The last three comments indicate a complete lack of knowledge and understanding frankly and are straight out of the Daily Mail. I wouldnt rely on it for education and would suggest you visit a library assuming you can find of those dreadful Labour extravagancies still open and stocked with those radical items previously known as books.

There is no such thing as social housing for 'free'- not now and as far as I can recall not even when I was living in it. The rents arent cheap but are naturally cheaper than the booming private rental market with single people paying £1000 a month. Is anyone saying thats an issue and everyone should pay market rents?

Yes some people will take the p but Id like to see how (again 6 years ago I found it impossible to milk the system for my own dole career and was penalised for arriving 5 minutes late to sign on due to having a sick child leading to a loss of benefits and ritual humiliation in front of the entire dole office.

Id been made redundant (sacked for becoming a mother which put paid to my 24/7 availability) but under the guise of the financial crash) fought at ET and they paid me off in the end) and was pregnant again ( unemployed with a toddler in a buggy.) Boy what a field day that gave some people who openly declared their views to me in the street and whilst signing on using terminology much as you do here. I recall clearly a woman having a go at me as I came out of the job centre. I still see her in Sainsburys.

Signing on whilst pregnant and with a child. Gosh. I also got threatened with being thrown out for giving myself and my daughter a sip of water on a hot day. If its a doddle signing on I must have been in the wrong office.

Going for other professional jobs it became clear that the stigma of being unemployed also was an issue. The cycle was hard to break. Confidence drops and the constant deliberate dehumanisation of the dole office doesnt help.

The reality is that more families are being pushed onto the breadline , and receiving sanctions less right and centre. The bedroom tax and HB caps means that more people are moving out of London to ' cheaper' areas but the reality is that people on low incomes are needed to keep shops, restaurants and offices going and very soon everyone will notice when theres no one stacking shelves or running petrol stations, hospitals etc.

The Tories are doing a great job of confidently convincing everyone of the righteousness of their assault on the public sector/ migrants/refugees/immigrants/jobseekers whilst lining the pockets of their friends and generally creating a smokescreen behind which education is being dismantled and the family silver mortgaged to China. This is privilege talking.

The other myth is that we can all pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and get on. The reality is that hard work and luck play a part but access to capital and privilege is more likely to project even the dimmest and incompetent to a position of influence and wealth.

Not all things are equal and it is effectively by the grace of god or whatever that people escape some misfortune , illness etc that lands them on the Council waiting list or the job centre.