The welfare state sucks the lifeblood out of the country by punishing those who work hard to keep useless layabouts who, in a just world, wouldn’t be able to survive.
I said previously that Wife Swap was a shockingly awful programme. I was referring to the concept of getting two women to live in each other’s houses for ten days and trying to make good telly out of it. However, this particular episode has done a great service to the nation by highlighting what a disgrace the welfare system is. It has certainly sparked some considerable discussion.
Mark Bardsley worked for the council for 12 years. Then two years ago he was laid off. He’s been a useless layabout since then, managing only to produce two more kids. His wife Lizzy has never done a day’s work in her life. Their child benefits, carer’s allowances, income support, incapacity benefit and disability living allowances add up to £37,400 per year. That’s equivalent to a pre-tax salary of about £50,000.
Without being given money stolen from productive people, the Bardsley’s would not be able to survive and maintain their current lifestyle. They would either starve, or one of them would have to go and find some work. If the welfare “safety net” was not there, there’s a good chance that they’d have made different choices, have a different attitude towards work, and that thanks to the increased investment made due to lower taxes there would be more work for them to choose from.
As it is they are completely dependent on other people. They have no self esteem, thinking anyone who works for a living is a snob who looks down their nose at them. (They’re quite right, of course, I for one do look down my nose at them). The chances that all of their eight children will grow up with decent work ethics are remote. They’ll have learnt that working doesn’t pay, and they’ll become the next generation of tax burdens.
The welfare system is by no means a safety net. By punishing the productive and rewarding the lazy it creates dependents, their number swelling to consume the hand-outs available. It makes matters worse, not better, and should be abolished immediately.
Related Link: Be sure to read the Evening Standard‘s breakdown of the Bardsley’s benefits.
How much!!?? As a non telly person this programme had rather passed me by, but 37 grand?! That’s ridiculous…. and the offensive attitude of the benefits leech towards her working counterpart demonstrates clearly how well appreciated our efforts are in supporting the so called less fortunate.
Maybe there is a place for tasteless television after all.
Just checked the Google thread. I said recently that if I had , say, Robbie’s £80m, I would start my own political party and challenge the way this country is run. Now I know where to start canvassing! Aside from a couple of ‘but what about the children’ whingers, the people on the Google group are united in horror and repulsion at how much you can ‘earn’ on benefits. Reckon they’d vote for me if I promised to put a stop to even the *concept* of long term claimants?
A relief to discover others with similar opinions.
And it’s just uk.media.tv.misc, too. Not even uk.politics.down.with.the.government or anything like that. Perhaps the times are a’ changing.
Let’s get something correct… The husband has actually been off (legal) work with “despression” after his father died… Which means somewhere, there’s some psychopherapist or whatever who has been taken in and signed off on the appropriate paperwork…
Meanwhile, according to reports in the papers, Mr Bardsley has been doing side jobs as a builder. Personally I’m not sure whether I believe that or not – if I were getting £37k from the state for doing bugger all, the last thing I’d be doing is any kind of work…
But it just goes to show that the people who assess the benefits need an overhaul as much as the system itself.
Scrounging fuckers should have their benfits stopped NOW!!!!!!!
RE:Wife Swap Ch4 13/07/04> The 60 mins. spent on this excuse for nothing
less than mass market appeal should have run for 20mins max. One third of
total air head time is a lousy ratio.Cut down it just might have been
interesting enough to care about these lives. What a sad nonentity this
proved to be. I will not be watching again.