Iain Duncan Smith

[Nicos]

Oiiii!!!..so YOU nicked my haddock then???

...* scritch scritch.....

[bubblewrap]

LOL
No Snadge, that's more like smacking yourself continually about the head with a large haddock...)

So it was you then?
YouTube - Monty Python- Fish Slapping Dance!

[bubblewrap]

What a strange thread this is we start of with IDS & jobs & get to Monty python.

[Snadger]

What a strange thread this is we start of with IDS & jobs & get to Monty python.

Nowt the matter with the thread.........it's just the STRANGE people who are posting on it!

[SarzWix]

Better to end with a laugh than a punch-up though eh?

[bubblewrap]

Better to end with a laugh than a punch-up though eh?

The next time I see IDS on the box I will think of him being hit with a wet fish.

[Nicos]

* better not be my haddock...I wouldn't want it traced back to me!!!!

[bubblewrap]

* better not be my haddock...I wouldn't want it traced back to me!!!!

Don't you mean Aiglefins? Nicos

[Nicos]

Nah...mine was last seen escorting a mug of freshly brewed tea in Whitby

[Two_Sheds]

I was offered sod all in three & a half years, the training I asked to do I was told I had to pay for

I think that's usual. Any training that was on offer I could already do standing on my head. They wanted to send me on a CV course, until I pointed out that I'd been a Director's PA for 5 years.

After being made redundant in 2004, I put myself through evening courses to retrain as a secretary. Then I got cancer and couldn't do that any more, so put myself through a 5 year art degree (you can't claim JSA if you're a student, you have to take out a Student Loan for your income, which is pay-backable). I had Housing Benefit, but this was stopped when I took out a Student Loan.
I would have been "better off" if I'd just stayed at home watching Jeremy Kyle.

Just to illuminate how useless some Job Centre staff can be..

I haven't met a useful one. I went through a period of being pulled in every few weeks for some Deal or other. I was already doing voluntary work (ssssshh! you weren't supposed to) off my own bat, but they wanted to find me "suitable" work (suitable for my disability - I can't use my left arm among other things).
They went through forms, I sat in a chair ticking boxes. The chaps could see I was very unable to sit comfortably in a chair for more than 5 mins and were very embarrassed at making me do it; but their boxes had to be ticked.
I was very willing - I actually wanted a job and believed they could help me find one, duh - & I sincerely looked at all the options they suggested (basically office work).

They had absolutely no idea of alternative employments that I might possibly be able to do (I know what I'm capable of, I just couldn't get a paid job - or even an interview - with my unpredictable health. It's the same problem many people face: your health is OK ish one day, the next 2 days you might be unable to get out of bed. I can do an hour's work, but then I need an hour's rest etc)

[lindyloo]

i'm another advocate of doing it yourself. thats why i went the self- employed route. without any grants- just started with a table. and the best thing is it allows me to pace myself ( health issues) and be flexible.

if someone has never worked- what on earth would they put on the c.v., other than name and address and schooling, so i can't quite see why anyone would need to get extra help to do that? surely the jobcenter could just print off that info while they waited?

the only problem with starting the self employed route, at this time, would be the one that i am worrying about for my own future; would you be able to get enough customers in a climate where everyone is cutting back on thier spending?

[Two_Sheds]

i'm another advocate of doing it yourself. thats why i went the self- employed route. ...would you be able to get enough customers in a climate where everyone is cutting back on thier spending?

I couldn't even get started !
I studied textile (fabric) design at college with the aim of being a self-employed designer, sat at home with my computer and paints. Ha!

After you've got your degree (�12,ooo+) you need to spend a lot of money every year on equipment & materials, trade fairs, travel to shows etc. It's a no-goer unless you have wealthy parents or spouse. Now I just make my own clothes, and fend off people who say: " you ought to set up your own label..."

And China does it all much cheaper The UK just can't compete. Sure, we produce 1000s of arts & fashion graduates: most go on to do unpaid or low-paid work if they can stay in the industry at all. It really is slave labour. Very, very few make a half-decent living at it.
Our best student went to Laura Ashley, we were thrilled for her. Until we found out she was unpaid, didn't even get travel expenses.

[lindyloo]

i started as a coordinator for a tweed manufacturer, working on making samples for the designers. i worked as a dressmaker, for others and then for myself, making ball gowns and wedding dresses, evening wear. worked for a figurine sculptor, helped theatre for 3 seasons as assist. costume designer ( that sounds glam- but basically i sewed them- she designed!)

wanted to get my degree in art, but parents couldn't afford it, (they could only , in those days, afford for my brother to go, so i grew up always being told what was not possible, rather than what was possible) and later, when my marriage broke up, i was accepted at a college about 50 miles away, on the merit of my work alone, ( i used to sculpt horses, and paint animal portraits- dogs and horses) but my family wouldn't help me ie collecting my son from school and keeping him til i got home, so i had to decline- i couldnt afford child care. ( all many years ago)


but now, i employ all of my skills in the antiques and doing old furniture ie painting them if they would look better painted, and my brother, who was a pro. upholsterer, taught me to upholster, as he was tired of helping me for free, so my sewing skills have come into play there. like you, i found that if you aren't rich or well connected socially, you can't really get a break in that world easily. but it is ok, as long as you can express your creativity. thats the main thing.

i did wonder why mr. cam. was in china, - is he planning on more cheap imports flooding our market, rather than encouraging our own countries talents and manufacturing?

[PAULW]

i did wonder why mr. cam. was in china, - is he planning on more cheap imports flooding our market, rather than encouraging our own countries talents and manufacturing?

I wonder what new labour did to promote industry in this country in their thirteen years in office, apart from outsource our food supplies around the world.

[Two_Sheds]

I wonder what new liebour did

If you're going to persist with that, at least please use capital letters