Myself and my wife were discussing all these unemployment benefit issues that the government keep moaning about but failing to solve, and to us the solution seems quite simple. So I thought I would blog it and see what others think.

Specifically we were discussing the issues where people are just abusing the benefits, such as benefit fraud, lazy slackers who cannot be bothered to get a job and are happy to just live on benefits, and people wasting their benefits on drugs and alcohol. The last one could equally apply to those who have legitimate reason to be on benefits, as much as it does to the slackers, such as those who lost their jobs and are sinking into depression or students who are at college etc. Many many years ago when I was at college and claiming benefits my lifestyle was prob the same as most people, I would get my money each fortnight and pretty much spend most of it on beer and cigarettes, so I do know how it works.

Most of the problems stem from from the fact that people get cash in the hand, which they are then free to blow on whatever they wish, or simply pocket in the case of the fraudsters. 
This is where we think the solution is actually quite simple, all you really need to survive food in your cupboards and your bills paid, so instead of paying out cash each week/fortnight, give out vouchers which can be redeemed in all the supermarkets, with energy suppliers, at the post office, whsmiths, bus and train stations etc, this covers all the bases. You can buy food, pay your bills and generally survive, you can buy stamps, paper etc for sending out resumes and applying for jobs and travel to interviews.
Or alternately, a benefits credit card, which gets topped up each fortnight and which you can use in approved stores like a normal debit/credit card.

The trick is then to then have restrictions on what these vouchers or cards can be used for in the shops. So you cannot buy cigarettes or alcohol, cannot exchange them for cash, and clearly wont be able to buy any drugs. Suddenly being on benefits is not the easy life anymore as you can no longer do whatever you like.

Sure we all know the real hard-core criminals will find a way to profit from this, but for the average Lazy Joe, being on benefits just got a whole lot less appealing, the low end fraudsters who are signing on in 5 different names are no longer making any cash out of it, and the rest of the legitimately unemployed will no longer to able to give in to temptation or depression and waste their money on booze and cigs and may just find the incentive to get out of their rut.
Also consider those unworthy parents who choose to buy cigs, drugs and booze over food and nappies for their babies, they would no longer have this option, thus improving the lives of those poor children and reducing the chances of some horrible fate befalling them, such as being beaten to death by a drunken parent, starving to death or being left for days in dirty nappies to get horrible painful  infections.

If I was in that position I would be far more likely to be responsible go and get even a crappy part time job that I wasn’t prepared to do before, just so I can have some actual cash in my pocket.

Clearly there is some cost involved to implement such a solution, but we think the savings would outweigh the cost in no-time, and lets be honest, the govt waste money on stupid freaking ideas all the time.

I recently came across this shocking article which made my blood boil.

Mother trailed by policeman and warned by council for telling off son at checkout
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226056/Mother-trailed-policeman-warned-council-telling-son-checkout.html#ixzz0WvxoDr1b

It beggars belief doesn't it, clearly they are too lazy to investigate all those real crimes and this is exactly the reason why more and more kids are hanging about outside off licenses, swearing and being abusive to the public and generally growing up to be thugs and criminals before they are even teenagers, thus making even more cases for the police and social services to ignore.

Judging by the growing number of incidents like the above one, this is the type of behaviour that the police and social services condone and are encouraging by their actions. Obviously by denying teachers and parents the ability to teach any kind of moral values or boundaries to their children or using any kind of discipline for fear of the repercussions they must have some sick dreams of a future like "escape from new york" rather than the utopian society that most dream of.

It certainly seems that the average social services worker or police officer is completely clueless about children if they think all parents should be calm and collected all the time and that all children will simply do as their told if you just ask them nicely. I think it should be a requirement that anyone who desires to work in this field should have some real world practical experience and I can't believe that isn't the case already. Give them a couple of unruly kids to look after 24\7 for a month and see what happens, or at the very least it should be a requirement that they have had kids of their own. Then perhaps they will realise that most parents lose their temper as a matter of course and make idle threats to their kids just to shut them up. Someone who really does smack the crap out of their kids is hardly likely to shout about it in a public place.

Sure we all see parents losing their rag in the supermarket and initially we may think they are crazy or going way OTT, but then if you are a parent yourself you realise that the kid has probably been winding them up all day and the parent has simply run out of patience, and that is probably exactly what you look like to everyone else when you lose your rag as well.

Sure it is great to think that the police and social services are looking out for the welfare of our kids as we certainly don't like to think of those poor children like baby P out there who are being abused, I know that any stories of that nature in the news always bring a tear to my eye, but I for one do not think that is happening when you take cases like "Baby P" where there was some real and obvious abuse that was totally ignored because they are wasting time victimising innocent people who have clearly done nothing wrong and wont even admit when they have made a mistake and continue to push the matter. One can only presume that it takes up less of their time and requires less paperwork than investigating real crime or abuse cases.

I think these days you need to be more scared of the police or social services than you do of the criminals. At least a burglar is only going to take your stuff and not your kids.

Police have rescued five children who were being kept as sex slaves by paedophiles who broadcast the abuse on the internet.

The boys and girls, aged from seven to 13 years old, were snatched from the suspects in a series of raids across the UK.

Three of the youngsters were discovered at addresses in Scotland, and two in England.

The children were being attacked on a daily basis, and footage of the abuse was streamed live on websites.

All are now receiving counselling and support.

Officers said a number of suspects were arrested in the operation.

Scotland's National Sex Crimes Unit, which was set up in March this year, said legal proceedings have begun against them.

Senior prosecuting counsel Derek Ogg QC, who heads the unit, praised police for the "good old-fashioned detective work" that led to the arrests.

Officers began the operation after a man was arrested for other alleged sex offences.

Children were identified and the raids were launched across the UK.

Mr Ogg told Sky News Online: "When you discover this going on in your own back yard, in your home country, it really brings it home to people.

"This was all down to good old-fashioned police detective work."

He added: "It was carried out by incredibly dedicated officers who worked night and day to put an end to these children's daily ordeal.

"I can't stress enough the credit that the police take in these cases.

"It takes amazing dedication sifting through the evidence to get success like this."

I can only hope that our dismal justice system for once does the right thing and a sensible judge puts these evil bastards away for the rest of their lives and while inside they get their genitals amputated.

As a father of 3 myself, I can only imagine how the parents of these children must be feeling right now, it is certainly a heart wrenching decision when you have to decide between what you want to do and what you should do in the best interest of your kids, when sadly vengeance, no matter how much you want it or deserve it will only make the situation worse.

Me it seems, for the 3rd time. Yes on January 5th 2009 my wife gave birth to our 3rd child, a girl this time who we have named "Teyla Rayne". She popped out even faster than our 2 boys, both of whom only took around 2 hours, but Teyla couldn't even wait for me to get to the hospital, just as I arrived I heard a big grunt from my wife and it was over. She was 4 weeks early and was a tiny thing only weighing 5lbs.

Now you are probably wondering why I wasn't with her at the hospital in the first place, well aside from the fact I have 2 small boys that would have made it rather impossible to be there for the birth anyway, as sods law would have it we were actually down in Somerset at my sisters wedding at the time and the baby was not actually due for another 4 weeks anyway. Thankfully it was the day after the wedding, so we didn't ruin it, but we were however in the middle of no-where, 200 miles from home, no birthing bag and no more clothes as we were only supposed to be there for 2 days. The hospital she was taken to "Musgrove Park Hospital" in Taunton was an absolute nightmare, they didn't give my wife anything to eat or drink until she begged, didn't give her a change of clothes or anything to wash with after the birth or bother to tell her there was a bathroom she could have used, so all in all a bit of a farse and not a pleasant experience for her, especially considering we were planning to have another home birth.

Anyway baby is doing well and growing rapidly, her brothers seem to like her and haven't tried to torture her or feed her sweets and crisps yet, so it's going well :-) Of course the already limited amount of sleep we get with a 2 and 4 year old who wont go to bed and yet still get up at 6am has now been decreased further, but all in all she is actually a very quiet baby.

I have also finally had to accept that working from home is just not going to work any more, it had become hard enough with 2 kids, but with 3 no chance, so I have got myself a proper office and will finally be getting some peace and quiet during the day, yippee.

Someone sent me this "JOKE" today. While it is quite entertaining, the sad fact is that it is also true and this is what the world has come to today, parent nor schools cannot discipline your own children without fear that you might be accused of child abuse or worse. There is a good reason why in 1977  kids didn't carry guns, do drugs, verbally abuse people in the street, commit violent crimes etc, because they simply would not have not have gotten away with it and were scared of the consequences.

Anyway I don't really want to open up a huge debate on child discipline, I think common sense wins that argument, so here is the joke for your amusement. 

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1977 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.

2007 - Police are called, Armed Response Unit arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, ASBOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.


Scenario: Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.

1977 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given 6 of the best. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.


Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him the slipper.

1977 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.


Scenario: Mark, a college student, brings cigarettes to school .

1977 - Mark shares a smoke with the school principal out on the smoking area.

2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.


Scenario: Mohammed fails high school English.

1977 - Mohammed retakes his exam, passes and goes to college.

2007 - Mohammed's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against state school system and his English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Mohammed is given his qualification anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.


Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.

1977 - Ants die.

2007 - MI5 and police are called and Johnny is charged with perpetrating acts of terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.


Scenario: Johnny falls during break and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.

1977 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.

2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy. Becomes gay.