30-06-2025
How does an ex-criminal get off benefits?
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
Regarding the government's wish to reform the welfare system and get people back into work (Metro, Fri).
I had a chance meeting with an unemployed 50-year-old while waiting to play at my bridge club.
Up to the age of 40 his life had been precarious – intermittent work, drugs and crime. During that time he had spent seven years in jail.
Over the past ten years, he has been clean but cannot find work because of his record. He survives on benefits as he has been assessed as having mental health problems. Having talked to him for more than an hour, he admitted to having no mental health issues.
He lives with his drug-addict brother who he has to fund.
What a situation. He has been written off by society since the age of 40. Is there no forgiveness? No wonder the government has a problem with benefits. Pat de Burca, Colchester
Martin (MetroTalk, Thu) wonders why Israel has destroyed the infrastructure of nextdoor Gaza while being able to undertake far more precision attacks in Iran.
The answer is straightforward. Israel and Hamas are at war and Hamas concentrates its forces in and beneath hospitals, schools and in refugee camps.
If these terrorists/freedom fighters (depending on your point of view) emerged into the open, they would be killed swiftly by Israeli forces.
The collateral damage is immense but this is war and many thousands of Hamas personnel, including the leadership, have been killed by such bombing. The completely unverified figures of 'civilian' casualties provided by Hamas include all their own war dead and significantly reduce the civilian casualty figures.
If Israel wanted to commit genocide, two million Palestinians would now be dead. Instead, they will be rebuilding and working in Gaza in the future, just without Hamas. It was the same in Germany and Japan after World War II.
In Iran, Israel attacked military and nuclear structures and similarly decapitated the leadership, but these were not based in schools and hospitals.
There is no 'moral obligation' to criticise Israel in a free society such as Britain and you can attend the pro-Palestinian hate marches in London every weekend if you wish to.
However, don't fool yourself that you are somehow a more principled or moral person if you do so. Chris Shepherd, London
The best way to ensure Iran is no longer a threat to Israel and the West and stops building nuclear weapons is to get rid of its oppressive and fanatical regime.
Although Israel and Donald Trump have hinted at this, it looks as though the regime will hang on to power, supported by Vladimir Putin, to the detriment of its people and the wider world.
The West should do everything within its power to support the overthrow of this regime and bring about a democracy.
This would not only bring peace to the Middle East but free the people of Iran, most of whom want to see an end to the regime. Julie, Bath
William (MetroTalk, Fri) describes having to push though a crowd of out-of-control schoolkids to get off a train while their teacher did nothing to control them.
People should always let others off the train before trying to board. More Trending
I am sick of the disgusting behaviour of so many people who try to board or make it impossible for people to exit the train. There is plenty of time to let people off before people try to board. I always stand to the side, giving exiters a clear path off the train and let them exit before I enter, yet I am hardly ever given the same courtesy by the self-centred louts I encounter. Dave, Shoreham
Jee (MetroTalk, Fri) complains that the majority of the 6,000 respondents who said they agreed to the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street does not represent the views of most Londoners.
What it does highlight is the apathy of Londoners, who can't be bothered to express their views and complain only when opinion goes another way.
We all need to get involved in creating harmonious communities. Michael Fuller, London
