There is no "unemployment benefit" any more that I was made aware of. Merely jobseekers allowance. I was in there a few weeks ago as I am an extremely rare breed of unemployed: can't work as a Doctor, viewed as horrendously overqualified for everything else. The careers advisor said my chances of getting work before registering as a Doctor were practically nil.

All jobs in the UK have to have a minimum wage. Therefore all jobs supply an amount of money for a basic standard of living.

So people that refuse jobs that don't give enough are deluded as to the value of their services. And you state that these are the majority.

Unemployment benefit gives a minimum to survive on. At £4 a day you'd have to work 10 hours a week pre tax, or maybe closer to 15 hours a week Net to get the same.

Confidence / training. These include the those that did very poorly at school and are "shocked" that their attitude and abilities mean that no employer will touch them odd that... There are still menial jobs, so their level of training must be abysmal.

So, Idaho, you think that as long as someone unemployed has a house, the government should pay their morgage? Or that these poor people should be thrown out of their house into a council house as soon as they are unemployed.

If I'd said that you'd be horrified - but you spin it that not doing that is still wrong!

The fact that China can and is flooding the world with products shows that we are not competative in many areas. If people were paid less we could be. Ergo the minimum wage is detrimental to our economy. We solve that by trade tarrifs and trade caps.

Surely the marxists out there would want free trade throughout the world. That would let industries sink or swim. Of course the number that would sink as tehy now stand is so large it can never happen.

MRD the potential earnings for strippers are comparatively high - assuming the person has a physique that people will pay to ogle.

It was a nice rant. Straw everywhere. And of course ending that you'd spit on someone who was in work really set the tone.

In the NHS, the most ungrateful are invariably the druggies, the drunks, the people stabbed who can't give a decent story, and a large proportion of those shot. Then there tends to be a great mix with the most intractible trouble caused by the highly trained (especially lawyers and relatives who are doctors).

I think much of what redleg says is the answer. make people feel valued by making them do something worthwhile. I differ in that I think there should be a stick with the carrot. People should be encouraged to stop being an underclass, not supported to increase it's size.