Ellie
I don't think there's anything wrong with claiming child benefit, but nor am I judging others that claim other forms of social security benefit. No one is forcing you to take money from the state to support your children and I know of families that feel that if they don't need the child benefit they shouldn't draw it. It's their choice and I'm sure they wouldn't judge you for drawing it. I know some teenage mothers and am well aware of how the system can be worked but see a minority exploiting it (babies for council houses) but I also see what depressing conditions they live in and how stressed and unhappy they are. Maybe the council homes on offer in Wales are palatial, but here they are high rise or sink estates and not even a Burberry cap can compensate. Better education, not national service, would have made a big difference to them. Better funding of teachers like KK, smaller class sizes and better school buildings.
Paul
Yobs? Have you never seen squaddies out to play? The army is not renowned for it's fine manners and etiquette in the lower ranks, so would National Service produce these fine upstanding citizens that we are all fine examples of? Remind me of the unemployment rate? Is it a vast swathe of the population that we are supporting? Having this "privileged" class of lay abouts is indicative of how rich we are, just as the vast sums we splash out of football players is. We will continue to have a minority that exploits the tax paying population until such a time as our debt burden crashes on us all and we have to live hand-to-mouth as Derek describes.