Dear George,
I assume that you have you have been watching the Jeff Randall Sky News documentary on Merthyr Tydfil.
Whilst I strive to keep Welsh Icons politically agnostic and give equal coverage to all the major political parties in Wales I feel that your comment this afternoon needs to be addressed.
You say that living on benefits is a lifestyle choice. You may be right in a very few cases but for many people having to ‘survive’ on benefits is not something they would chose to do.
Can you please explain where the jobs people are supposed to take are going to come from? With your government slashing public sector spending and putting even more people out of work at a time of high unemployment you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
It may be that you are referring to people who have never had a job and have been claiming benefits for many years. Yes, I agree that in an ideal world these people should be helped into full-time employment but to be frank these people are unemployable. They need rehabilitation, training and an introduction into the real world of work. As you may be aware, there is very little funding for this and no jobs available for them in the short term.
In the last week we have covered the job losses at Anglesey Aluminium and today we ran an article on the probable shut-down of Connaught plc in Caerphilly which has gone into administration. Are you telling me that these people are making a ‘life-style’ choice?
Yours,
Dom
Editor – Welsh Icons
