. How much would you want to be paid to gangbanged by a group of obese over-40s? You’re not fussy so I’ll contact a couple of people and we’ll have a whip round for £100 for you to appear. On top of that we’ll let you have commission from how much the DVD sells. If it sells well then you've got yourself a career.


Oh and by the way my dream job is to write. I’ve volunteered to write all over and had some moderate success. Hows your on the side porn career going again that you’d so much love to do?

And I’m not waiting for a ‘creative’ job. I’ll be pursuing it like every other job seeker is pursuing a job up and down this country. But it has nothing to do with writing.

I worked abroad as it happened for a couple of weeks but it wasn’t right for me. Then I worked for free at ASDA for a couple of months.

Well, well, well.....what a load of tosh this is.

I have been struggling in the employment stakes for a while, and I have also been to Brazil, so let me have a twopenny worth.

You have people genuinely struggling for work then you have an ample of people who really do not want to work, and everyone gets banded in the same category. People who do not want to work and make every excuse should just walk off the face of earth as far as I'm concerned.

I know many people who say they are struggling to find work, but when push comes to shove, they're not too fussed. I applied for months with knockback emails after the first stage, but then sometimes I would get as far as the online telephone interviews or the face to face interviews. Sometimes the prospective employer would never ring back to even let me know how the interview went. I got the impression that alot of employers were sick of the lack of work ethic from young people. In one interview, someone said to me "You can talk the talk, but are you going to be like some young individuals we have had, and do as little as possible, and have ever excuse in the book for not turning up".
I have worked since 16 (all the way through uni), and never been on the dole, (I worked 9pm to 4am in a bar 2 nights a week, and that pretty much felt like been on the dole), as I had so much time on my hands, and I hated it, but it would seem alot of people get used to it, like Damo for example.

I went travelling, and would I have ever asked someone to help me me fund this luxury? would I chuff
You work and work until you can afford to go, and make sacrifices on the way, like not getting drunk on saturday night in lap dancing clubs etc.

When I got back from my travels, whilst Damo was whinging about the employment situation and I suspect didn't have one interview, I got knocked back from sainsburys recruitment, even though I got 100% in the test I did, and also the same for asda stacking shelves. Both jobs, alot of younger people got the jobs instead. I also then went through an agency to order pick in a wharehouse. How depressing that was. getting told by some lad who was training us that it doesn't matter now that we've failed the education system, but least we now get decent pay. The thing is, least I tried. I was trying everything. I would have settled for been a dustbin man, even when people were taking the mickey saying "you gone to uni to do this". I thought to myself, yes but is better than claiming from the British public like alot of graduates are now doing.

At this present time, I now have 2 jobs, and worked 29hours friday and saturday combined, and on saturday alone, I did 16hours. Saturday, I was awake at 6am to go to Huddersfield for 8:30shift, until 7. I then worked 10pm until 3:30am at night. As I write this, I am doing another 10hour shift today. All these hours are more or less minimum wage, but it goes on your cv, and it looks a damm sight better than not doing anything.

No doubt this post will fall conveniently on death ears to some, but if people are as desperate for work as they're making out, I can get them a job tomorrow. The truth is, people are not prepared to do certain jobs, and the dream job for them is not out there and is out of there reach, so they settle for handouts.

This emotive subject riles me.....

Note to Damo: You probably should have learned by now that this is all that was going to happen when you started this thread.

Well done rich. Like you say, at least you tried.

This is absolute double standards.

Whilst you might not had asked for money for the luxury of traveling abroad, you was more than happy for me to lend (yes lend) you £20 on the spot for the luxury to watch Wigan game when you couldn’t get money out of the cash machine. Have I seen a penny of that back yet? Nope. Have I badgered you for that money back? Nope – In fact keep the money because I wrote the debt off ages ago. And no I’m not going to bring this subject up every time you want to get a across a point.

Just be careful who you’re in debt to next time because it could be to some really nasty individual and with your gambling habit you might just get yourself in that unfortunate situation one day.

Finally please do not inherit the main flaw of the previous generation which is bias. By all means air your concerns about unemployment (I’ve aired the same opinions on these boards in the past and how convenient that it’s not moaning now) but don’t get into the popular mantra of bashing me. It’s not going to work and you’re just going to look like a bigger fool than you already are.

Tad and others will be lapping all this up. Is this what we’ve become – entertainment on a message board? This is two friend’s nit picking at each other’s flaws just to suit their viewpoint of things. If you fail to see that then I’m sorry I can’t help you!

Now I must go get a bath. I’ve got an important meeting to attend this afternoon.

Well I thought things were different now since my article in the Yorkshire Evening Post over a month ago. No one was complaining then other than Gotcha who hasn’t even got involved in this horrific ganging up on me. I guess some people are showing their true colours and coming out of the woodworks.

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"Some people’s inability to look at the bigger picture with regards to unemployment in this thread is astonishing. Some people’s inability to consider both sides of the issue surrounding unemployment is disappointing. My cousin with great difficulty found employment in one of the countries biggest unemployment black spots. This was an exception of someone finding employment in that area rather than the rule. Still I reckon some on here would go around the area where my cousin lives and call the unemployed a set of lazy lovers. Some people fail to recognise that job seeking can just be as unproductive as not looking for a job at all. The amount of time someone spends seeking a job could be better spent by doing an actual job and some people do spend an insane amount of time looking for a job. The same could be said for people who sit on their booty all day. The only time when looking for a job is productive is when there’s a job at the end of it. Another thing for some of you to consider is whatever happened to Emma Harrison of Action 4 Employment? Some people on here have helped friends and relatives into jobs. Now some people (overused already haha) get paid for that process and I personally think it’s wrong. Would you expect to be paid for helping someone into a job? You probably won’t expect anything other than the possibility of a pint as a token of thanks. I don’t know how much companies like Action 4 Employment get paid these days for helping people into a job but it’s somewhere in the region of £200 - £400. Now Emma Harrison made millions out of running that company. She’s recently resigned because of all the bad publicity that her and a4e have had in the media. I recommend that you all have a good read of this - watchinga4e.blogspot.co.uk/2012/ ... s-end.html Another point I want to make is that some employers are just as fussy as the unemployed. It’s another thing that never gets taken into consideration by the ‘there’s jobs for everyone’ brigade. Why aren’t the fussy employers criticised as much as the fussy unemployed? It’s one rule for one set of people and another rule for the others. I thought we was all equal on this planet? The final point I want to make is that the system for the unemployed in this country is deeply flawed. It benefits no one other than those who are employed by an industry that’s supposed to help the unemployed back into work. Having any kind of unemployment benefit is more out of circumstance rather than choice. Now I welcome anyone to try and debunk all that I’ve written here.'" There's a world of difference between blaming all unemployed people for being unemployed (position 1) and wanting to pay for somebody to go on holiday to get "work experience" in a country with higher unemployment than we have here (position 2). Debunked or not, nothing you've written is at all relevant to position 2 is it? The unemployment situation is complicated and has many facets (one of which is a certain swathe of the population unwilling to work, but availability of jobs, access to training etc are clearly major factors) but none of them mean going to work on a farm in Brazil at other people's expense is the answer. This has nothing to do with "ganging up" either, so drop the persecuted act. As witnessed after your recent appearance in the YEP, when I agree with you, I'll say so, when I don't, I'll say so. You are persisting in defending a position on here, several people disagree with it. That is neitehr "ganging up" or "horrific."

Quote ="Damo-Leeds"Some people’s inability to look at the bigger picture with regards to unemployment in this thread is astonishing. Some people’s inability to consider both sides of the issue surrounding unemployment is disappointing. My cousin with great difficulty found employment in one of the countries biggest unemployment black spots. This was an exception of someone finding employment in that area rather than the rule. Still I reckon some on here would go around the area where my cousin lives and call the unemployed a set of lazy lovers. Some people fail to recognise that job seeking can just be as unproductive as not looking for a job at all. The amount of time someone spends seeking a job could be better spent by doing an actual job and some people do spend an insane amount of time looking for a job. The same could be said for people who sit on their booty all day. The only time when looking for a job is productive is when there’s a job at the end of it. Another thing for some of you to consider is whatever happened to Emma Harrison of Action 4 Employment? Some people on here have helped friends and relatives into jobs. Now some people (overused already haha) get paid for that process and I personally think it’s wrong. Would you expect to be paid for helping someone into a job? You probably won’t expect anything other than the possibility of a pint as a token of thanks. I don’t know how much companies like Action 4 Employment get paid these days for helping people into a job but it’s somewhere in the region of £200 - £400. Now Emma Harrison made millions out of running that company. She’s recently resigned because of all the bad publicity that her and a4e have had in the media. I recommend that you all have a good read of this - watchinga4e.blogspot.co.uk/2012/ ... s-end.html Another point I want to make is that some employers are just as fussy as the unemployed. It’s another thing that never gets taken into consideration by the ‘there’s jobs for everyone’ brigade. Why aren’t the fussy employers criticised as much as the fussy unemployed? It’s one rule for one set of people and another rule for the others. I thought we was all equal on this planet? The final point I want to make is that the system for the unemployed in this country is deeply flawed. It benefits no one other than those who are employed by an industry that’s supposed to help the unemployed back into work. Having any kind of unemployment benefit is more out of circumstance rather than choice. Now I welcome anyone to try and debunk all that I’ve written here.'" There's a world of difference between blaming all unemployed people for being unemployed (position 1) and wanting to pay for somebody to go on holiday to get "work experience" in a country with higher unemployment than we have here (position 2). Debunked or not, nothing you've written is at all relevant to position 2 is it? The unemployment situation is complicated and has many facets (one of which is a certain swathe of the population unwilling to work, but availability of jobs, access to training etc are clearly major factors) but none of them mean going to work on a farm in Brazil at other people's expense is the answer. This has nothing to do with "ganging up" either, so drop the persecuted act. As witnessed after your recent appearance in the YEP, when I agree with you, I'll say so, when I don't, I'll say so. You are persisting in defending a position on here, several people disagree with it. That is neitehr "ganging up" or "horrific."

Damo. Man up.

I can't even be bothered counting the number of words it took me to say what you have accomplished in 3.

Well played sir.

I've heard a lot of reasons from people over the couple of years when they've been turned down for a job. Everything from 'They won't give me a chance because of my age' to 'I must be too qualified for them and that lowly job'.
I can't really recall ever hearing somebody say 'maybe they just hired someone who was simply better than me'.
Sometimes the job market and employers need to stop being used as excuses and look at the individual.

Sometimes there are viable excuses. When I finished uni I struggled to get some jobs as I didn't have the experience, and some lower jobs because I was over qualified and would leave fairly quickly. ( granted I did keep looking and got 4 crap jobs to put me on)

That tends to happen when you get rather obsessive about finishing all your sentences in less than 140 characters...

I was been very vague about who was ganging up on me and I’d never tar you with the same brush as some on this thread.

I welcome criticism as much as anyone – hence why I didn’t give Gotcha a hard time for raising a point back in the YEP thread. But what I don’t welcome is all out insults. It’s totally uncalled for as I’m sure most on here would agree.

But the verbal’s can carry on. I’ll just man up and laugh that I can provoke people like this

Glad you said this Damo 'cos I was just thinking along the lines that you really need to lighten up a little. (I know this can be difficult for some with Asperger's)
The truth is unemployment is always gonna be a bit of a political hot potato. It's one of those areas where it's easier to blame the victims than pinpoint the real causes.
I work in a school where for every low-paid support job advertised there are quite literally dozens of serious applicants, some of them quite highly qualified. This is lost on those who swallow the Torygraph/Daily Mail 'they're all scroungers' line (usually backing up their ill-founded prejudices with some skimpy anecdotal evidence).

Having said that, I do find the idea of paying someone to go and look for work in Brazil more than as little ludicrous.
Now if you said my mate is desperate for the bus fare to go to an interview on the other side of Leeds, I might be more easily persuaded to help.

OK to put a point on this debate. The unemployed fall into one of three categories.

1) Unemployed but doing everything in their power to get a job.

2) Unemployed because they are either physically or mentally unable to work

3) Lazy doalls who refuse to try and get a job, instead insisting that the predicament that they are in is down to everyone else while believing that they are entirely blameless or not even trying to help themselves.

P.S. still waiting for PM's regarding donations for my holiday because 'I'm a nice guy who gives money to charity'.