back to article Govt promises unemployed free laptops, net access, websites

The government will give jobless workers PCs and personalised websites as part of an overhaul of its unemployment strategy that will make being out of work a more virtual experience. The plans will also see an overhaul of the Jobcentre network as the government struggles to cope with a different type of unemployed worker and …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Makes me angry...

    Unemployed get everything handed to them on a plate. Free laptops/Net Access - what - I pay for that...

    Enough is enough...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    The Government is going to turn all the unemployed into...

    ... WoW gold farmers!

  3. MarkOne
    Paris Hilton

    GRRRRR

    Giving a jobless scumbag with no intention of working, a PC so they can surf for p0rn all day, catchup on Jeremy Kyle on ITV-Player...

    Perhaps the goverment also wants to give them a 50in plasma, with a SkyHD subscription, so they can watch the jobs channel.

    Of course they also need a new suit, an alarm clock (to get up the interview that never exists), and a monthly bus pass to get to the imaginary job...

    Honestly, how out of touch are these people? They should be giving out LESS, not MORE...

    Even Paris knows that if someone does not want to work, giving them more toys only makes them want to work even less...

    1. Mark Eaton-Park
      Thumb Down

      I would imagine that the laptop will be limited

      I would have thought it unlikely that the Government would provide a laptop that could access anything other than Gov sites and censored email, as otherwise they would leave themselves open to being sued should the wrong person see something offensive.

      The intent here is to sack off some more jobcentre staff by buying a few laptops from Crapita, after all, even with the low wages that the JS staff get you can buy at least 30 laptops per redundant JS staffer and keep your investors happy http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4836024.stm.

      I imagine their thinking is that if you can monitor all the unemployed remotely so as to be certain they are looking for work for so many hours per week, you can identify the ones that are not and these can have their benefit removed. You can also have all those unsightly unemployed stuck at home having to press a button every 30 seconds as though they were under house arrest or had some disease rather than having them in public where they might infect the others.

      So buy a few laptops, sack some JS staff and give some more public money to Crapita, nice one

  4. seanj
    FAIL

    Money from thin air...

    From which New Labour sphincterous cash machine would the funding for this latest round of "soundbite politics" spew?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    You can tell...

    ..it's close to an election.

    They're so unconfident that those getting free money from the government already might not vote for them they are bribing them with tech.

    Makes me sick.

  6. Eddie Cooper

    Government? Tax payer...

    The Government giving unemployed people computers & internet access? More like "The TAXPAYER paying for equipment & services to enable the unemployed to fill their days with hours of Farmville on Facebook / porn / gaming etc..."

    If this is really going to be then they need to ensure the computers & connections are monitored to ensure that only job searching happens.

    I don't pay my taxes so that some chav-bastard can jerk off to high def porn all day at my expense. Why the hell would they bother to find a job??

    1. The Fuzzy Wotnot
      Happy

      Well said sir!

      Fantastic! Had two us in the office, in stitches!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Nah, they'll just print it

      He'll just get Bank of England to print off some more money.

      Say 3 million people at £500 a year, that's a mere £1.5 billion, which is peanutes compared to the £200 billion they've printed to bail out Browns Govt so far. That's worth 3 million votes any day.

      Given the UK GDP is about £1.6 Trillion he's printed off 12.5% of the GDP and still failed to make the GDP figure increase... so they'll be literally chucking money at anything that can vote before the next election.

      Spray the UK in money, make the GDP go positive, try to get reelected, worry about the future later.

  7. Richard Porter
    Joke

    It would be nice if they were Macbooks...

    but I suppose you'd have to go to the JobsCentre for those.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    errrr.....

    "Employment minister Jim Knight said the Jobcentre Plus of the future would be: "A universal employment service, putting customers at the centre, acting as a broker for employers, with expert staff delivering personal advice and support."

    It would be "a service that makes the best use of technology, is part of a new style of public services, and whose success is measured on the numbers getting in to and staying in work".

    I wonder how much time Jim Knight has spent in a jobcentre recently.... because that is exactly what we do already and how we function.

    this announcement is nothing more than touting the idea of a Job Seekers social networking site. We in the civil service already have such a thing too, called CivilTalk, which is pretty much a rip off of twitter, for 'work' related things (which is rarely the case).

    1. SirTainleyBarking
      Happy

      Don't worry about that....

      "I wonder how much time Jim Knight has spent in a jobcentre recently.... because that is exactly what we do already and how we function."

      Give it another 6 months or so and he'll be visiting his local branch personally, every two weeks.

      You can catch up with him then.

  9. Hedley Phillips

    not more handouts

    How come the unemployed get so much when those of us who are working hard get so little?

    If they want to use a computer, go to your local library and use the one there.

    No wonder I am paying over £1500 a month in tax/NI conts.

  10. Andrew 63
    FAIL

    @Makes Me Angry

    100% agreement.

    Nice to see my working hard doing two jobs is paying off... well paying some unemployed lazy arse who abuses the system anyway!

    I ain't going to knock the unemployed too much though as my missus is unemployed her self, but us being the age of students, she's struggling to find anything as low as a toilet scrubber at the moment! 50+ CV's have gone out all over the show.

    Its not on though.

    Kids. Stay in school, go to college / do an apprenticeship and you'll get to my position. IT Tech that often becomes manager, and a DJ. Pays well... and well pays the unemployed too.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A boost to the local economy.

    I predict rich pickings for anyone who fancies a new laptop in exchange for a couple of hundred B&H and a six pack of wife beater..

  12. Rick Byers
    WTF?

    Customers

    They are not customers, except in PC gov speak land.

    In the same way that pupils are not customers and criminals are not service users.

    A customer is someone who gives you money in return for services. These are folks who we (Tax payers) give money to in return for no services.

    When I had the misfortune to be unemplyed for a shot while (after years of paying 6 figures a year in tax and NI) I got the square root of f* all, off the tax payer.

    Makes my blood boil!!!

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Nothingnew

    Years ago I was involved witha scheme to give a free desktop PC to every household in a certain part of Hull.

    If they had a phone line already, the IPS calls (KCom natch) were free. If not, a phone line was installed FOC and calls again were free.

    It was an eye opener for sure. How the project ended I don't know, but I do know that several were sold off at the rugby league car boot sale.

  14. Dr. Mouse

    I hope...

    that these free Laptops and Net Connections will be restricted to use only for jobsearch. I can just see all the unemployed who are not looking for a job jumping at this.

    IMHO if the govt want to do this, all PC's should be locked down so no additional software can be installed, and 'net access run through a proxy restricting them to a whitelist of services. No games etc to be installed on the PC, no access to facebook, just jobsearch.

    To keep costs down, a thin client would be best, and the broadband connection connected to a private network ONLY allowing them access to the terminal server (preferably Linux-based, again to keep costs down).

    Alas, what I see instead is Jobcentre paying for a broadband connection and PC, then all the jobless scroungers spending all day on Facebook.

  15. this

    Government Promises

    The clue is in the title.

  16. adnim

    Sorted

    I can't wait to get mine, I hope it is a high spec one with a big fuckoff graphics card in it. I have a PC and a laptop alredy. I could sell my PC, after I grind the serial number off and delete the originul owners docs and stuff. My mate'll show me how to do that. I could then score some weed, tissues and special brew and keep the one the dole give me for watching utube, downloading me porn and playin games.

    I don't want one if it's only got a cheapo video card in it, I might as well keep me own and avoid the paper work. I am sick of the paper work, 30 minutes to fill in a form and for what? A miserible £64 a week theys takin the piss. I have to spend ten minutes every fortnight thinking up stuff for the silly little bit of paper I gots to fill in to show I bin lookin for work. Cheeky bastards wot business is it of theirs whats I do in my own time. Wow a new computa fuckin great.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Its all a big mess really

    Unfortunately all government is populated by befuddled idiots. They heard the internet is great and will solve all their problems.

    I bet Gorgon Brown types with one finger as he appears to be one of those blokes with lots of Lever arch files in his office.

    Anyone that can use the internet appears to be some sort of whizz kid to this lot.

    Little do they realise the internet is what made thier population so monumentally stupid and gullible along with all the useless celeb TV shite.

    Anything they learn to do via the internet can be done 10 times quicker and cheaper abroad so wont solve anything.

    We need to get back to doing stuff other people cannot easily do.

    what this is is the big question and NOBODY in politics knows the answer.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    As an unemployed person...

    I agree with everyone else, this idea is stupid!

    I've been out of work now for over a year and the job centre staff just don't care. To them, we're just another number. They just check we've been applying for jobs and get us to sign the stupid form. They very rarely actually help us find a job.

    I'm starting to wonder what the point of the job centre is, I mean they aren't interested in helping us find a job, every job you go for there are shed loads of people going for the same job and when you do go to the job centre to sign on they spend most of the time sitting around talking and making us job seekers wait around.

    To be honest, I wish the job centres were more like the job centre on The League Of Gentlemen, at least Pauline and her pens would provide some sort of amusement.

    If you ask me, rather than getting a free laptop and free broadband (already have a laptop, already have broadband), I'd prefer to have a intrest free loan to start up a business, of course that isn't going to happen any time soon.

    Anonymous, as well who knows who is out there reading this...

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  19. 1of10

    UK gov is nice!

    It is a nice initiative... BUT a "free" PC + "free net" + website do not mean getting a job! When jobs don't exist!

    Because, if that was the case then all IT people unemployed at moment wouldn't have problems finding a job "next door” - even without this "nice" initiative

    Isn't that hard for UK Gov to use common sense, and isn't that hard to think that what most of unemployed people want is a JOB...

    Well there are exceptions... some of the unemployed will be very happy with freebies as they are “professional unemployed full/part time” receiving benefits – where some of them have their living level far better than those that work well over 40h week and contribute with tax to this country.

    Anyway again UK Gov from LaLaLand ignoring the real problems and promoting nonsense initiatives.

  20. Martin 6 Silver badge

    We can do better than this.

    The government is going to be out on it's ear in the next 6( 3,4,5?) months so it can promise anything it wants - and this is the best it can do!

    It's basically last day at shcool for the government so you can suggest any daft plan you want. I call for free aircaft carriers for unmarried mothers and rocket cars for ex-miners.

    Any more suggestions from the el-reg brain trust?

    1. John Square
      Thumb Up

      Yeah- why not?

      In no particular order:

      >Business start up grants of £25,000 to anyone with a loft space, plus a free Mac. Call it sommat like "Energising grass roots British design studios"

      >A herd of Camels for anyone with a garden and kids: "Empowering the next generation of camel jockeys"

      >Swiss Rolls, Danish Pastries and French fancies for everyone, all the time: "Promoting European cultural synergies through the use of cake"

      >Lawnmowers for carpets to be delivered by parachute airdrop across the country: "To conserve energy by reducing foot-related drag on lounge circumnavigation experiences"

      That's four and it took no effort whatsoever. Crikey, any idiot can launch these policies!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actually, further to my comments earlier

    I've just realised, they'll get all the bloody orrible Fujitsu noLifeleftBook S7110s that the DWP are replacing at the moment so perhaps it's more of a punishment than a gift...

  22. Nomen Publicus
    FAIL

    3rd time loser?

    So, what happens when the lucky unemployed person is caught downloading copyright material for the third time. Which insane government policy wins?

  23. This post has been deleted by its author

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fucktards

    some of the comments on here are unbelievable and some of you should be f'kin ashamed!

    I lost my job in april and due to location and current climate I have been unable to find another job. Whilst I don't think the answer is giving out IT equipment to people I take great offence at some of you arseholes making statements about people who don't want to or won't work.

    Sure there are some but I think you'll find that they aren't on JSA as being on JSA is hard work really, weekly sign ons, 30 mile round trip to the JCP, £64.30 a week for a family of FOUR. Yeah it's great being unemployed the pay is great.

    Think before you employed lot with your nice pay packets open your retarded gobs!

    Twats

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Alert

      Your right and wrong

      I agree with you on your points, but also with the others. Your only getting 64.30 per week because you are an honest person thats playing by the rules.

      What people are pissed off about its the massive amount of "career unemployed" that know what forms to fill in and what figures they can put down without being caught out to get more money.. these are the people that will fill out more forms and get free PCs and Free broadband and free clothes for interviews and free everything! because they know how to use the system...

      You are having a bad time because of the rise in unemployment and you are somone that should be getting more, but get less because you are honest.

      Want an example! Last year my mum took terminally ill, my dad had to give up work to look after her. Me and my sister had to pay £1000 pounds a month into their household to pay their bills. It was tough and we could not understand how the family down the road managed on the money she was given as she has been off "sick" (dont stop her from playing football with her kids and going for a jog in the morning) so my dad asked, she told us about 20 forms to fill out, told us what to say and what to claim, we didnt do this as we didnt think that we should be entitiled to them, adding it up my mum and dad would have got about 10 times more money if they were liberal with the truth like the people that we are all getting fucked off about on here!

      This Gov is too good at giving more and more to the people that do not deserve it and less and less to the people that do deserve help.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        I agree

        Your telling me mate,

        My story

        My wife has MS, some days she can walk perfectly well, other days she struggles to make it out of the front door without collapsing in a heap, she cant work due to severe neuropathic pain (nerves short circuiting all over, including ones "downstairs" now theres fun pain...not, also the phantom full bladder syndrome is great too she says *rolls eyes*) which means she takes a LOT of painkillers everyday just to get by.

        Tried to apply for DSA.....not disabled enough, bathroom issues not an "employment issue".....how in hells fuck is it not???? Know anyone employer who would employ someone who can have such polar good and bad days? Nope me neither and she isn't even 30

        Yours truly...IT Grad, well educated all round....can I get any sort of work?? Can I hell, IT Jobs - underexperienced and oh Iqbal from the agency down the road got us lots of smart asian chappies so we dont need any "local" help. Retail work - overqualified, even hiding the college courses and the bachelors degree, my ability to use words bigger than 4 letters gives me away, plus my interests consist of more than "fighting and drinking" which is a black mark again.

        Applied for retraining but SAAS wont pay my fees for another degree,and even if they did very few UK universities will allow me to take another bachelors degree, most only offer a masters which needs a 2:1 or a 1:0 for entry, which isn't happening as I loathed the course I was on by the end and really dont see the point of wasting 8 months trying for said grades.

        JC+ no use, they offered...........an ECDL, which the manager of another office agreed was ludricrous and wondered why I wasnt offered trade training, (Which I would have taken and became an electrician) and due to their fecking around for months on end, I now couldnt land an apprenticeship even if they were still going around as I'm too old at 27 for any govt support to an employer to train me, meaning that some snot nosed brat who doesn't give a monkeys about the job will get it over me.

        JC+ also wouldnt even cover bus fares or the cost of a cheap shirt to go to armed forces interviews as "they arent interviews"....WTF so multiple office interviews arent interviews....funny felt like interviews to me, including one with their medical officer and a fitness assessment as part of the interview. All on different days and the bus fare is £6+ round trip....soon adds up and I still have more to go to.

        The kicker: No JSA as my wife gets Tax Credits as she is self employed part time and disabled and goes to college to fill in time (She is smart as hell, not all disabled people are mentally restricted) and they give her a small amount of cash also to help with course expenses, so the job centre decide that we get "too much already" and worse....the council decide that we can afford full rent and council tax which is over £300 a month from circa £800, without paying for electricity, food, debts, supplies for college, supplements to improve wifes health etc. Whats the point of central govt benefits to make it easier to live if local govt snatches them back?????

        So I told the JC+ to stick their non existent help and signed off, so the official jobless total is one lower

        This country just boils my blood, lazy get it all, everyone else gets screwed.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        This Govt.

        Sure, but it started with the Thatcher Govt. That began the process of trying to humiliate the 'scroungers' away, when the scroungers are the ones who feel no shame, whereas the ones who don't want 'something for nothing' do frequently feel ashamed to go cap in hand, so tacitly emphasising the shame pushes a certain percentage of the genuinely deserving into signing off, or never applying in the first place. Some will certainly descend into (or deeper into) depression, some will probably commit suicide, some become mentally ill. The spongers carry on claiming without batting an eyelid, but the claimant no.s have gone down so the Govt. thinks the policy is a success. And probably it is, because to them it is just bean counting and all that matters is bringing the figures the rags print down. If they cared about giving money to real dole scroungers, they wouldn't give quite such astronomical amounts to the likes of the bankers, either. And wouldn't make the expenses claims most of the ones with power did/do.

  25. Nathan 13

    Unbelievable

    Another idea that will have two effects.

    1 Make the unemployed less likely to want to find work.

    2 Make the employed more likely to want to become unemployed.

    They really havnt got a clue, in fact it really scares me how stupid our leaders are.

  26. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    FAIL

    Not again!

    I hate being wrong, but every time I think this government can't get any more stupid...

  27. neverSteady
    FAIL

    I see a sneaky plan afoot.

    Give the unemployed free computers and Internet access.

    Then accuse of them of copyright infringement.

    Take away their computer and internet connection, and blame the whole file-sharing fiasco on the unemployed.

    Good plan.

    I think it might just work.

  28. Piggy and Tazzy

    Some of you lot are arseholes

    I'm really effing stunned at some of the comments on this. I might as well be reading the bloody Daily Mail - the messages carry the same amount of pathetic hatred.

    Gawd help any of you lot with the negative comments should you ever find yourself out of a job - THROUGH NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN.

    I seriously hope anyone currently unemployed (but looking - it does happen) treats the vast majority of comments on here with the utter contempt that they deserve.

    Yes, we all know SOME twats on the dole are exactly as described - sponging wastes of space, but get a fucking grip guys (and girls, if you're not too busy scrubbing pots and ironing) and quit with the tarring of everyone with the same brush - the vast majority of those on the dole don't want to be.

    And no, before anyone wonders - I'm lucky enough not to be unemployed.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    great idea

    Government funded Facebook and porn, what more do the unemployed have to do anyway?

  30. Ashley Stevens
    Thumb Down

    Big boost to laptops on Ebay

    Why give them a laptop? Half of them will probably just sell it on Ebay. Why not just give them the money to spend how they wish?

  31. Cohkka

    @ 'Fucktards' AC

    Hear Hear, well said, that man.

    I too had the pleasure of being unemployed recently, and figured after paying my taxes for 20 years I may as well sign on while looking. The major problem I ecountered was that the staff at the job centre are all clueless fuckwits. I turned up on my first signing day in my best suit, CV in hand expecting to sit down with a professional who would assist me in finding a job. What a got was a blank look, a shuffle of papers and an instruction to return in a fortnight. No assistance, no questions on what I was doing to find a job. Nothing. And dear God, don't ask them for assistance with paying for travelling to an interview; they demand to speak to the person who interviewed you to ensure you turned up. Yeah, I'm sure that having some asshat call up to check you bothered getting there is going to help your chances. It's unbelievable. If you do get to speak to someone about the type of work you're looking for, it gets worse since they know nothing about anything beyond the most basic of job types.

    Luckily I found a job after 6 weeks (no thanks to the job centre), but I feel your pain, AC, and wish you well in your search.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      @Cohkka

      I would like to point out that the 'benefit' that you received whilst unemployed is called 'Job SEEKERS Allowance'. It is provided to allow the unemployed person to carry out the active seeking of employment, and not have it done for them by someone else.

  32. mark l 2 Silver badge
    FAIL

    another crazy labour idea

    Yet another crazy idea from this labour gov, the unemployed can already get free internet access at their local library and for those whose library is too far to travel a better solution would be to open local schools ICT faciltys 'out of hours' to people from the local community and let them do their job searching, emails etc there, as at least the internet access would be filtered and stop them surfing porn, playing games etc and the money they were going to spend on giving all the unemployed free pcs and internet could be spent on the schools instead.

    Also what happens if your given a free pc and internet access and then 1 week later you get a job, do you have to give it back or pay for it?

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I like the way...

    So many people who work free overtime to keep their job (boss happy / profitable) or have two jobs, complain that the unemployed are universally feckless. Move over and make some room if you don't mind.

  34. jon 72
    Big Brother

    Bloody Typical

    My wife and I went self employed using computers that we recovered and repaired from skips, no loans, no grants just 18 hour days and exhausted sleep, punctuated by an endless stream of officialdom that demands money we do not have. There is a moral here somewhere but will look for it later, tax evasion and offshore banking are looking more attractive at the moment.

    Of course every cloud has a silver lining and there is almost certainly going to be a catch for the un-fortunate recipients of these laptops. As any webmaster will tell you the server logs speak volumes, so there is going to be no argument whose applied for what and how long they were looking.

    Internet Access - pr0n surfing on a govt issue laptop, I doubt it. Odds are you will be blocked from visiting all but a handful of officially sanctioned websites. WOW is unlikey to be among them, unless of course somebody comes up with the idea of selling advertising to a captive audience..

    Plus if the govt goes down a mobile internet access path then the physical location of said laptop online can also be found fairly accurately. Job interview in Croyden, laptop at Glastonbury..can you explain... Heaven forbid the laptop has a webcam and microphone built in, they really could be watching you.

    Real bummer if you have to webcast your job interview as well;)

    Still I forsee a healthy trade in them, virus removal, repairs, specialist erasure and so forth

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Another unemployed person here...

    I am sure there are people who do not want to work, but please don't paint all unemployed people with the same brush. I have an illness but I want to work, I apply for jobs, I study (using the free lectures from MIT, etc) to keep my brain busy and I do some volunteering work.

    The free IT stuff is a joke, nice if I could have some free stuff, but it is not a solution.

    There are lots of radical ideas for providing a NEW solution, but as the country is bankrupt (financially and morally) we must start with what we have got.

    1. Job Centre: instead of spending 10 mins interviewing people and asking what they have done, why not try and match us with employers and jobs?

    Would it be too hard to act as an employment consultant and act on my behalf?

    All I get is, "We don't really get much for people like you, y'know with professional qalifications, you're probably better at searching than me." Well, thanks for all your help!

    I want to get back to work, help me do it. The service you [don't] provide me doesn't add value.

    2. Sort out the jobcentreplus website, it sucks.

    Just for fun, try going to the site and search for a job. Post your experiences here.

    3. Rationalise the benefits, tax credits, child benefits, etc. That way I don't have to send the same data to multiple places [originals only BTW], and when things change it is all linked up with NI and Tax. This way the right payments are made to the right people at the right time.

    4. Provide the same support for people with mortgages as they do for people who rent.

    - I have a mortgage, I have to pay it all the time whether I am employed or not.

    - If I rented I would get it paid, upto a fixed ammount determined by local rental prices.

    - Why not pay me upto that fixed ammount to cover my mortgage interest (2/3rds of the local payment would cover my mortgage interest)

    - What is going to happen is that I will loose my house, go onto the housing list, end up in rented accomodation - which will cost the full ammount of the allowed payments [all the landlords know what the going rate is, so that is what is charged], cost the taxpayer more in the long run. Then house prices drop because repossesed properties are sold of quickly and usually less than market value.

    - I would even be happy if the payments were made as a loan, which is taken back out of my pay packet when I do get a job.

    Being unemployed sucks, but this is the first time in 23 years of work [paying NI and Tax] that I have been unemployed. I never expected to be unemployed, but when it happened I expected that I would be looked after so that I could get back to work quickly without having to jump through hoops to get what I am entitled to.

  36. Igor Mozolevsky
    FAIL

    LMAO

    ... paid for with virtual money?..

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Time to buy shares in MS!!!

    Great all these PCs will no doubt will have genuine Windows copies installed, so that's another 3 million Windows licenses! Get some MS shares!

    Why not simply install locked down Linux? At least they won't be able to fuck them up in 5 secs flat by installing a load of malware/viruses!

    1. They will end up down the "booty-sales"

    2. They will get malware in the first 3 mins connected to the free ADSL line

    3. They will have some right load of ripped off software pulled off a torrent and Mandy's Gestapo will be kicking in the door and seizing the PC!

  38. Jonathan 17

    As long as...

    ... the laptops come with tubs of vaseline and a subscription to a porn site its okay. I mean, who owns a pc without porn? It just wouldnt be right, poor jobless folk given a laptop and internet but no eye candy. Poor guys.

    I think we should subsidize their super strength lager too. We dont want them spending all of their money on alcohol so we'll just provide it for free. At least then they can spend their benefit money on food, or shooters, whichever seems to be the better idea at the time.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Mega City One

    The current situation is starting to sound like Mega City One in the old 2000AD progs. A ridiculous jobless rate and the government (along with private enterprise) setting up crazy programs for the idle masses.

    Giving laptops and free internet access to people is not the worst idea I've heard, I don't think access should be restricted. How can you learn, research, and build skills on a hobbled system? Though probably those that are really interested in such tech already have it (stolen? Purchased with drug money? Hopefully not) and handing these things out to everybody is probably not effective.

    I recall another program where the gov't would give out tools to people who were out of work. I guess so they could swell the ranks of dodgy contractors instead of the unemployment lines. That's didn't go so well, lots of botched home renovations, and many pristine tool boxes for sale at markets in the east end.

    I expect similar results here. Though a chav at home playing WoW or networking on facebook is much better than a chav attempting to steal your wallet or car or binge drinking lager in the park and throwing up on your doorstep.

    Is the weekly unemployment payout really only around 64 GBP a week? What's the point? I guess that's over and above the dole then? Still scary, guess I better put in a few extra hours while I still have employment...

  40. Rob Elliott

    I'm Jobless, yet looking

    I understand those who are saying about the fact its jobless bums not wanting to work, but what about those who DO want to work?

    I lost my job back in July, and daily I'm sending CV's and Cover letters, spending what little money the JSA gives me on stamps, paper, ink and envelopes (granted I buy in bulk monthly), plus paying for my TV, Phone and Broadband package myself, and food for my family.

    I've gone from earning 18k PA to earning pittance, and expected to still pay for xmas for my kid.

    Granted, I've got 3 TV's (none are flatscreen), I also have a kickass PC (which I built and paid for myself) and my partners laptop.

    If anything the goverment could do, is pay me more, or take over some of my bills.

    Yes, I'm actively seeking work (from whats said above) and after all of the above, I'm lucky if I can afford to put £5 on my phone for credit, and try to save for Xmas.

    I honestly don't know how those on JSA, or any benefit can afford to get nice TV's, Car's, etc, apart from being a drug dealer (which I don't fancy doing).

    I guess, my point really is that not all of us on "the dole" are also not looking.

    Oh, just to add before I let this go, I've got a fair amount of experience in IT, Administration and Customer Service roles, so its not like my "trade" has died.

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