And in this environment, Tory millionaires accuse benefit recipients of living in luxury. David, Baron Freud (The World At One BBC Radio 4, April 1st 2011) seems obsessed with Housing Benefit recipients being regarded as having a better quality of life than those not in receipt of Housing Benefit, who, say, live in an owner-occupied property. It must have slipped the notice of the Conservatives that being on Housing Benefit is to be in a de facto low-income or no-income position in the first place. And where are all these Palladian state-funded Bridesheads? In our inner cities? This position rather undermines itself by ignoring the fact that those who own property obviously have a significant economic advantage over those who do not. In light of this oversight, maybe Lord Freud would like to swap places with a Housing Benefit recipient who lives in a rented flat in the private sector, like me?

The LibDems have been pretty quiet on this one so far, but I suggest that the economic elite Freud, Osborne, Cameron, et al once more have no idea what they are talking about. In the past, a tried and tested method was to make a documentary where some Tory scapegoat was sent off to a Council Estate for a week, and then came back and recanted their pompous old ways to camera, whilst the party carried on regardless in the reflected media glory of the moment. Spare us this, but why is it OK for the Tory millionaires to live in luxury, whilst millions of working people are spoken to and treated with derision?

Unless the whole thing was just a massive April Fool?

Sad very sad.......

'Jobcentre Plus adviser has told the Guardian' you shouldn't believe everything you read in the Guardian. A Jobcentre manager told me, she is enjoying forcing the long-term idle back into the world of work. So she can spend more time and give more support to the genuine job seeker. Mr Hasan, what do you know about christian ethics, and do you still think non-muslims live their lives like aminals?

@Nick: Other people have already realised I am the First Seal because when they converse with me 'strange' coincidences start happening. At first they write if off but they are intrigued as to how this is happening. And so they come once more to the blog site to find out how this could be the case. It defies all known logic. How can my words coincide with similar things in your life?

Read the full piece over at the Guardian, and I'm find myself both angry and horrified. Angry because this policy can only increase desperation, poverty and squalor, in short add to the sum total of human misery. Horrified because in order for unjust sanctions to be applied, Jobcentre employees will have to behave like heartless, dead-eyed automata. There's only one thing worse than carrying out sadistic acts against the weak and the defenceless - and that's making good people carry out sadistic acts against the weak and the defenceless.

And where is Nick Clegg in all of this? In what way has he gentled the brutal hand of Conservatism? Not in any way that I see.

Nick: why don't you ask one of your NS ex-workers if my IP address is from Australia?

This doesn't surprise me one bit. And, sadly, most civil servants will obey the orders to do this. It would take a very brave man or woman to take a stand on this and refuse to obey orders.

It's all very well for union leaders calling on us all to oppose the cuts, but when their members are carrying out instructions to make life misery for those unfortunate to be unemployed or, like me, sufficiently ill to be unable to work, then it will be understood why quite a few claimants might show little sympathy when, say, a dole clerk loses his job.

The whole procedure in respect of claiming sick pay is degrading and demoralising; one is considered as a workshy malingerer unless one can prove otherwise. And getting proof that the Department will accept is a long, hard process, especially if, like me, one has an exhausting, long-term, incurable illness.

I was a civil servant, I was active in my union, and voted for Mark Serwotka in elections. It hurts me to think that members of that union are part of a machine that make my life difficult. I support the anti-cuts campaigns. But unless these campaigns go further than merely opposing government policy in respect of cuts and start to address the role of civil servants in implementing nasty government policies, then any anti-cuts campaign will be unable to unite workers and claimants in a fight for genuine social justice.

Oh come on Lou, you're a road sweeper. Stop pretending you're a lawyer.

Yup, kick 'em when they're down. Treating people this way will have the added benefit of scaring those who have got a job to toe the line too. "Christian ethics" just means cracking down hard on anyone who doesn't conform. It's got nothing to do with compassion and empathy or helping the most vulnerable, and everything to do with punishing them for being in this position. And how dare poor people expect money for nothing!

This is not The Nasty Party it is The Evil Party !

Fact; if you are in government and you screw up the finances then the most vulnerable will suffer. I have seen 3 Labour Governments in my life time and on each occasion they have left power with the economy in a mess. Well done Labour!
Under Labour tax avoidance by a few ultra high earners became an art form. They even gave knighthoods and perrages to the best tax avoiders. Well done Labour!
Fact; one of the most common ways to avoid tax is to buy Treasury Bonds. your interest is more secure and higher than us ordinary folk can find on the high street. When governments spend too much they have to issue bonds thus increasing the chances of the ultra rich to invest their money and avoid tax on the interest. Well done Labour!
Fact; the taxpayer is responsible for the interest on these bonds; therefore a large proportion of the tax you pay goes directly into the pockets of the ultra rich. Well done Labour.
Fact; Labour lost grip on the banking sector. They sucked up to the bankers, awarded them honours and generally kissed arse. When the banks collapsed their own fiscal incompetence was woefully exposed to the cost of the most vulnerable. Now they have the nerve to blame the banks and the coalition for what happened on their watch.
What is happening now in the economy is all directly the fault of the last miserable Labour Government.
A proper understanding of the mess the economy was left in will tell any neutral observer that drastic cuts are inevitable. Labour have for the third time in my life left power and left the most vulnerable to suffer the consequences of their mismanagement.
Do not be fooled by Labour politicians crowing about the coalition from the comfort of opposition. NEVER VOTE LABOUR AGAIN!
It is ALL their fault.
P.S. Vote for anyone else, I don't have an opinion in that direction, I just understand the money and how to add up and subtract!

Still no content on here about the Tory's Housing Benefit 'reforms', and let's face it, having somewhere to live is pretty important. There is a moral imperative here to talk about this. Millionaire Tory grandees have this week accused HB recipients of living in luxury. This is inexcusable and needs to be broadcast. 'Welfare scroungers' are a tiny minority and do not constitute reason to remove welfare from those who need or deserve it. Editors, please address this issue, or you will lose (more) credibility

wrong nick, 2 bed houses (terrace) go for 22 to 30K in certain areas of north west ie burnley.

That said, why should taxpayers spend 3 grand a week paying rent on some london pad?

When i hear Milliband talk about the squeezed middle and folks on 50k+ suffering, my eyes roll. You don't help people by doing for them that they should do for themselves neither do you help folks by pitying them.

Chris "Christian ethics" just means cracking down hard on anyone who doesn't conform. No it doesn't. The labour movement was born from Christian ethics!! knob-head.

Can someone please confirm that these sanctions were introduced by this government please? This seems to refer to them being introduced last April (2010). Many thanks

A banker, a Daily Mail reader and a benefit

claimant are sitting at a table sharing

12 biscuits.
...
The banker takes 11 and says to the

Daily Mail reader:

"Watch out for the benefit claimant,

he wants your biscuit".

@Mehdi: 'This is a callous and cruel coalition government, engaged in a war on not just welfare "scroungers" but on the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society.'

But surely it is a good thing that there are less people on welfare payments. Come on, be truthful, there is bound to be some people on disabilities who are trying it on. It's human nature and if you're from where I'm from, well, it's fair game.

There's nothing wrong with making sure the system isn't being abused. It wasn't there to be abused, it was there to be used for genuine illness and disability.

Be careful who you are supporting. And what system you are encouraging to happen. You can't just say 'Tory' = bad. Why don't you change your ideas from this left norm?

I always like to read Luddite's comments. It's a useful reminder of why trade unions were formed and the idea of socialism developed.

Yet again, this demonstrates the absurdity of having a cabinet composed largely of over-privileged born-to-wealth millionaires. Many of Cameron's circle work in the finance sector, and bankers are a class of people with whom he is socially at ease. He is therefore naturally inclined to empathise with them. On the other hand, he has probably never met any benefit claimants, except in his MP's surgery, or on the campaign trail. Cameron, Osborne and Clegg simply have no conception of what it is like not to be completely financially secure for life. They have had absolutely no experience of having to depend on the state for their welfare.

Agrees with slow boy this is LIFE for disabled poeple - they are removing everything from us and then |ATOS get extra payouts for suddenly saying we are well - But there is NO CURE for what i have how come in a 10min button pressing thing where you dont even look into my eyes or ask me how i FEEL or how much PAIN i am in - can you dem me suddenly cured?

Cameron is a sick sick man and a LIAR to boot - he used DLA for his son but now he reckons we are all fraudsters and wont say how DLA fraud is only 0.5% - now i bet MP fraud isnt that low or tax fraud or any other fraud at all!

This is disgraceful what is going on and I have heard about this from an inside source before it came out in the mainstream media. Most of the DWP people think its disgusting. Please read the Guardian about targets being set for how many people are sanctioned so once again its not about tackling people who are not looking for work but getting a set number of people off benefits per week. As the article states - no new back to work or training has been set up. DWP workers are targetting the most vulnerable to sanction as that makes reaching their targets easier. If you have neighbours that are on JSA especially if they are sick or disabled please check that they are not starving to death with no money coming in. With the harsher tests on the sick and disabled many really vulnerable people may soon be having benefits stopped. People with cancer, MS, Lupus, Muscular Dystrophy etc. etc. have been put on JSA or in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA which means that they still have to conform to the things set by DWP. People who are sick and disabled have been sanctioned for being sick - too ill too attend for an interview then lose their benefits. In this Big Society - check your neighbours are ok and have enough to eat.

Last year I spent 3 months looking for a job. Previously, I had been in employments continuously since 1992. Funnily enough I paid tax on my wages. I received nothing whatsoever from the state, and had to live on a couch at my girlfriends house. Interesting to note that when you essentially qualify for state support, the policy is to swindle you out of it. Unless you are a banker. Or Fred Goodwin, (who obviously isn't a banker, for legal reasons).
http://clemthegem.wordpress.com

A point was made earlier about crisis loans. Some of you who may need such a service might not realise as for some reason it seems to have escaped the attention of MPs, think tanks, charities and the media, that crisis loan payments were stopped on 4th April and will not be re-introduced until 2013. As I said before, pray your home isn't flooded, destroyed in a fire or your washer or cooker does not pack up over the next four years. When it is bought back in, it will be run by the local authority and not the DWP, in other words your local council will have to make provisions for loans out of it's budget.

I'm a person will lupus, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and an allergy to sunlight. I have neurological damage, am in constant pain, often on morphine and struggle every day.
I'm expecting to be passed fit for work by some ATOS style gestapo.

I want to work but where's the job for people like me who can't commit to anything regular and can be best described as unreliable? Where is the future employer who thinks I'd be an asset for their company and ignores my health record and time off record? Where are the employers prepared to adapt their work place to meet my illness needs? Where's the employer who will allow me to stand up every five minutes or so, leave my job, move around a while or let me lie down til the worst of the pain subsides? Where is the employer who won't mind that my fatigue makes me fall asleep at the desk, the machine or whatever? Where's the employer who is willing to let me work at home April through til October when the sunlight really makes my life impossible and who will adapt their office with black out blinds, remove all fluorescent lighting for the period November through to March?

David Cameron talks much of understanding disability and how hard it is. I will take no lectures from a man who, whilst legally entitled to claim DLA, claimed the highest rates of DLA Mobility and Care for his son when he could well afford not to. Most of us ordinary men and women would never claim just because we could a sum that we financially did not need to claim.

Cameron hasn't a leg to stand on morally or ethically. Unfortunately those who his policies are affecting literally haven't got a leg to stand on and aren't millionaires either, for these people it is life and death. How many people will Cameron send to the digitas clinic through his Hitleresque policy of targeting the ill and disabled?

I live for the day the Government run ads trying to track down tax cheats.