Re~Stirred Forum

Horrifying.

Just awful, I wouldn't blame the staff at the job centre , for the man's predicament. I can though say certain staff who work in job centre's lack any form of personallity, answering any questions in a robotic fashion. some staff have a way of making a jobseeker , feel they are parasitic.
As I said before I had to "sign on" for the first time in my working life, after contributing for 40 years re- taxes, and "N I" the person dealing with my claim was ok, but treated me as a child saying "this is your card, your signing time is on the front, here is your little booklet you fill this in as evidence of what you have been doing to find a job, hand it in when you sign next time, remember if you don't do this your benefit will be stopped, you will have an interview in july, to see why your not working , if you don't attend your benefit will stop. ok? see you in 2 weeks don't forget your booklet or your benefit could be stopped" ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
On my way out, another jobseeker was asking at "reception" "how long does the interview take" the answer he received was "as long as it takes" I couldn"t help myself , I said "well it's not as if he has anything else to do is it?".
I can see how easily it is for someone to get depressed at having to visit the jobcentre , "Just one of the feckless "doler's"
someone should show how demoralising it is to be a jobseeker, combine that with companies who don't bother to respond to an application it would get anyone "down"

That's Guido's house style. Anyone would think that Mail reporters had never looked at the site before. And he's a libertarian blogger, which is by no means the same as "right-wing" in the usual sense, but I won't bore the readers of this site with the long expanations as to the difference between, for example, "old", and "new" right (and these days, probably "new-old", "new-new", "old-new" and "old-old").

What he actually points out is that this appears to have been to do with a potential "screw-up" with dealing with this person's benefits, and not anything else.

If you call Paul Staines' sick and putrid sense of humour a "house style" Fergus, you need to check your moral compass - though nowhere near as much as Mr. Staines.

Funny how so many Tories like this convicted drug criminal.

Not remotely funny, clever or witty.
The fact that this blogger states ---"he set fire to himself because of a mix up in benefit payments." He misses the point, for someone to set themselves alight with petrol, they must have reached "that" point in their life where almost anything could tip them over the "edge".
None of us know what has happened to him, all we can do is hope he gets the help he needs. Also his family do as well (if he has family near). Theres nothing easier than taking the pea out of people in trouble!!

We are starting to see more and more of these stories now, for example sleeping rough in London has gone up by 43% in a year.

Not surprising at all and still Wayne rooney gets his 20% better off from the tax man

He isn't a libertarian

The fact that it is the 'house style' is immaterial. You could use that to justify saying anything.

You are right though, the nuances of right-wing politics are extremely boring.

Birmingham Mail seems to have decided that the statement "lefties are overreacting" should be branded as "sick" whilst actually blaming the Tories for this individual's own actions and encouraging other people to join in with his protest is apparently just fine. I'd find it amazing if I didn't know who actually owns the Mail...

Jobcentre staff don't care, for them it is the first civil service job they have and they know its not permanent. What annoys me is when the jobs they are advertising have been filled and they refuse to remove them from the display!! How frustrating is it when you take the details to a member of staff only to be told you were wasting your time?

One of the few sensible comments I've read elsewhere:

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/niki-seth-smith/job-seeker-sets-himself-on-fire-how-will-cameron-respond

What clear thinking and rational person would come to the conclusion that because you have a Conservative ethos or support Conservative policy that you would think that any person not being in work through no fault of their own is a person not to be valued or concerned for?

Conservatives are not supporters of unemployment and the personal hardship and tragedy that worklessness can bring to individuals and to families.

Every political party has its fringe extremists that often display views and opinions that make us level headed, considerate human beings cringe.

My sympathy and thoughts go out to anyone in desperate straights but it would not deter me from still having the view that those that cannot be arsed to find work or those that abuse the system should not be dealt with, so that a greater resource becomes available for those that really need help.

Can't get on the link you posted Barnardhobbit, quotes "404, possibly following a broken link", just to let you know dear, not complaining you understand?

Same problem, also not complaining.

And then we have this in the Birmingham Mail:
http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/06/29/support-groups-to-hold-rally-at-birmingham-jobcentre-where-man-set-himself-on-fire-97319-31290706/2/, and specifically:
"Tom Holness, a Birmingham campaigner on welfare issues, said ...“Whilst we do not know the exact circumstances to this man’s actions, to claim this can have nothing to do with cuts is really sticking your head in the sand."

Or, put another way - "We don't know why he did it, but we'll blame the government anyway."

Well off I have to go to my local jobcentre with my signing card , and "little booklet" already in a bad mood dreading the inquisition.
The one thing that has made me smile , (you have to write what you have done to find work) , tomorrow I am meeting achap who is an IT expert , he is going to show me the best way to market my design. wonder how that will go down , let you know -------

well I signed to say I am looking for work. The person dealing with me was under pressure working on her own, so didn't have time to do a job search,-meaning question me on what I had written in my "little booklet". She (excuse all the she's)(Lets call her Doris) was so far behind, Doris actually confessed to me, she felt like crying , "silly to say that isn't it" I simply said "not in here it isn't" Doris- what are job centre staff's title ? officer? anyway Doris then found out, I wasn't the same person, as the person on the card Doris had signed , meaning I wouldn't have got any money on friday. Now you tell me who would have got the blame?, no-one would have believed me. when I said, I was there and I signed on time.
It was infact me who noticed another signature, the line above where I was asked to sign. Doris actually said , "oh I wish you had noticed before"!!!! I just laughed , then I said "give me a job here and pay me , I might notice a lot more". How could I notice when Doris kept all the paper work? Mistakes happen don't they, but it's who is believed.

Gulp, Barnardhobbit "don't say it's true"!! It would be like going back to my first Job , at the co-op, me on the bacon and cheese counter, all the pensioners coming in for the cheapest bacon, (streaky all fat) and me giving best cut danish then the silly "beggars" refused to be served by anyone else, causing the "spot light" to be on me,- so they moved me to the "stores" well could you imagine, having to serve your gran to scrag end, when you had the power to give her steak? I left there at just 15 years old (full time hours by the way)

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/deborah-padfield/job-seeker-has-set-himself-alight-how-many-in-uk-are-steps-from-such-des

Fantastic article in the Guardian today by John Harris:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... vate-firms

Two quotes in particular are noteworthy:

Now, incidentally, we hear word that plenty of police officers are of the opinion that last year's riots could easily be repeated. One hesitates, of course, to be alarmist. But as more and more people feel the cruelties of a policy that makes no sense – that people must be kicked into work, even if jobs don't exist – has anyone considered that the two things might be connected?

And best of all:

"Chaos at DWP is stalling the government's reforms … the welfare bill is going through the roof" was the response to Cameron's welfare proposals of Liam Byrne, a man for whom the adjective "blank" might have been invented.


How very, very true.......

Sally, it's simply a testament to the incompetence of most of the people who work in job centres - as well as the pointlessness of the system they operate in. If you have qualifications and expect work in a particular profession, they are clueless and tell you to get on and find work yourself. If you are looking for less skilled work, they'll probably treat you like vermin anyway and try to force you in to clearly unsuitable vacancies. Meanwhile, all the time they need evidence of you having done a few searches on the internet, submitted a CV or some other token gesture.

Perhaps the central flaw is that one organisation cannot possibly understand and keep on top of all the job markets in all sectors of the economy. Wouldn't it be more helpful to instead direct people to sector-specific job agencies that can understand people's needs and give tailored help so people apply for appropriate jobs, resulting in a higher success rate and people finding work faster?

That's not very nice about Liam 'Hollywood' Byrne...

That's a very good suggestion Derogatory, that could also work within the jobcentres themselves, there seem to be , at least in the one I have to attend, plenty of space to divide sections , I.E. -section B building and construction, and so on .

Said jobseeker of the title was apparently someone who had been found fit for work by ATOS Work Capability Assessment. I don't think ATOS have a tick-box for self-immolation tendencies and it probably wouldn't have scored many points if it did...

I used to work directly with this JobCentre and also take and readdress referrals with them.

Management lacked a real insight into the life of a jobseeker and I found them fairly opposed to non jargon conversation.
I did know my jargon and it worked out for my clients, but for many they deal with the blockading management, or an inflexible approach to helping someone get a job.

Then again, private industry and bad policy has taken away the JobCentres worth.