As a child I remember asking my mum who these funny old men were who stood on street corners selling matches or begging. They usually had limbs missing or were blind.
I also remember staying with my Dad’s aunty on holidays whose husband Norman used to just sit in a chair all day.
My mum always moaned about him saying he was a lazy so and so and that my great Aunty Dolly spoilt him.
My grandad and four of his brothers served on the Somme though great Uncle Ernie was a serving chauffeur to George V during WW1.

Many of that generation found themselves unwanted and unemployed in the 1930s, my maternal grandfather spending a humiliating day in prison for helping someone, for which he was accused of working while claiming dole.

My mother had no time for all this post traumatic stress syndrome even though she related to me about chaps ‘going a bit funny’ when she was out on Italy in WW11 when they had flashbacks.
My mother used to moan about the Irish coming over here for work and having unsupportable bly massive families at risk of being excommunicated if they took precautions.

Be careful when you make judgements about people Ron, every generation appears to do the same.
Each generation has new and different pressures but the people by and large are much the same. though I would like to think more intelligent (through better nutrition and health) and maybe educated than perhaps some of our ancesters.

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I have written a letter to Mark Pritchard MP on how people are trapped on benefits. Due to the average single person working a 39 hour week at £6.50 an hour is only £20 a week better off than being on benefits, and working for minimum wage is competley out of the question for a single person, due to they will be worse off by £20 a week than being on benifits, further more, companys and job agencys are being put under pressure by governing bodies only to pay minimum wage. No one can convince me that minimum wage was bought in to stop slave labour, or could it be promoting it?,or is it to put evrybody on to it?.
As for Mark Pritchards reply, “this is not a government issue”.

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All seem to miss the point , £20 better off on benefits how can you be better off on benefits ??. The point is you are working for your money not on the scrounge it is irrelevant how much over minimum wage you earn. Why do people want to be answerable to some guv dept ie with regards every time they earn a bit of cash back down to the benefits office to explain yourself why do people want to put themselves through this procedure.Life on benefits great if you just want to exist until you turn your toes up.

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