sonlymewalter

That's rich. It's those of us who detest sponging behaviour who are at fault

That's better

Not sure you can. Unfortunatly there are always going to be rules where loops can be found or side stepped by unscupulous people with no values. We've seen an example here of where someone can claim poverty yet at the same time be assett rich. How can you legislate for someone claiming poverty whilst all along their husband is living in their flat back in HK? I suppose the rules are based on the majority of situations and rely on people being in the main decent. How else can you manage this before you in fact penalise the majority of good people in society. In the main most people are good, law abiding citizens with values who wouldn't dream of playing these games to line their own coffers, however there are also always going to be spongers. Doesn't mean we take these people lying down though. No easy answer other than to hope people do what's right.

Now who's being feciceous I suspect most would say a sponger is someone who decides to live off society when they have the means to do it without relying on state handouts albeit they dress this up to claim money regardless If you have the means you should use them, not expect society to bale you out as and when it suits.

Given the majority of people are decent, I would say a very small amount. Going by your logic, this makes it right then?

There is no positive when it comes to deliberately conning the system. The only positive is for those freeloaders to understand no one condones this behavior - respect comes by playing the rules of a valued society.

That's it now...I'm bored. Your lesson is over for today fat man - despite your blindness I still you

fatbrit

We all sponge of society to some extent. It's called a common wealth, and generally I believe it's a good thing. We use public roads to travel, rely on a public court system and law enforcement to uphold our rights and protect us, go to state-subsidized university for our education...the list is endless. In lucky countries that have universal health care, we even share the burden of looking after the ill among all of us, irrespective of their wealth. Some use more of this common wealth, others less. I don't see those who take advantage of this bounty to get themselves a PhD so they can earn more money or who are ill and require expensive medical treatment as spongers. Do you?

But we have no idea whether the OP has the ability to liquidate her capital. I'm pretty sure the powers that be will investigate this if it is necessary to determine whether she qualifies for those benefits.

It's the cost of having the system since no system is perfect. But if in your estimation the number of "spongers" is low, there seems no necessity to change the system. Therefor you need to accept that some will slip through the cracks. As long as this remains a small proportion, there's little or no need to change the system and you should try not to worry about it.

You seem to have a great need for rules. That's okay, but do realize that rules are not infallible and sometimes people must break rules.

Grayling

This sort of thread demonstrates the cognitive dissonance displayed by many migrants....especially to Australia.

They complain about immigrants in the UK whilst becoming an immigrant in someone else's country.

They complain about 'spongers' in the UK whilst asking how quickly they can clain family and housing benefit in Australia.....and lots will chip in to help.

...and they don't see the irony.

G

Pollyana

I think it is fairly obvious that this thread has outlived it's usefulness.