Burnley protest over medical tests for benefits claimants (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

Please let us know if you have ever worked

what a shame.....should imagine there will be quite a few people sweating like scouser's watching crimewatch waiting for the letters to drop through the door to let them know they are fit for work....

What about the housing benefit and council tax benefit you receive. This added to the £65.45 you get each week is more like £150.00 a week.

bluemoon11 wrote:
What about the housing benefit and council tax benefit you receive. This added to the £65.45 you get each week is more like £150.00 a week.

well said

I cannot believe some of the comments on here, yes there are many people, who work the system, but they are many people whom are to ill to work.!!!
They should not be penalized for the previous Governments failings. just to save money, which no doubt they will squander on something stupid, or give it away.!!!
What's More if she was working when she became unfit for work, then she would have been paying a insurance stamp every week.!!!

I am sorry but I don't see how a single person can not afford food on £60:00 per week.
We are a couple with a child, I buy the meat from our local butcher and my partner buys the veg etc at the supermarket. We spend £40:00 per week on food for THREE of us.
We both work and have to pay the council tax etc.
What I buy from the butchers is pork, chicken, mince, bacon,stewing steak and sausages. Not the most expensive or exciting food but nutricious and tasty.
The meat we buy may COST more than the supermarket BUT the shrinkage is a lot less and means we eat 1 pork chop each instead of 2.
Even if you ate nothing but junkfood or takeaways, the food bill for 1 person would not be more than £45 per week, leaving £15 for electric etc.
I suggest this lady seeks advice about cooking and shopping or better still, finds a job which is not too tiring.
Stop whinging and start working!

Not too "chronically fatigued" to organise a day of protest outside Burnley Town Hall then, I see.

Jerzei Balowski wrote:
Not too "chronically fatigued" to organise a day of protest outside Burnley Town Hall then, I see.

Likes

I really am inquisitive, I honestly want to know if you have worked in the past, Mrs Willis.

Doug Spencer wrote:
I am sorry but I don't see how a single person can not afford food on £60:00 per week. We are a couple with a child, I buy the meat from our local butcher and my partner buys the veg etc at the supermarket. We spend £40:00 per week on food for THREE of us. We both work and have to pay the council tax etc. What I buy from the butchers is pork, chicken, mince, bacon,stewing steak and sausages. Not the most expensive or exciting food but nutricious and tasty. The meat we buy may COST more than the supermarket BUT the shrinkage is a lot less and means we eat 1 pork chop each instead of 2. Even if you ate nothing but junkfood or takeaways, the food bill for 1 person would not be more than £45 per week, leaving £15 for electric etc. I suggest this lady seeks advice about cooking and shopping or better still, finds a job which is not too tiring. Stop whinging and start working!

I have read a lot of comments on here over the past months, felt angry, but not added my thoughts. Now, I have to say, thank you Doug, I know that I am not alone and there are decent people out there. Good on you.

I don't think any of you ignoramuses know what chronic fatigue syndrome is, it's possible to have good days without feeling fatigued but you can never predict which ones. No one will employ you because you never know when you will be fit to work. Why don't you check your facts before vomiting your ignorant Daily Express/Mail informed opinions over the internet.

Benefit fraudsters won't care about being put on ESA or anything else because the next fiddle will be lined up.Genuine claimants do care because they genuinely can't work and their GPs and Consultants say so.If GPs are so gullible I assume they won't be the same GPs the Noddy and Big Ears are giving the NHS budget to.

Why,for a nice change doesn't ATOS or their mates chase down Tax fraudsters (15 Billion quid plus owed a year at the last count) could even go mad and deal with Tax evasion and make a start with the 6 Billion Vodaphone got out of paying a few months ago.
But then again it's much easier to pick on little people with no legal teams isn't it.

£60 per week. I have been to places in the world where they work all day and struggle to hit £6 per week, and this is to feed a whole family. I am not saying we should be without a benefit system, but to organise protests about not getting free money is out of order. Times are hard for a lot of people at the moment and cuts are being made everywhere. There are going to be more stories like this one.
I for one am self employed and have seen a downturn in trade. I cant go running to the social to get benefits, so I make cuts where I have to.
She may genuianly have chronic fatigue syndrome, but come on, any person on their own can eat well for less than £20 per week if you shop at the right places.
One question for Iris Willis. Did your parents and grandparents get benefits when they were ill? I think not, they probably made cuts. Do us tax payers a favour and make some cuts in your spending like we all have to.

wow...what a lot of Nazis on here.....
.
supporting the system today will not earn you brownie points when its your turn

Lifeinthemix wrote:
wow...what a lot of Nazis on here..... . supporting the system today will not earn you brownie points when its your turn

Exactly what goes around comes around - one in three sociopathic sick kickers posting comments on here will get cancer and that`s just one disease, 40% will die in moderate to severe pain.

Oneofouronionsismiss
ing wrote:
£60 per week. I have been to places in the world where they work all day and struggle to hit £6 per week, and this is to feed a whole family. I am not saying we should be without a benefit system, but to organise protests about not getting free money is out of order. Times are hard for a lot of people at the moment and cuts are being made everywhere. There are going to be more stories like this one.
I for one am self employed and have seen a downturn in trade. I cant go running to the social to get benefits, so I make cuts where I have to.
She may genuianly have chronic fatigue syndrome, but come on, any person on their own can eat well for less than £20 per week if you shop at the right places.
One question for Iris Willis. Did your parents and grandparents get benefits when they were ill? I think not, they probably made cuts. Do us tax payers a favour and make some cuts in your spending like we all have to.

Most of your brain cells are missing, pal.

What's the point of telling us that you've seen people living for £6 a week in other parts of the world? To brag about your holidays? To make you feel good because others are suffering?

You're dreaming if you think people can "eat well" for £20pw in this country -that's less than £3 per day.

As for being self-employed, you probably take more out of the system than most people on benefits do. Or are you the minority of one self-employed person in this country that never fiddled a tax return, puts everything through the books, never took a cash payment, only claims VAT for petrol on genuine work journeys, etc. Bullsh*t.
People like you make me sick. Get off your high horse.

Has anyone actually read the report, she has £60 to live on, not £60 just for food.

The main point to focus with the cuts is the fact income is being cut while the cost of food and energy rise. The interest rates are next, thus whatever your financial position, the slow rise in cost for products and services will become out of reach for everyone, be you living in a flat or a half million worth of farmhouse.
.
This attack we are suffering financially, and it is an attack, is nothing new. it is the way the banking cartel weakens nations in readiness for war, it also kills off the people they claim are the weaklings of society, aka, good and decent people....
.
What you are left with is fighting fit angry males ready for war.
.
Given the fact this is a global attack, they aim to starve a lot of people in each respective nation first....the whole contingency system is in readiness for the starving to begin and to hide the reality of the situation, exactly the way Hitler and the Third Reich hid the horror of the camps from the mass of German people.

Wigansalad wrote:
Has anyone actually read the report, she has £60 to live on, not £60 just for food.

That`s right and if the cooker breaks down its a major problem.

blackburn south
.
absolutely, supporting the system at this stage only makes it more powerful when it comes to you....

Wigansalad wrote:
I don't think any of you ignoramuses know what chronic fatigue syndrome is, it's possible to have good days without feeling fatigued but you can never predict which ones. No one will employ you because you never know when you will be fit to work. Why don't you check your facts before vomiting your ignorant Daily Express/Mail informed opinions over the internet.

I have worked with some severely disabled people in my lifetime, one who I worked with for 10 years was paralised from the waist down but he never missed a days work because of it. If you have been passed as fit for work then go and get a job and stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Some of the comments make me sick when they dont know the background of the person.
I am 64 yrs old and on full mobility and dla does that make me a scrounger I think not . For 10 yrs before I came off work as a welder
When most people started work at 8:00am I had already done 2 hrs and when they went home at 5:00pm I did another 4 hours not 5 days a week but 7 days with no holidays
Prior to that I did 10hr shifts 6 days a week.
I know there are people who flaunt the systen most of the never actualy ever having a "Proper" job
I smashed 2 vertibrae in my neck in an accidet 10 yrs ago and would give 10yrs of my life to get back to the job I loved .So please dont class everyone the samel

Biffa Bacon wrote:

Wigansalad wrote: I don't think any of you ignoramuses know what chronic fatigue syndrome is, it's possible to have good days without feeling fatigued but you can never predict which ones. No one will employ you because you never know when you will be fit to work. Why don't you check your facts before vomiting your ignorant Daily Express/Mail informed opinions over the internet.

I have worked with some severely disabled people in my lifetime, one who I worked with for 10 years was paralised from the waist down but he never missed a days work because of it. If you have been passed as fit for work then go and get a job and stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Once again, with CFS you never know when you will be well, with paralysis you can still do many jobs. No employer in their right mind will give a job to someone with CFS. It not only means you can't work, you can't plan any area of you life. The only day you can see a doctor is when you're feeling well and then you appear perfectly normal.
You may get your jollies abusing sick old dears but don't try picking an argument with someone who is informed of the facts.
Here's hoping you never get sick and suffer this kind of abuse at the hands of the very people who are supposed to support you until you get well.

If she can stand out side and protest then surely she can work?

State handouts need tightening up, end of.

The evil part is the way firms like ATOS are paid to judge people as being 'fit to work'.
The more they declare fit, the more they get paid. So what are they going to do?
If we had real independent medical experts judging people's fitness then there wouldn't be a problem. Instead we have this bunch of pretend medical experts deciding who to sign off.

It's just a pity that Doctor Mengele is dead, he'd have had a great future working for the coalition.

Lifeinthemix wrote:
The main point to focus with the cuts is the fact income is being cut while the cost of food and energy rise. The interest rates are next, thus whatever your financial position, the slow rise in cost for products and services will become out of reach for everyone, be you living in a flat or a half million worth of farmhouse.
.
This attack we are suffering financially, and it is an attack, is nothing new. it is the way the banking cartel weakens nations in readiness for war, it also kills off the people they claim are the weaklings of society, aka, good and decent people....
.
What you are left with is fighting fit angry males ready for war.
.
Given the fact this is a global attack, they aim to starve a lot of people in each respective nation first....the whole contingency system is in readiness for the starving to begin and to hide the reality of the situation, exactly the way Hitler and the Third Reich hid the horror of the camps from the mass of German people.

I've read some contributions from people with readily and easily identifiable mental problems previously but this is on a different level.

Banking 'kills off the people they claim are the weaklings of society'? WTF?

If you're correct, they are open to crippling litigation that will destroy them. Sadly for you, there will have to be more in the way of evidence as I don't think your wishful thinking could ever form the basis of charges and prosecution.

There's really no hope for anyone that far gone.

I would like to address some of the comments made about me. Firstly, yes I have worked thank you very much. Iv'e worked since the age of seventeen and continued to work up until approx three years ago.
Secondly, the £60 mentioned, is the payment to me that has to cover not just food but all utility bills etc. If I had £60 to spend on food I would be having a whale of a time.
Yes I get housing and council tax benefit which is paid directly to the council and the housing association. Would you like me to pay for them out of the £60 as well?!
Thirdly, as some one has pointed out, CFS is a condition that is very variable and I don't know from one day to the next how incapacitated I will be. The fact that I was able to stand outside the Town Hall for a short time, leaning on my walking stick, is no indication of the rest of my day or week. You have judged me on one photo/video and one article. You do not see the whole picture and this is why people like me are abused and labelled 'scroungers' etc.

As hard as it was for me to make a stand, I did it not just for myself but for other people who are ill and are being told they are fit for work. I certainly don't want sympathy, I want understanding. Unfortunately too many people are quick to judge without having the slightest understanding of what it's like to have to rely on the benefit system.Trust me, if there was a job available that I could do, I would be doing it.
I would like to thank those people who have supported me with their comments as it was really rather upsetting reading the others.

I am Iris's 23 year old daughter and I am absolutely appalled at how my mother is being subjected to all this when you do not know my mother,do you see her unable to do simple chores around the house? Are you there when she needs help just to do the simplest of things on her bad days? I spend my days being there for my mother and helping her with things that you all take for granted! How she gets upset because she cant do the things she wants too, do you see how she is now reading all these nasty and ignorant comments when it is clear alot of the people commenting have no idea what her illness is about? Did you all see how drained she was when she got home from the protest? She did it to help people like herself, and I am angered at how my mother is being made to feel.

happycyclist wrote:

Oneofouronionsismiss

ing wrote:
£60 per week. I have been to places in the world where they work all day and struggle to hit £6 per week, and this is to feed a whole family. I am not saying we should be without a benefit system, but to organise protests about not getting free money is out of order. Times are hard for a lot of people at the moment and cuts are being made everywhere. There are going to be more stories like this one.
I for one am self employed and have seen a downturn in trade. I cant go running to the social to get benefits, so I make cuts where I have to.
She may genuianly have chronic fatigue syndrome, but come on, any person on their own can eat well for less than £20 per week if you shop at the right places.
One question for Iris Willis. Did your parents and grandparents get benefits when they were ill? I think not, they probably made cuts. Do us tax payers a favour and make some cuts in your spending like we all have to.

Most of your brain cells are missing, pal.

What's the point of telling us that you've seen people living for £6 a week in other parts of the world? To brag about your holidays? To make you feel good because others are suffering?

You're dreaming if you think people can "eat well" for £20pw in this country -that's less than £3 per day.

As for being self-employed, you probably take more out of the system than most people on benefits do. Or are you the minority of one self-employed person in this country that never fiddled a tax return, puts everything through the books, never took a cash payment, only claims VAT for petrol on genuine work journeys, etc. Bullsh*t.
People like you make me sick. Get off your high horse.

Oh right another dole sponger are you? Stick up for your own.
get your facts right first sunshine.
1. It was not holidays I was on, it was actually International aid mission.
2. I keep my books straight and pay my tax.
You are obviously claiming every benifit possible, probably on incapacity for depression cos you just cant face up to reality.
Its the benifit spongers like you who think the world owes them a living, who make people sickof your constant moaning because you wont get of your fat backside and do a days work.
You posted at 9.26am probably when you just got out of bed so you wont miss too much daytime tv.
Three words for you sick note. GET A JOB!!!

I am APPALLED at the mean-spiritedness of these comments! I read this article on-line and felt compelled to respond from thousands of miles away.

I, too, have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And, yes, I worked. I got my first "job" selling snacks at a local movie theatre when I was 11. Prior to that, I babysat for the neighbors. I was an honors student (while working full time) and graduated high school a year early, went to business school, and graduated as a paralegal before I was even 18. I then worked full time until I was 50 and could no longer work after contracting CFS when I was 43.

I am not lazy, nor a malingerer, nor is my character lacking. I am sick, plain and simple.

Believe me, I'd rather be working! You couldn't pay me enough to "pretend" to be sick, and then listen to your awful, awful comments.

Lottie27 wrote:
Check out the video footage of this 'poor woman' on the Burnley Express site..........she's hardly starving to death now is she?! Also, she never yawned once throughout the whole interview! Anyway, I'm off to bed - I can feel the chronic fatigue kicking in.....night all!

I personally gained 25 pounds in ONE MONTH after I started taking the CFS/Fibromyalgia drug Lyrica! I was a chubbo, too.

Now, because people with CFS tend to have irritable bowel syndrome too, I have been losing weight over the past few months. No dieting, just vomiting 3-4 times a week, diarrhea, fun stuff like that.

For whatever reason, I rarely yawn, whether I'm tired or not. And I "don't look sick".

Would you say something as tasteless as "I'm off to bed - I can feel the cancer kicking in"?

Burnley student wrote:
If she can stand out side and protest then surely she can work? State handouts need tightening up, end of.

How old are you, Burnley student? Do you think you're going to spend your entire life healthy? If so, think again.

You judge the worth of a country by how it treats its sick and poor. And judging from these comments, UK ain't great any more!

Jerzei Balowski wrote:
Not too "chronically fatigued" to organise a day of protest outside Burnley Town Hall then, I see.

The joke actually goes more like this: They organized a parade in New Zealand in support of people who had CFS but nobody showed up because they were too sick. Only it's not a joke, it's a true story.

So what? Mrs. Willis was able to get out of her house one day. What was she doing the other 364 days of the year? Do you know? Do you care?

Are you there when she drags herself to the bathroom? Are you there when she's lying in bed in pain, tired but unable to rest, hungry but too tired to cook? Are you there when she watches the world go by, unable to participate except to be called awful, derogatory names by people such as yourself.

I worked for well over 30 years before CFS forced me to quit work at the age of 50. I had contracted CFS when I was 43, and was able to work as long as I did mainly through force of will.

It took me 5 years to qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits! 5 years! Luckily, I had private disability insurance but the insurance company legally cheated me out of my benefits by saying I couldn't work because of depression and anxiety. Sure, I was depressed, who wouldn't be with a disease as devastating as CFS? And, yes, I had anxiety, but who wouldn't if they were dealing with an awful disease with an unknown cause/cure while facing financial ruin? My major complaint has always been the fatigue associated with this illness.

What would YOU do if you got the flu and it just never went away? Never. You have a good day once in a while, but mostly, you're household. You don't even bathe regularly because you don't have the energy. And if you "push" yourself to do things, you end up feeling worse.

If you don't want to pay benefits so that sick people can support themselves, what do you propose? Putting us on ice floes and sending us out to sea? That would be more humane than the posts I see here.

Can I say thank you to Mrs Willis and the others who were brave enough (and they were brave) to protest on my behalf and others like me who were/are too nervous to make a fuss because of possible difficulties with the DWP.
Good luck to you with your tribunal!!

Janice P. wrote:

Burnley student wrote:
If she can stand out side and protest then surely she can work? State handouts need tightening up, end of.

How old are you, Burnley student? Do you think you're going to spend your entire life healthy? If so, think again.

You judge the worth of a country by how it treats its sick and poor. And judging from these comments, UK ain't great any more!

We aint been great for years sweetheart.
And dispite many sympathys for Iris Willis condition you need to understand a few facts.
1. This country is in a financial mess.
2. The last government of this country has spent billions of pounds supporting your country in its quest to invade oil rich poor countries in the name of counter terrorism.
3. This government we have now faces tough decisions, with regards to; health, welfare, education, defence, imigration, and countless other issues.
I will try to simplify this for you.
If you had a pot of money containing $50 and each week you put $2 in, but each week you spend $10 of this money, How long do you think it would be before the cash runs out.
Everbody in this country is clawing at a pot like this. There are more people taking out than are putting in. Do your maths. Tax payers are fed up, we get taxed on everything, what we earn, what we spend, where we live, when we die. Hell what next? taxed when we take a dump?
What you need to do is concentrate on your own mess before you pass judgment on a country that is on its @rse. Financial cuts effect us all. And if you came to this country you would find that in general its those who do the taking that are first to complain when times are hard. People should be thankfull they get anything at all. If you find that hard to accept try paying a visit to Sierra leone, or maybe you could try Zimbabwe. Not good for a vacation but certainly makes you appreciate what you have.

Oneofouronionsismiss
ing wrote:

Janice P. wrote:

Burnley student wrote: If she can stand out side and protest then surely she can work? State handouts need tightening up, end of.

How old are you, Burnley student? Do you think you're going to spend your entire life healthy? If so, think again. You judge the worth of a country by how it treats its sick and poor. And judging from these comments, UK ain't great any more!

We aint been great for years sweetheart. And dispite many sympathys for Iris Willis condition you need to understand a few facts. 1. This country is in a financial mess. 2. The last government of this country has spent billions of pounds supporting your country in its quest to invade oil rich poor countries in the name of counter terrorism. 3. This government we have now faces tough decisions, with regards to; health, welfare, education, defence, imigration, and countless other issues. I will try to simplify this for you. If you had a pot of money containing $50 and each week you put $2 in, but each week you spend $10 of this money, How long do you think it would be before the cash runs out. Everbody in this country is clawing at a pot like this. There are more people taking out than are putting in. Do your maths. Tax payers are fed up, we get taxed on everything, what we earn, what we spend, where we live, when we die. Hell what next? taxed when we take a dump? What you need to do is concentrate on your own mess before you pass judgment on a country that is on its @rse. Financial cuts effect us all. And if you came to this country you would find that in general its those who do the taking that are first to complain when times are hard. People should be thankfull they get anything at all. If you find that hard to accept try paying a visit to Sierra leone, or maybe you could try Zimbabwe. Not good for a vacation but certainly makes you appreciate what you have.

Points:

1. I don't see many sympathies in this article or comments for Iris Willis. It appears as though she is being blamed for being sick!

2. I'm from Minnesota, a very liberal state, and I vote Democratic. I never supported Bush even though for a time I believed their lies about going to war.

3. It seems to me your anger would be better directed at the policy makers and not people who are already sick and flat on their backs. When you are sick with a chronic illness and not getting any better, you are truly at the mercy of your fellow citizens. You can't just make yourself get up and go to work. If that were possible, it would be done!

4. It is not greedy to expect benefits when you have paid them in all your life with the expectation that they will be there if you need them. Nobody ever thinks they will get sick until it happens to them, then it's too late. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not call sick people "takers" because they expected to receive the benefits they were promised.

5. Don't be angry with someone for being sick! It's not an option anyone would choose! Do you resent paying taxes that help the sick and the poor - then SHAME ON YOU!

Janice P. wrote:

Oneofouronionsismiss

ing wrote:

Janice P. wrote:

Burnley student wrote: If she can stand out side and protest then surely she can work? State handouts need tightening up, end of.

How old are you, Burnley student? Do you think you're going to spend your entire life healthy? If so, think again. You judge the worth of a country by how it treats its sick and poor. And judging from these comments, UK ain't great any more!

We aint been great for years sweetheart. And dispite many sympathys for Iris Willis condition you need to understand a few facts. 1. This country is in a financial mess. 2. The last government of this country has spent billions of pounds supporting your country in its quest to invade oil rich poor countries in the name of counter terrorism. 3. This government we have now faces tough decisions, with regards to; health, welfare, education, defence, imigration, and countless other issues. I will try to simplify this for you. If you had a pot of money containing $50 and each week you put $2 in, but each week you spend $10 of this money, How long do you think it would be before the cash runs out. Everbody in this country is clawing at a pot like this. There are more people taking out than are putting in. Do your maths. Tax payers are fed up, we get taxed on everything, what we earn, what we spend, where we live, when we die. Hell what next? taxed when we take a dump? What you need to do is concentrate on your own mess before you pass judgment on a country that is on its @rse. Financial cuts effect us all. And if you came to this country you would find that in general its those who do the taking that are first to complain when times are hard. People should be thankfull they get anything at all. If you find that hard to accept try paying a visit to Sierra leone, or maybe you could try Zimbabwe. Not good for a vacation but certainly makes you appreciate what you have.

Points:

1. I don't see many sympathies in this article or comments for Iris Willis. It appears as though she is being blamed for being sick!

2. I'm from Minnesota, a very liberal state, and I vote Democratic. I never supported Bush even though for a time I believed their lies about going to war.

3. It seems to me your anger would be better directed at the policy makers and not people who are already sick and flat on their backs. When you are sick with a chronic illness and not getting any better, you are truly at the mercy of your fellow citizens. You can't just make yourself get up and go to work. If that were possible, it would be done!

4. It is not greedy to expect benefits when you have paid them in all your life with the expectation that they will be there if you need them. Nobody ever thinks they will get sick until it happens to them, then it's too late. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not call sick people "takers" because they expected to receive the benefits they were promised.

5. Don't be angry with someone for being sick! It's not an option anyone would choose! Do you resent paying taxes that help the sick and the poor - then SHAME ON YOU!

What part of `This country has no money` do you not understand?
I dont care if you did`nt vote for Bush personally. The people of the U.S voted Bush in, but thats another story.
I was simply pointing out that there is no money, but if you want make a contribution, feel free.
You have never, and probably will not ever make contributions to this country. So on that basis alone your opinion counts for nothing.
Like you said your 1000`s of miles away and this is a local newspaper.
Go deal with the problems your own country has.

Interesting comments, all in all.

I mainly wanted to come to the defense of someone who is seriously ill. I could not stand by silently as her character was being called into question.

Most of the countries of the world will have to decide how to spend their monies, how to tax their citizens, etc. Any country that balances its books on the backs of the poor and the ill loses the right to be called civilized.

Some of the comments in the Burnley Express article are mine. I haven't worked for just over 2 years. I have an acute mental illness that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I also have physical disabilities. I had a job and did it incredibly well. Then I had to tell my employer about my condition because my psychiatrist changed my medication and I needed a week off to adjust to it (It made me sleep). I hadn't done anything odd or unusual. They sacked me. All nicely wrapped up so I couldn't prove what they'd done. Not that I was in any state to do anything. I felt so worthless I tried to take my own life. It's been a long hard road back but I have done college courses to re-train with the aim of getting a job. Unfortunately, if I'm pushed into a job with too much stress it will push me over the edge again.You could book my place in the psychiatric unit along with the letter of appointment. In short, I'm actually scared stiff about working again, even though I'd love a job and the sense of pride that comes with paying your own bills. I WILL work again, but when I'm ready and it will be the RIGHT JOB for ME. Some of the people I've met since joining self help groups will unfortunately never work again and it is destroying them knowing the truth of the matter. I didn't wake up one day and ask for my illness but I do wake up every day and wish I wasn't ill. You're all happy to bash us but ask yourself this. If there are so many benefit cheats out there, how come they only find less than 1% out of the millions of us?Goverment departments can only estimate how many there are and make it a ridiculously high figure to make their own actions messing up the rest of the economy seem better. So anyone out there with a nice little accounts clerk job who thinks I'm living the life of riley on benefits, swap lives with me now and I'll go out to work while you wrap yourself in blankets to keep warm becuase you can't afford to put the heating on all day. You might even be able to stand outside the Town Hall for half an hour to let people know you still exist and NEED the paltry benefit you hope you'll still get next week. We were only there for half an hour. Disabled people don't have the stamina

pork, chicken, mince, bacon,stewing steak and sausages. Not the most expensive or exciting food but nutricious and tasty.jeez not much else left is there mate .Anyway the woman looks as if she could do wit hlosing aaaaaa few lbs or two.

blackburn south wrote:

Lifeinthemix wrote: wow...what a lot of Nazis on here..... . supporting the system today will not earn you brownie points when its your turn

Exactly what goes around comes around - one in three sociopathic sick kickers posting comments on here will get cancer and that`s just one disease, 40% will die in moderate to severe pain.

You would say that people posting nasty comments on here would get cancer;well to wish that on somebody as you do is wrong, I wouldn't wish that on anybody,however nasty the sentiments people make are or may be. People have the right to say what they think on here without downputters like you wishing something nasty on them.

Janice P. wrote:
Interesting comments, all in all.

I mainly wanted to come to the defense of someone who is seriously ill. I could not stand by silently as her character was being called into question.

Most of the countries of the world will have to decide how to spend their monies, how to tax their citizens, etc. Any country that balances its books on the backs of the poor and the ill loses the right to be called civilized.

So now this country has gone from not being great to uncivillized according to you.
This contry doen not balance its books on the backs of the poor and ill and you have no right whatsoever to state this.
This country has a free health care system that is the envy of the world. Has its problems yes, but in general it offers fantastic care by dedicated staff.
Free medical prescriptions to those on low income.
Free dental care to those on low income, and subsidized care for those on higher income.
This country is second to none when it comes to free health care.
Dont call us uncivillized when surgeons in your own country will not even perform emergency life saving operations without checking out the medical insurance first.
Perhaps you were talking about the way you look after your own sick though.

Just as a follow up to this story, exactly why does Mrs. Willis feel that she needs more money than someone on Job Seekers? Distressing though her condition maybe, there is no mention at all in the article, her comments or her daughter's comments to indicate that she needs specialist care or equipment. Surely if she is genuinely ill but does not require specialist care etc. she can live on the same amount of benefits that a healthy unemployed person can!
I stand by my original comments that maybe educating the lady to shop and cook more efficiently is the best way forward for her and her family.

benifit faud is a fraction of a percent
of misappropiated wealth compared to the govs overtaxing and robbery of our gold reserves and our lands, they are the problem, why cant joe public stop picking on the lamest entitiies and start directing their anger on the primary cause, but then again what else can you expect from remedial
invertebrates. down with all of you.

Those commenters attacking Mrs Willis should educate themselves about the nature of ME/CFS. As a sufferer myself, I can only second those above who have described the devastating impact of this illness. It distresses me to see Mrs Willis publicly abused in this way. I'm afraid it is becoming increasingly acceptable, with the coalition government's encouragement, to scapegoat the most vulnerable members of society for the UK's economic problems. It is bullying, plain and simple, and those responsible should be ashamed of themselves.

Doug Spencer wrote:
Just as a follow up to this story, exactly why does Mrs. Willis feel that she needs more money than someone on Job Seekers? Distressing though her condition maybe, there is no mention at all in the article, her comments or her daughter's comments to indicate that she needs specialist care or equipment. Surely if she is genuinely ill but does not require specialist care etc. she can live on the same amount of benefits that a healthy unemployed person can!
I stand by my original comments that maybe educating the lady to shop and cook more efficiently is the best way forward for her and her family.

Good point Mr Spencer.

This poorly unemployed lady thinks that she is entitled to more money than a healthy unemployed person? How can she justify this in practical terms?

Doug Spencer wrote:
Just as a follow up to this story, exactly why does Mrs. Willis feel that she needs more money than someone on Job Seekers? Distressing though her condition maybe, there is no mention at all in the article, her comments or her daughter's comments to indicate that she needs specialist care or equipment. Surely if she is genuinely ill but does not require specialist care etc. she can live on the same amount of benefits that a healthy unemployed person can! I stand by my original comments that maybe educating the lady to shop and cook more efficiently is the best way forward for her and her family.

JSA is enough money to get by until you get a new job. It's enough to feed you and pay your bills, but if you need to do any home maintenance it will have to wait until you get a job.
People on long term disability cannot put things off or run up a credit card bill in anticipation of work so their cost of living is higher.

I am so shocked about the level of abuse Irene and her family are getting on here, it's prejudiced. Go learn about the wide range of disabilities/condito
ns & the effect they have on different types of people, stop lumping everyone in the same group, it may just open your eyes.

Irene & family, I am behind you all the way, I wish you all the best in getting the money you NEED to live on. Don't let these uninformed people get you down.

Claire

Did I say Irene instead of Iris, I do apologise (fibromyalgia fog!) !