I would like to point out that I have never claimed benefits but if I want to be able to live in the house I currently rent then at the moment I have no choice because if I earn about 8k a year I get very little help but I need 12k a year just to pay rent and council tax. I no longer have a choice because I can't earn enough down here in the SW to be able to live. To be honest I'd be happy with a 10 x 15 ft shed in a field, problem is I can't even afford to buy a field either now.
Becky

This post has really annoyed me.Maybe you live in an area where ther is little unemployment but we don't. My daughter has been trying to get a job for ages applying for anything she has finally got a part time one but she would like full time. My son is also trying to find work and has filled umpteen forms in only to be told nothing going at the moment. My neighbours either side of me are being made redundant both working for different firms one has worked there for 15 years and the other for 20 years. There have been a few big companies who employed hundreds closed here in the last 2 years. So when someone says you can get a job if you really want one they are talking out of their backsides. Not all areas are the same.

sorry becky, i did'nt mean to infer that you had ever claimed benefits, no insult was intended. but you must agree that the value of the £ is the envy of europe, and the world. look at the exchange rate for US dollars that you get for the £ .

And who's controlling that? The Bank of England.. probably the one decent thing Labour have done is to hand over control of that... before they could screw it up... oh and also assisted by robbing people of their pensions... The effects of Tony Blairs government probably haven't even begun to really kick in yet... good ridance I say...

I don't pay for things in dollars I have to live in the UK where the 'value' of the pound against other currencies is irrelevant. The fact is that most people cannot afford to own their own home here in the UK, more people are in more debt than ever before because of the constant 'lifestyle' that is pushed in the media that people seem to think they have to have to be someone.
I don't care how strong the £ is abroad, I don't live there I live here and would like to continue to do so without having to starve myself because I can't afford to buy food.
Becky

I don't know about other area's, but in mine there are many "children" having babies and getting housing and everything else completely free of charge.

My son went to school camp last week it cost £150. I really struggled to find the money to pay it but obviously i had to. My son came out of school on the day i payed it and said "mum you shouldn't of payed, so and so's mum doesn 't work and they don't have to pay a penny". I was furious as the boys mum in question has no reason not to work. Again why would she, everything in life is free for her. It makes me really angry.

As for the jobs, i struggled and applied for many many different jobs and didn't get very far. But what i then did is went round all the companies, those that weren't advertising for jobs, and just walked in asking if there were any vacancies. I got a job and was told how impressed they were with the initiative. I can only talk about my area, but i do think in bristol there are alot of polish doing the work that many others could do, but we choose not to do these jobs.

but a lot of your food is imported from EEC , so are your consumer goods like washing machines, fridges, etc, if the £ is strong, you'll pay less for them. look at the fruit and veg in supermarkets, and the meat etc. a lot of european countries are worse off than UK, believe me. your computer that you're on just now was probably made in china, the exchange rate with china means that your PC has cost you less due to the £'s value abroad.

Where ever possible I buy British produce, then if I can't buy British, such as Banana's, I buy Fairtrade. As to my computer costing less because it was made in China that I doubt. It's made in China because labour (and people's lives) are cheap. That doesn't mean it's sold cheaply here in the UK same as cars and everything else we have.
Becky

i think you come from south wales? thank thatcher for ruining the mining industry there. i'm not saying you come from a mining family, but the coal industry created money where you live, creating other jobs in the your community. it was the same with the steel industry. i live very close to CARRON iron works, a lot of guys worked there. it's now closed. but our area has diversified, there's other factories in business like electronics, and smaller metal workshops doing not so badly at the moment.

Well all I can say is you are lucky Sony has pulled out and taken their business elsewhere Burberry has taken the jobs abroad, the parachute company that my daughter was working for is going abroad and they are closing Remploy in our area these are to name but a few of the big companies around my area and most are taking their business abroad after making a name for themselves in our country.