Was in London this week, and one title all over the press was “work for no pay or lose benefits”… An eye-catching one-liner on what the government wants young unemployed people from 18 to 24 to do.
In fact, the point is to get the people in that age bracket that have spent less than six months in employment since leaving school to work thirty hours a week for thirteen weeks, plus spend ten hours a week looking for a job to then be eligible to the unemployment benefits of GBP 56.- per week that they are receiving.
I could only note that few commentators would ask why did we not think of that a long time ago, before starting to give out the GBP 56.- per week? It is now seen as a “given thing” and having to give something in exchange (hours of “free” work) is unacceptable….. Anyway, I encourage to google it up and read the opinions expressed, as overall they do level out as seeing it as a reasonable idea, though just a few pre-crisis years ago such an idea would have triggered furious debates on how unsocial it is…
Another comment in the press is how the Londoners got used to having the military in the streets during the Olympic Games and wondered out loud that it would not be that bad if it lasted or if the crisis made it a necessity..
It all made me smile, as it is soooo much in-tune with what happens in my book. So hold on tight everybody, we are getting there…. Which is not really good news!
Which makes me think that I should make extracts of the book available in this blog to better make my point… Hmmm, will right now go and try to figure out how to do that.
Simon Q.