"I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall."

fucking shit loads. You must live I a nice area if you are not surrounded by the like I am.

for a start it's not 52 quid. That's kiddy rate and just the start of the feast. there is the housing 180 a week, council tax, free school meals, free prescriptions, glasses, all the vouchers, free school. trips, subsidised uniforms/classes. of course many many have children as a career, and these children have conditions that are highly subjective but attract extra cash.

the calculation is not : do I want to be on 52 a week or 450. it is; do I want to be on minimum wage 225 a week + travel. and the reality is many will not earn more than minimum wage, they have zero qualifications and skills and it is pretty fucking sweet to do nothing all day every day in exchange for 400 a week in benefits without the hassle of getting up early, getting dressed, all those hours lost to commuting, difficulties with wraparound d childcare. and with the prevalence of aero hours one day sick and you are struggling. works dry up for a few weeks and the have all. that stress.

But benefits, that is the good life. get up when you want, do what you want, sell some shit on eBay, work cash in hand for the luxury. these people could not have this lifestyle. I work.

and don't start with : 'well then employers should pay a decent wage' because employers cannot afford to pay bog cleaners or chippy staff 26k a year. because that number is only the start. They also have employers NI, ppensions, sickness and holiday, maternity, insurance training, all relevant certs re: safety. we look at a cost of 40k for a 19k new start.

and wages will not rise when there are EE immigrants house sharing 4 to a room for minimum wage on zero hour or UTR.

it is about what option gives the better quality of life and more cars and by a county mile that is not working. by a fucking mile.

They may not have your lifestyle as a 24 year old programmer /engineer or mine as a old hand in a trade. But it is the best option for them.

and this country has fucking sold them down the river. in the buying trade we outright stopped taking on British labourers /trainees. as we could get dirt cheap poles who would work as Ltd companies for set prices for work. this was often less than minimum wage. as we had a an infinite supply we never took on any new kids, who used to be working class lads with a bit of savvy and a strong back who didn't mind a bit of graft and banter.

They would do the donkey work but pick up skills, knowledge and tickets. maybe classroom learning wasn't for them but they could bend pipes, screed, weld, what have you. We would pay for cscs, abrasive wheels, pasma. theses are expensive for a young lad and they would move up the conveyor belt.

But that all stopped when several hundred thousand EE rocked up simultaneously. many lived on site in caravans. making fast cash and going home, loaded. fucking loaded big time. we had Romanians (self employed - don't report us, all legal) mailing 3 years wages in 6 months.

it was shit. in a caravan, 12hiur days 13 on one off but it didn't last long. and we can't function like that as a society. Who will run the beavers or football clubs, we need to look after our elders parents and see our wives so they don't divorce us. read to our kids. it's not sustainable long term.

rambling now. few beers after night shift do that.

/r/unitedkingdom Thread