Occasional Ramblings

If there was any doubt  about how crazy Britain has become the following two examples highlight the extent of the problem.

A man, working in a call centre in Newcastle city centre, helped himself to a tin of biscuits from a colleague's desk, only to find himself in court charged with theft. In his defence he said he thought the biscuits were provided by the company, for everyone, and that is why he took them. After initially pleading not guilty he changed his plea ( presumably just to get the matter over and done with, rather than thinking he had done wrong ).

This is a situation that in the past would have been solved with the accused apologising and replacing the item taken but ( because of how Britain is nowadays ) the woman, who's desk he took them from, felt that her privacy had been invaded.

The city's magistrates ( surprise, surprise ) agreed with her. So the man was ordered to pay the cost of the biscuits, £150 in costs and has lost his job, all because of a packet of biscuits and our crazy ways.

The second example involves a man who lost a leg in childhood when he was knocked down by a bus. He has struggled for years to come to terms with his condition and relied on Employment and Support allowance to get by.

recently, as part of a crackdown on benefit cheats, he had his fitness re-assessed. The new system requires that you amass 15 points to qualify for payment. But despite the fact that he only has one leg the authorities rating of him was zero. Therefore according to them he is not disabled.

What he finds even more galling is that some drug addicts who are considered 'unfit for work' can get up to £120 per week despite their problem being self inflicted.

Because his case has been highlighted in the press it is to be looked at again. It should have been assessed properly in the first place. It's not as if he could have been pretending to only have one leg.

Britain of today. The laughing stock of the World.