So it is going to be Sunak

Oh, a fairly limited age range then, growstuff.

He is still relatively young and has many years ahead when he could be working productively.

The problem is that many employers now want to squeeze the utmost work out of employees and need them to be fast and super-efficient.

Callistemon I'm pretty sure his parents looked into M & S's "Kickstart", but it's only for 18-24 year olds, as are a number of other schemes because they receive government funding for this age group. The man I know is 40. His autism wasn't diagnosed until he was in his mid 20s and there was almost no help/support available.

varian the main reason we need so many young immigrants is because as longevity increases, birthrates are falling. The immigrants are replacing the children that our generation and those below us have not been having.

We really need somewhere like the old Remploy factories

Yes, and people employed in the Remploy factories knew they were doing a worthwhile job as well as providing a safe working environment for people who might find difficulty in other organisations.
Remploy still exists to help people into work.

However, some employers are better and more caring than others with better facilities for people who might need more help into employment. M&S works with Remploy, The Prince's Trust and Business in the Community in its Marks and Start programme.

M0nica

Katie59 Was it drugs in the 1950s-60s? It certainly is neither alcohol nor drugs for my friend.

Many people in the unemployable group have undiagnosed autism and other similar problems, especially the older ones. This is why they do not turn up for work on time and cannot follow instructions and the same with stacking shelves.

You need some experience of those in this group. Some can progress with enough support and training, but that isn't there.

I know somebody like that too MOnica. He's had goodness knows how many jobs, including voluntary ones, but he just can't keep a job. His problem isn't so much following instructions, but interacting with people. He can't do a customer facing role because he doesn't know how to deal with people and says tactless things and/or seems rude. He can't get on with colleagues, who are often lacking empathy and make fun of him for being a bit "odd" and he reacts inappropriately if a boss criticises his work. It would be possible for him to work (and work well), but any employer would need the patience of a saint and I'm afraid most don't. We really need somewhere like the old Remploy factories.

Probably quite a lot Maybe but not as many as there will be when all our EU laws are rescinded so there will be no such thing as workers rights.

How many of the employed are on zero hours contracts?

UK unemployment is at a 50 year low.

A Tory friend of mine thinks that there are too many people in this country.

The fact is that there are too many old folk and sick or disabled folk but not enough working folk.

We were supported by an army of EU citizens - doctors, nurses, care workers, fruit pickers, vets, butchers, abattoir workers, HGV drivers, and so many others who kept this country afloat until they were told by the brexit idiots thjat they were no longer welcome here.

Katie59 Was it drugs in the 1950s-60s? It certainly is neither alcohol nor drugs for my friend.

Many people in the unemployable group have undiagnosed autism and other similar problems, especially the older ones. This is why they do not turn up for work on time and cannot follow instructions and the same with stacking shelves.

You need some experience of those in this group. Some can progress with enough support and training, but that isn't there.

Here we have full employment, there are those that are unemployable, usually because they don’t turn up for work regularly and follow instructions.
An employer be it a care home, a garage or the NHS simply cannot have those on the workforce because it affects customers. They cannot even stack shelves because it causes havoc if it’s not done correctly.
A prime reason is drugs

Once upon a time there was a category of people on benefits who were considered unemployable. My DH remembers several such in his small town. They were 'on the dole' everyone understood and no one really minded.

They were mainly those who were just not bright enough, not exactly mentally ill. Probably many would now fall into more specific categories.

For 40 years I have known one such person. He has a degree and has always wanted to work, but he doesn't understand how to communicate with people and comes over sometimes as really rude. His idea of dress is also sometimes well beyond what any employer would accept and he cannot see why. He is probably autistic, but back in the 1950s, these problems were not recognised.

One of our group, who is a doctor did give him a lot of time and help to try to get him to be able to make adjustments to be able to work, even if he didn't understand why,but she was not successful.

On the rare occasions when I see single mothers and others like this on tv, who are living on benefits for years on end , they always strike me as being mostly people who fall into the unemployable category. Let them be, but identify those which are hiding among them and could get into work - and get them into work.

Callistemon21

growstuff

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

And saying to Urmstongran
It must be the company you keep because I don't know any
making it sound like an insult ?

Not at all. She obviously has personal experience of these people that I don't. I feel sorry for anybody in that situation.

growstuff

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

And saying to Urmstongran
It must be the company you keep because I don't know any
making it sound like an insult ?

Sunak

“The UK and France are allies with cultural links that span centuries. Our cooperation is vital across a huge range of areas, from supporting Ukraine to our own defence and energy security.

It's in that spirit that I am looking forward to working with President @EmmanuelMacron.”

More needed like this.

growstuff

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

What I would like to know is - how many are actually in that category.
Anecdote is not data, I realise, but all the single mothers I've known throughout my life (I worked as a 'temp' in an awful lot of companies in and around London) - well, none of them were or are in that category. Obviously, as I met them through work.

They never appear to be the ones that are chosen to be interviewed though...

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

It must be the company you keep because I don't know any

Not sure what that means - what is wrong with single mothers?

There are several Gransnetters on here, too, who say they brought up their children on their own.

Well done to them.

growstuff

Urmstongran

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

You know many of them personally?

It must be the company you keep because I don't know any.

You don't have to know the single mothers (although I do know some and can quite understand why) but why are so many men so irresponsible or make such poor partners/fathers that mothers think they're better off struggling along without them?

Braverman is a smart cookie, a barrister with strong opinions, but politics is not the courtroom where decisions are made according to a set of rules. Politics is much more subtle and that she is not, I’m surprised Sunak thought her suitable.

Along with a couple of other appointments makes me question his judgement

There is a great deal of politicking on this forum - by people who are not particularly good at it.

"Politicking" is the act of engaging in political activity. So says the dictionary.

This is the News and Politics forum. We don't yet need a degree in order to comment!

Urmstongran

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

It might be a lifestyle choice for some - but how many?

Odd how these 'interviews' on TV always include the stereotypical mum from a council estate - never those single mothers like my friend's daughter who, as a single mother, has worked since the birth of her child. Nor the young woman in my street who, without any personal transport, gets her son to nursery and herself to her job every single day.

Johnson is moralising, he is the upper-class equivalent of the "feckless blue-collar" worker (and, according to him, the "white collar" counterpart).

And there is no guarantee that the women in the circles he moves in will not, at some point, need to rely on the state.

Urmstongran

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

You know many of them personally?

It must be the company you keep because I don't know any.

The ‘dad in all this’ is someone’s son, perhaps if parents of sons had conversations with them about how to treat others things may improve.

MaizieD

^There is a great deal of politicking on this forum - by people who are not particularly good at it^

What on earth does that mean?

Do you mean to sound offensive DaisyAnne or do you not realise that you're doing it?

Well that statement certainly can be understood both ways, I'd say 't'other'!

Think it’s more complicated than that.