By John J Kelly
In yet another demonstration of the sort of lateral thinking that has made Gordon Brown not only saviour of the banks but saviour of the world, Work and Pensions Minister James Purnell announced a government pledge to force long term sickness benefits claimants and some single mothers back to work. The Welfare Reform White Paper [...]
Tag Archives: social policy
Throw away your crutches and limp down to the McJobCentre, says PM
December 10, 2008 – 7:55 pm
Forcing teen mothers to work could be Labour's worst social policy idea yet
December 8, 2008 – 4:08 pm
By Julia Margo, Demos
One of the themes to emerge from debates last week about the Karen Matthews/Baby P/shocking state of social services scandals was the ongoing saga of Britain’s teenage birth rate, or more precisely the so-called benefit claiming class of teenage single mothers who suck up state resources and services, do not work, but [...]
Cruel parenting is not a class issue
December 8, 2008 – 3:50 pm
By Julia Margo, Demos
I expect that my fascination with Karen Matthews is predictably middle class. Her crime may be heinous, but she has captured our imagination in her role as working class anti-hero: a reminder of how some people (the ‘other half’) live in today’s Britain. The weekend coverage of sink estates – the ‘bubble [...]