Sue Townsend RIP

4 posts / 0 new
Last post
Sue Townsend RIP

Sue Townsend's "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole" was a funny and pithy observation of adolescence.  But this article written by her for The Guardian in the 80's was a damning indictment of the social care and welfare system at the time.  The real tragedy is that she could have written it today and it would still all be true.  

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/13/adrian-mole-sue-townsend-we...

RIP Sue Townsend.

Yes, I remember that system. I had a job interview that clashed with my allocated sign-on time at the DSS - I was told that if I attended the job interview I'd be "making myself unavailable for work."  Who'd have guessed that things would only get worse.

 

God, poor Sue and those were the good old days. The inarticulate and despised claimants are no longer allowed in offices. They must plead their case by phone. If they can't get through, it's their fault. If they don't know days and dates and times and when was what, that's their fault too. An emergency payment can take a month. But that doesn't matter. It's only scroungers. 

 

In the words of Thatcher, was it her, I'm not entirely sure; 'Let them eat cake'. Plenty of pickings from the industrial bins behind the supermarket where they throw out stuff that's past its sell by date. Oops the bins are now locked? Dear me, well I don't knowcrying      Elsie