Workfare

Samanfur · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:56 am

spoonman wrote:

That Guardian article makes me fucking sick.

I'm hoping that this stamps on the idea before it gets too much momentum:

Quote:

In an 11-page document setting out a provisional defence for a case that could affect the position of hundreds of thousands of jobseekers in a similar position, the DWP has argued that having benefits docked does not equate to forcing the unemployed to work.

"Where a person is required to perform a task and, if he or she does not do so, loses benefit, that is not forcing a person to work.

I'd be interested in looking at how the justification for that defence works, let alone what the ECHR makes of it.

Gourami · **Joined:** Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:51 pm **Posts:** 2005

Every time I read about this I feel more disgusted than before. What next? Use corpses for fertilizer?

Abernathy · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:12 am

Soylent Green.

Kreuzberger · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:28 am

...then they came for the unemployed. (Yeah. I too am becoming disturbed by the repetitive nature of my posts.)

oboogie · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:44 am

And a bit of Godwin from me.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:00 am

Next we'll be talking about radical solutions to solve the problem of 'useless mouths'.

Messianic Trees · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:50 pm **Posts:** 2829

Looking at the comments here, even most Mail readers don't appear to approve of the scheme.

oboogie · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:54 am

That's right, even allowing for Tescos bashing, they're overwhelmingly negative.

mojojojo · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:33 pm **Posts:** 4264

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Next we'll be talking about radical solutions to solve the problem of 'useless mouths'.

Quite.

I hope everyone in this fucking government ends up very sick and their millions don't help them.

oboogie · **Posted:** Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:19 am

Tesco are getting cold feet it seems

Tesco asks government to change flagship jobless scheme

Quote:

Supermarket group Tesco said it has asked DWP officials to make the work experience scheme voluntary after thousands of angry customers wrote in and posted messages on Twitter and the company's Facebook site accusing the multinational of profiting from hundreds of thousands of hours of forced unpaid work.

http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/bu ... experience

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:20 am

Jan Moir, the News of the World and now Workfare. It seems that the new social media are something that the establishment is going to have to come to terms with.
I can only see that as democratic, with the caveat that so far social media are a minority bloodsport.

oboogie · **Posted:** Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:03 am

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Jan Moir, the News of the World and now Workfare. It seems that the new social media are something that the establishment is going to have to come to terms with.
I can only see that as democratic, with the caveat that so far social media are a minority bloodsport.

It's that caveat which is my worry. In this instance social media is being a force for good. But that's my opinion and subjective. How would I feel if a Twitter storm influenced a change which I objected to?

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:22 am

Yes. Except that I think the majority of the people are essentially decent, and what we see commenting in the Mail is a minority, even a small percentage, of misfits and fuckwits. I have faith in younger people, in many respects.

And it would still be democratic, a bit like electing Margaret Thatcher. You may have hated her (and still do, I know I despise her) but she got herself democratically elected and had a right to govern as she said she would.

ACG · **Posted:** Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:49 am

it does seem to be showing that so far, the ludicrus petition to get the death pentalty back (or at least talked about in parlament) for example, ended up being countered by a much better supported one for it to stay as a relic of the past. hopefully showing that the tabloid assumption that this is what the majority want doesn't hold water.

oboogie · **Posted:** Sat Feb 18, 2012 12:23 pm

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Yes. Except that I think the majority of the people are essentially decent, and what we see commenting in the Mail is a minority, even a small percentage, of misfits and fuckwits. I have faith in younger people, in many respects.

And it would still be democratic, a bit like electing Margaret Thatcher. You may have hated her (and still do, I know I despise her) but she got herself democratically elected and had a right to govern as she said she would.

What percentage of the population uses Twitter though?
Is it more than the Mail readership?
I don't know, but it's small.
Certainly nothing like a majority.
Aren't a few thousand simply shouting louder than the rest?
Is that democratic?
Also I suspect that Twitter users are a demographically skewed sample being disproportionately young and intelligent. As discussed elsewhere, that is likely to mean left of centre.
I too have faith (in people, young and old) but, as is currently being discussed in another thread, faith is illogical and sometimes misplaced.

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