Letter: “Four day weeks and benefits to blame for poor state of economy.”
WE’RE now being told that the four-day week and people continuing to “work” from home unnecessarily contribute to the poor state of our economy. I would suggest that, whilst there are undoubtedly people in genuine need, our out-of-control benefits system is also to blame.
It is a regrettable side of human nature that if we can get something for nothing we’ll grab it with both hands. Why make the effort to go to work when, with a bit of ingenuity, you can milk the system and live comfortably enough on a string of benefits while leading an idle, profligate life?
For it seems that becoming eligible for one benefit makes one automatically entitled to claim a lot more. Why should mum bother to get up early enough to ensure her little darlings have a decent breakfast to start the day when the school will provide one (and probably a mid-day meal as well)? Why buy food when you go to a food bank pleading poverty and go home to feed your face on food donated by kind, sympathetic people?
A little while ago I read a newspaper feature article about a couple who were extremely proud of the fact that, in their 40s and with three children, they had never done a day’s work in their lives. And probably the newspaper paid them a nice fat fee for their despicable story. With their children growing up in such a workshy environment, where will THEY get any incentive to live differently?
Many years ago when I was quite small, I clearly remember seeing my dear father cry – and at that time men didn’t sob their little hearts out at the drop of a hat as they tend to do today. My Mother shooed me away while she tried to comfort him and, of course, I wasn’t allowed to ask questions. How the subject came up I can’t recall but, in my late teens, I learned the reason why. Apparently, a few years after I as born my parents hit a bad patch financially when dad lost his job with a small business which went bust, and they had no savings to fall back on. They were subjected to a severe, demeaning “means test” before being granted a small allowance to supplement dad’s dole money, and he shed tears of humiliation and shame in the realisation that he wasn’t earning anything through his own hard work to support his family. Fortunately, a few months later after training and exams he was accepted into the Metropolitan Police Force so he was once again able to hold up his head with pride in his achievement.
These days people’s attitude will not change while our over-stretched welfare system and other schemes continue to make it easy to claim every benefit under the sun rather than earn their living with a clear conscience.
Phyllis Inglis
New Milton
