Benefits Britain come and get it

It is easy to get annoyed at some things, so this is what happens when I watch a TV program about people claiming welfare benefits who admit there is no incentive or desire to work because they get enough money from benefits.  The program on Channel 5 which is freely available on catch up TV is called "Benefits Britain" and each program follows the lives of benefits claimants who seem to enjoy the monies they receive through UK benefits but not contribute the same to the UK tax system as they take out of it except for paying VAT on goods they have to purchase. . 

 I saw a woman who was a refugee from Iran complain she did not have enough money to buy clothes and she wanted a bigger house, because in Iran her house had six bedrooms and servants, she never had to think about the cost of anything. Her husband who would smoke a packet of cigarettes every day in Iran would have to make one packet last four days.  They are too ill to work in the UK and are lost in the memories of what life used to be like, before she had a death warrant put on her.  Of course the one thing she did not say was she'd preferred being poor to being dead.  For this once rich family the benefits system they are claiming from is not generous enough.  Another woman living in Poland had her husband send money to her while he worked in the UK, he claimed child benefit for his son and this was sent to Poland.  She only sees her husband three or four times a year.  This is a family which is divided but is financially supported by a different country because the UK is in the EU.  Lastly was the case of a Romanian man who works in the UK and claims benefits because he has a wife and family in Romania.  The benefits he gets for his children in the form of Child Benefits and Child Tax Credits goes to rebuild his home in Romania.  The program showed this man return to Romania and help to supervise the improvements.  He boasts that in the next two or three years he expects to get about £50-£60k in benefits.  This is a phenomenal amount of money and is more than most people can earn. This is also very much the reason why there is an underlying and almost racist anger which is building up in the UK against the EU member states and membership of the EU.

Although facts and figures about what is put in by other non UK tax payers in to the tax system indicate more is contributed in than is taken out. This is not what such TV programs show.  They don't investigate the financial side and explain this, but they do sensationalise and therefore contribute to the anger indigenous UK inhabitants feel.  Therefore come a date in 2017 we may actually see the possibility of the UK people deciding or not whether to sever ties to the EU something many business people are unhappy to consider.

As for people taking advantage of the benefits system, this program shows there is something wrong with the entire system. There should be supporting authorities which train and help people into work, education for adults should be free, they need to be given self-esteem, help and shown they can be useful members of society.  Given all the possible opportunity they could have and then if they fail to take this chance they should be penalised.  The benefits system is wrong but so is every other societal system which which allows it to perpetuate.

Rebecca Minnock and child abduction

In the last week mother Rebecca Minnock has been plastered all over the news. All because she decided to run away with her three year old son Ethan.  She flagrantly went against a court order which had decided Ethan's father should have custody.  But in her own little mind Rebecca thought by running off with Ethan she would get publicity and the right to have her son back living with her.

This hardly makes sense to any normal thinking individual.  For the first thing which went through my mind was why on earth would the courts decide this little boy is better off with his father (Roger Williams) than his mother.  For in a way it is unusual, it was not shared custody as they had previously gotten, it was sole custody.  What the public is not privy to are the details of why the court heard in the father's favour. Gradually small snippets of information appear in the press, they are crumbs which lead to explain why the court made the decision they did. There is not much substance to them in any form at all but we are told Rebecca Minnock would not allow Ehan's father to see him. She made up stories, again what the allegations are we don't know however, we do know one social worker reported her as not "emotionally safe," what is meant by this is not elaborated. It does sound as though this woman has mental health issues. Certainly if she can not reason a small boy needs a father as much as a mother so should have shared custody then she has lost the plot. Further to this before giving herself up she then gives an interview to a right wing tabloid kiss-and-tell paper.  Of course they must of been jumping for joy in getting the interview, but it does her no good.  She had run from the police and from a family court order.  Yes there is no doubt she loves her child, but there are certainly question marks over why the authorities had decided she was not suitable to have shared custody of her own son.

The Rebecca's mother was jailed for obstructing the police search and so was a friend. When looking at the above picture you can see a very happy Roger and Ethan however when watching the tabloid video of Ethan with his mother and she has him sat on her knee asking him to kiss her which he does repeatedly it is like little Ethan is following cue as asked by mum.  Not because he wants to kiss her of his free will.  Thankfully Rebecca is now seen in an even worse light with the authorities, the abduction of her son has been nothing more than a big publicity stunt and I can't help think it has gone wrong for her or caused more suspicions than she anticipated.  Unfortunately her actions may incite other parents to be copy cats, but in their cases they may not get as much air time and even if their causes were legitimate the water and public sympathy has already been muddied.