Wednesday afternoon, time for some STW middle-class indignation I think. Gentlemen, get your high horses saddled.

Carl, 24, and Lauren, 20, have been together for nearly a year. They are both unemployed and receive benefits… Both Carl and Lauren left school at 16 without any qualifications…

"I’ve been out of work for about three years and I just want the right job, a job I want. It’s just hard as anything to get a job round here."

"Everything that’s in the newspaper, you need qualifications."

Carl and Lauren live on £95.90 each per fortnight in unemployment benefits, which they say is not enough… "I have to buy baccy" says Lauren.

Carl blames the government.

— http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7816500.stm

I wont even start.

Baccy and phone topups – life’s essentials. Surprised no mention of scratchcards.

oooh, that’s a good one…

mine today: walked past three guys in the City this lunchtime in flourescent coats emblazoned on the back with the words "Id rather be fighting chavs". They were, apparently, advertising "Gym Box". Whatever that may be.

Pulls up a

Time for a snifter, I think. This one could run and run

splendid choice, dear boy.

bit too easy a target really

pulls up a better chair

a negative reading on a give-a-f*ck-o-meter?
So you’d take one?

*Passes the port to Hoops*

Is it too early for a cigar, d’you think? I have some rather nice Upmanns in the humidor.

More my level of social standing:

’nuff money for chips though…

I think an Upmanns is a splendid idea. [reaches for cigar lopper-offer in waistcoat pocket]

a light dear boy?

Kettle’s on.

Carrot cake anyone?

can you let that burn down a bit first please, I’d hate you to taint an Uppmans.

Plenty to go around. Nice light smoke for an afternoon.

Don’t mind if i do CFH.

£95.90? That’s enough for a new set of XTR chainrings, they don’t know how lucky the are!

dibbs on some carrot cake, mmmmmm

You guys really have too much time on your hands. Bit like the Chavs in question really!

What I’d do- Get Lauren up the duff and sell weed.

#Middle class armchair general alert#

JOIN THE ARMY

Pass the port would you 😕

hora has it, they should have a child. it’d triple their benefits AND they’d get a bigger house

you never know, it might be the next einstein*

*beckham

Even I, as a bleeding heart liberal social workey type, can’t defend them. I put myself through University at the age of 25, had a baby in the Easter holidays of first year and didn’t miss a day of lectures despite chronic sleep deprivation. Some things you’ve just got to work for.

Have a read of "The road to Wigan Pier" Orwell does some good analysis of this sort of issue which is as relevant today as it was then.

in part
"When you are unemployed, which is to say
when you are underfed, harassed, bored, and miserable, you don’t want to
eat dull wholesome food. You want something a little bit ‘tasty’. There is
always some cheaply pleasant thing to tempt you. Let’s have three pennorth
of chips! Run out and buy us a twopenny ice-cream! Put the kettle on and
we’ll all have a nice cup of tea! That is how your mind works when you are
at the P.A.C. level. White bread-and-marg and sugared tea don’t nourish you
to any extent, but they are nicer (at least most people think so) than
brown bread-and-dripping and cold water. Unemployment is an endless misery
that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the
English-man’s opium. A cup of tea or even an aspirin is much better as a
temporary stimulant than a crust of brown bread. "

IMO the road to Wigan Pier should be required reading for all us comfy middle class warriers

What would be a living nightmare for a longterm unemployee?

-Insomnia
-Impotence/inability to achieve an erection

That would be up there in Dante’s hell.

A cup of tea or even an aspirin is much better as a
temporary stimulant than a crust of brown bread

A bottle of the ’80 Warre’s and an Upmann is better still.

Don’t worry, someone will be along soon with a copy of the Daily Mail soon

Unemployment is an endless misery
that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the
English-man’s opium

or in fact Heroin, the new English mans’s opium?

Those old chairs can be less comfy than they look, though. You want one of these:

Bliemy TandemJeremy, I agree with you for once!

God must have a sense of humour.Otherwise he wouldn’t have give CERTAIN members of society the one skill they need for life.Male overdoses of fertile seed and female the ability to spot it a mile off!!!!Oh and drop a new one on a regular basis.

Dorset Knob – how about something a little more classic? Can’t beat an Eames…

[FACT]Most Journalists are Trolls trying to illicit a response[FACT]

Surprised no mention of scratchcards.

*climbs on box*

The national lottery and associated scratchcards is a tax on the poor.

*climbs off box*
*Pours a Henri Bardoin with six parts water and an ice cube*
*Declines cigarillo with misguided "J’ai mal au foie."*

Unemployment is an endless misery
that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the
English-man’s opium

or in fact Heroin, the new English mans’s opium?

Which if he joined the Army he would help protect the production of. It’s a win win situation!

Yeah I know what you’re saying Purist, but I tried an Eames, and it just gave me backache. The Hjellegjerde, on the other hand, is incredibly comfortable and soothing.

early ride pic before CFH and myself logged on