A while back, someone emailed Kirkby Times to smugly claim the website supported people defrauding the state. As a working class man I refused to see a single mum working on the side as a criminal, am I wrong for this? The law will say that a woman claiming benefits to top up an income is a criminal, but the law cannot make you believe in your heart and mind that a crime is morally wrong. Not yet at least. New labour claim benefit fraud costs billions, but the middle and upper classes combined fraudulent talents account for a lot more money being taken out the pot than benefit fraud amounts to. New labour spent far more than this on the Iraq war than 'dole cheats' get, so the idea that new labour are just 'honest people' simply making sure honesty is being adhered to in Kirkby, is, to be frank, a load of crap.

Cherie's Moral Dilemma

Cherie Blair made more money in her controversial 'deal' for property involving the swindler Peter Foster, than any dole fiddler here will ever stand to make. A spokesman for Phoney Blair initially denied that the Prime Minister's wife was ever connected with Peter Foster. What she did was not illegal, but we all know how the law is twisted for the likes of her and the rich people in England. Cherie herself eventually acknowledged that the convicted fraudster had played a part in helping her buy two apartments in the west of England. Cherie called Foster a "star" for saving her a rumoured £69,000 on the deal. [Sunday Mirror Dec 06 2002) A tearful Cherie later apologised for the 'embarrassment' she caused in buying flats with the help of convicted fraudster Peter Foster.

Cherie in Kirkby.

But imagine if Cherie had been living in Kirkby and she not had the privileged background she had. She may well have decided to help her family by working on the side, and would be doing so due to economic disadvantage caused by new labour who promised to help the poor but robbed us and dragged us into wars. The two flats were for the privileged Blair sons whilst they went to University. How ironic that Tony Blair's Government is now big on jailing 'Fraudsters', in particular working class 'fraudsters' who 'defraud' the State by fiddling the dole or working on the side. The Middle Class often have the legal yet sly and manipulative 'fiddles', and when you can get hold of convicted fraudsters to save the family a few quid, and you're the Prime Ministers wife, well, its all legal and proper. Not like people who fiddle the dole eh?

Fiddling the Dole worse than Collecting Child Pornography?

New labour will happily put the boot into and jail working class people earning a few lousy quid on the side, but middle class people and businesses who defraud millions get Knighthoods and OBE's. You can be jailed for fiddling a few thousand pound off the dole, but if you have a twisted hobby like collecting child porn, unless your fiddling the dole at the same time, you can perhaps claim 'it was research' or some other such throwaway excuse, and walk from the court a free man , as some single mum gets dragged up for fiddling benefits and jailed.

Four Examples of the Injustice of UK Law

Below are 4 examples of the British law at work. Note how the very poorest are dished out custodial sentences for what is described as 'greed' whilst serious sexual offences by Judges are only worthy of suspended sentences. Middle class people found guilty of fraud, not necessarily benefit fraud, but fraud and theft of other public funds which often amount to massive amounts, are given lighter sentences for defrauding far greater amounts of money. Only a small percentage of this Fraud is uncovered, much is not even reported to the police, and millions of pounds of public money floating around in Kirkby will not come under scrutiny whilst some bloke working a few days to pay for the holidays is going to have SAS trained Employment Service snoops popping out the hedgerows. [no- not a joke, more down the page] The middle class do not need to fiddle the dole [some still do so!], but collectively they rob the Country on a far more serious scale than working class people. Why then, are the jails mostly filled with working class people?

Case No 1: Judge Found With Child Porn.

A former circuit judge, David Selwood, from Winchester in Hampshire, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of making and possessing indecent images of children. The 70-year-old was charged after police found 75 images of naked and semi-naked boys aged between eight and 14 on his laptop computer. He was given a 12 month rehabilitation order at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

Case No 2: 3 Knowsley Women Caught Fiddling Dole.

A woman, her sister and her daughter have been convicted of benefits fraud. The two older women were jailed while the younger woman was sentenced to community service. The Benefits Agency found that cleaning staff employed at St John's precinct in Liverpool were also claiming benefits. A 49 yr old woman from Huyton, a supervisor, had been working since January 1989 but had falsely claimed benefit of £24,176, Liverpool Magistrates' Court were told. She was sentenced to five months in prison after admitting the offence. Her 45-year-old sister also from Huyton, was jailed for three months after admitting falsely claiming £25,497. The daughter, who lived in Kirkby, admitted claiming £7,840 in benefit while working and was sentenced to 180 hours' community service. (source The Liverpool Evening Post 23/06/00)

Case No 3: Middle Class 'dole cheat' - suspended sentence

In April 2000, Leeds Crown Court imposed a 12-month suspended sentence on a woman who admitted six offences of benefit fraud between 1996 and 1998. She was ordered to refund the Benefits Agency her share of the £22,000 that she and her husband had received. Judge James Barry said that they had displayed "cynical greed". The pair were described as "more than averagely prosperous", running a jewellers and a fine arts business. Yet the woman had pretended at one stage to be unemployed and the couple had their mortgage interest paid for and were granted exemption from council tax. 22 June 2000

Case No 4: Working Class man Fiddles £8000, Jail for 9 Months.

A Preston man got a job posing as horror film killer Freddy Krueger. The man, aged 40, was paid to scare punters in a seaside resort's house of horrors dressed as the character from the Nightmare On Elm Street. He was jailed for nine months for making £8,000 in 'state handouts'. Undercover Benefit Agency snoopers spent some time trying to track him before his eventual capture. The media described him as a 'crafty conman' because he 'once even lost dole officers trying to trace him by fleeing through the attraction's maze of rooms wearing his Krueger disguise.' The worker only earned £3.50 an hour for two years before he was unmasked at the Pasaje del Terror at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach. An anonymous tip-off (people are being paid to inform) led to him being identified from a security pass. The man was jailed for nine months after admitting obtaining money by deception. He was trapped in a crackdown on benefits cheats backed by the Sunday People's 'Shop A Swindler campaign'. The man falsely claimed £5,378 housing benefit and pounds £3,175 jobseekers allowance, Preston Crown Court heard.(Source: The Sunday People 26-Mar-2000)

Note: Kirkby Times has a policy of NOT reporting the names of local people sentenced for crimes of social poverty. The names of the people reported here have been left out.

The average person fiddling the dole is a Saint compared to the Judge David Selwood.

The British law comes from the days when Lords owned peasants and could rape local woman by law, if they so desired. The sexual and physical and emotional abuse of children was common in England and the law today still reflects the value or seriousness of such crimes, the law is primarily there to protect the property and interests of those who rule us. That is why you would get sentenced more severely if you rob a bank, than you would get for even sexually assaulting or raping a child. This is why Judge Selwood walked free whilst a man who earns a few quid on the side dressing up as Freddy Krugar gets 9 months for fiddling the state of the princely sum of £8000. We've seen a wealthy middle class 'dole fiddler', one of the ones who IS taking the pi**, the woman fiddled £22,000, yet her and her husband owned a 'fine arts business and a jewellers' No jail for her or her husband.

Remember: If your are thinking of fiddling a few quid off the money grabbing State, remember that there are more Employment Service snoops than there are people snooping on the activities of child pornography enthusiasts.

The English law is a joke, and we all know it. Any decent cop, especially those who are parents, will surely feel embarrassed to be actually associated with the law at times like this. Yes, we do need laws and guidelines, but if our laws can come down more on dole fiddlers than people hoarding child porn, not even the most slickest and articulate of our legal profession could stand here in a public meeting in Kirkby or Huyton or Norris Green or Kensington or even the Canning St police headquarters canteen and tell us that this Judge caused less harm to society than your neighbours wife who is earning £4 an hour on the side. More than the law, we need Justice. And we are not seeing it, are we?

I am sure I speak for many millions of working class people when I say that, far from condemning the poor people making a few quid on the side, I'd wish most luck and instead call for the tight fisted bosses of England and the Government to dig deep and make up what is often not a great amount which people make by not declaring various work to the Employment Service or DWP. The minimum wage is a joke. A lot of the people working in Kirkby get benefits anyway - legally - as the average household income of some £12,000 comes way below the level whereby they could avoid welfare benefits and other government top ups they have to claim. Most people, who have fiddled the dole, would have sooner earned that money in a decent job and paid tax. The unemployed are being targeted at a time when the decimation of the manufacturing industry, the advent of new computerised technology and the automated computerised production line plus the subsequent outsourcing of computer based labour (IT industry) to the third world, means that decent job opportunities will get less and less. Most of us would conclude that there is still one law for 'them' and another for us.

What say you the Jury?

As a wise man once said "Honesty is the best policy, but minimum pay won't buy my kid that new bike for Christmas"

Be good out there and watch out for the snoops …..

SAS Training For Benefit Agency Snoopers

Staff from the benefits agency were given SAS training to help them catch fraudsters. Former special services soldiers ran three-day courses to train the snoopers to observe suspects without being detected. A spokesman from the Department of Social Security said it was hoped the expert guidance would help the fraud officers catch cheats who claim benefits while they are working. 'In these cases you need to catch people in the act,' he added. [Source: METRO, 23-Feb-2000 Associated London Metro Ltd, 1999.]

Another Thought! - Why is the person working on the side the one who gets jailed - but not the boss or agency employing them?