What rights would those be, Caveman?
The right to do nothing and be paid for it?
The right to be fed, clothed, and housed at others expense?
The right to father/produce as many bastards as they can without accepting the responsibilty of their welfare?
Benefits should rightly be given to those in real need - not to those who believe the world owes them a living.
Trying to get this pensioner and his missus back to work will be an on-going piece of work in itself. V and I receive enough in pension payments (company and DWP) to live quite happily without going back to the 9 to 5 grind thanks very much.
Retirement and my two pence worth. I stopped full retirement when I was close to seventy. Now I do freelance work for whoever wants to pay me for my expertise.
@ swimfeeders, l disagree Swimmy ?
You would be highly qualified to do what passes for work
nowadays ! especially if it entails working from home ?
Donkeyman! 
100% agree i was being sarcastic
apart from swear word
I think the mistake was that you didnât pay any skilled workers well. In the 1970s when I was saving up to return to Australia I applied for many jobs in electronics. It was almost universal that firms offered about 35 pounds a week. In the end I took a job as a postman in SW1 starting at 50 pounds a week. The wages system in the UK was then totally stuffed with skilled tradesmen earning less than labourers or drivers for example.
You left the Workhouse?
We need a broader demographic into social care.
Six or twelve hours a week to be someoneâs pal, take them down the shops & cook the tea.
I would enjoy doing that for a jobâŠnow though its voluntary befriending, and meals on wheels come in with something pre-cooked. Quite sad really.
It is funny you should mention Meals on Wheels, my grandfather used to deliver for them in the 1950s in his Austin 7. They are a shadow of their former self. Their meals are too expensive and poor quality. I buy meals from a cafe in a northern suburb of Wollongong, I buy 10 at a time for $5 (ÂŁ2.50) each and they deliver them free. They are freshly made but I just freeze them.
That looks really good, Bruce - and a great bargain too!
This âBack to Workâ idea is not for me, although Iâm sure it would suit some OAPs.
My biggest regret was giving up my job and retiring. At the time there was no need for me to work but then my circumstances changed.
I would love to return to work. For me personally, l feel itâs better for your brain than being retired. I think your brain slows down and adapts to your present circumstances.
I still feel able to work but l suppose nowadays, they see your age, or get a hint of how old you are on an application form and think youâre on the scrapheap, or a bit doddery
My idea of Meals on Wheels
I think voluntary work would be easily available still, Art.
Befriending, shopping, dog walking, and phoning lonely people etc.
No wages I know, but would still help keep the old brain cells from going rusty.
My brain cells are not still long enough to go rusty - I am far busier now than ever before - and it is fun!
Mups, l did do volunteering with my local U3A before the lockdown.
I go to quizzes every week again now.
I think you miss the rapport and camaraderie of working in the workplace⊠well l did!
I also have a lovely boyfriend, so lâm not lonely!
That was my experience but at the age of only 43 after being made redundant. I thought I had found just the right job locally, apparently I was the only applicant to answer the A4 questionnaire correctly and in full but the company wanted youngsters. They had a lot of youngsters apply and they were whizz kids on the computers, unfortunately though they knew nothing about printing so were not taken on. I even offered to work a week without pay so they could see I could do the work, no luck with that either. Months later they were still advertising for their âideal whizz kidâ.
I donâ t know the area in which you could work or your skills Artangel, but had you ever thought of self-employment? That is what I finished up doing for the last 24 or 25 years of my working life, still in my trade but such a difference working for myself.
