http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21755034
It is so depressing to read this article in 2013 and realise that it is exactly the same report as we used to see in the 1980's after Thatcher had destroyed the British manufacturing industrial base in her drive to rebalance the economy as a service and finance sector driven sham.
I was in a similar position to that of the people being interviewed in the article. I had been making my own way in the world after graduating from university up until the point I had a bad motorbike accident and everything went wrong from there. It took a while to climb back out of the poverty/benefits trap but I was one of the lucky ones and did escape back into employment. For the long term unemployed now I just don't see what can be done unless we rebuild the manufacturing sector - because you cannot have a functional economy based upon selling each other burgers and car insurance.
After writing the above I did a quick search looking for a clip of Yosser Hughes with his infamous words "Gizza job; I could do that; gizza it" and I found a link to the episode of Boys from the Black Stuff that centred on his story.
[video=youtube_share;0CRXnO9v0sA]http://youtu.be/0CRXnO9v0sA[/video]
The comments below the video echo my own words above very strongly indeed.
EDIT: Just to explain to the many here who I am sure have never seen this landmark British TV series, Yosser is losing his mind due to the stress of being unemployed with no hope in sight of being able to support his family. The opening of the episode is a nightmare sequence, which is why you might find the first few minutes a little incomprehensible.
It is so depressing to read this article in 2013 and realise that it is exactly the same report as we used to see in the 1980's after Thatcher had destroyed the British manufacturing industrial base in her drive to rebalance the economy as a service and finance sector driven sham.
I was in a similar position to that of the people being interviewed in the article. I had been making my own way in the world after graduating from university up until the point I had a bad motorbike accident and everything went wrong from there. It took a while to climb back out of the poverty/benefits trap but I was one of the lucky ones and did escape back into employment. For the long term unemployed now I just don't see what can be done unless we rebuild the manufacturing sector - because you cannot have a functional economy based upon selling each other burgers and car insurance.
After writing the above I did a quick search looking for a clip of Yosser Hughes with his infamous words "Gizza job; I could do that; gizza it" and I found a link to the episode of Boys from the Black Stuff that centred on his story.
[video=youtube_share;0CRXnO9v0sA]http://youtu.be/0CRXnO9v0sA[/video]
The comments below the video echo my own words above very strongly indeed.
EDIT: Just to explain to the many here who I am sure have never seen this landmark British TV series, Yosser is losing his mind due to the stress of being unemployed with no hope in sight of being able to support his family. The opening of the episode is a nightmare sequence, which is why you might find the first few minutes a little incomprehensible.
