Got word back from the course I was on. I passed, wooohoo. I will get my certificate early next week but I was on the SIA site to apply for my badge yesterday. Though it will be next week before I can pay for it. Hopefully it shouldn't take as long as the last one to be processed, well I can't see why it would. Of course you never know. I just have to wait and see.
Got word through this week about that work programme the jobcentre are sending me on. I start it on the 8th September for four weeks. 30 hours a week for my jobseekers allowance. Yes that means I will be working for less than the minimum wage and if I were to refuse then I wouldn't get anything from the state to help me through these hard times. As you can tell I think this is tantamount to slave labour. I agree that as I have been unemployed for over six months that I should have to do something more to continue to get state help. I would agree with them forcing me to do two days a week which would then mean I would be working those to day at the minimum wage which is set by the government. That would be fair of course when is the Westminster government fair. I can't remember them ever being that. No they always like to give those of us at the bottom of society a bit of a kick now and then while blaming us for the struggling economy. The poor are to blame for everything that is going wrong in the world according to them. We after all are easy scapegoats.
Yes I admit there are some who don't want to work but they are a small minority of those claiming benefits. After all what you get doesn't really go far. I would for one prefer to be working which would then provide a better standard of living for my family and myself. It is for this reason I decided to get training to open up more possibilities into work. Of course the government won't tell people of those of us who want to work and go forward for training to broaden their options. No the only stories you hear from Westminster politicians is of those few who have given up so are happy to claim dole money. As for the rest of us, well we have to keep on as we are until we get another job. While accepting that in the eyes of those in charge we are less than nothing. At least until they need us to vote for them again.