O/T. The Government's handling of Covid

[ramAnag]

I accept all you say apart from the final paragraph. We have an underclass that offers no value added to society and, it would seem, is self perpetuating generation upon generation meaning that said underclass will continue to offer nothing but rather remain a burden on society, a criminal core and a constant problem to us all.

This is a wider issue than vaccine administration, and prima facie insoluble. Yes we could spoon feed vaccines to this cohort, but I ask myself whether imposing it on a group of people who may be unwilling to cooperate is actually worth while? I hear what you say about "noone is safe until we are all safe" but actually personally I'd be prepared to take the risk rather than waste resource on a sector of society that in many ways society would be glad to be rid of.

I guess thats where we differ - your are empathic I am cynical. If I had a mad dog, Id have it put down - what would you do?

As I say...break the cycle, although I have to concede I’m not sure how.

If I had a mad dog I too would have it put down...but extending your analogy...what would you actually do...and how?

P.S. I’m not sure I’m ‘empathic’. There were times when I could have cheerfully connected my fist with one or two parental noses, even more so some of the legal bods prepared to defend them. Not sure you’re being particularly ‘cynical’ either, but we do have a different perspective.

[Geoff Parkstone]

What would I do in order to break the vicious circle surrounding the underclasses and (put simplistically) crime? Well one thing would be to let COVID run its course, but in this sense COVID isn't virulent enough and such people will survive it and we will just see the NHS resource keep getting stretched to bursting point.

Afraid to say I have no solution (Tricky may have a final one!) but post war Britain has failed to find a solution despite the efforts of many many people offering "help". Perhaps tough love is the only answer

[Andy_Faber]

What would I do in order to break the vicious circle surrounding the underclasses and (put simplistically) crime? Well one thing would be to let COVID run its course, but in this sense COVID isn't virulent enough and such people will survive it and we will just see the NHS resource keep getting stretched to bursting point.

Afraid to say I have no solution (Tricky may have a final one!) but post war Britain has failed to find a solution despite the efforts of many many people offering "help". Perhaps tough love is the only answer

Remorseless pursuit of absentee fathers and tax/fine/jail them for repeated absence from family anyone?

[ramAnag]

Remorseless pursuit of absentee fathers and tax/fine/jail them for repeated absence from family anyone?

Catch 22, Andy. How do you tax/fine people who already have nothing? We are talking about the ‘underclass’ here.
Jail? You (the taxpayer) still ends up paying.

[ramAnag]

Catch 22, Andy. How do you tax/fine people who already have nothing? We are talking about the ‘underclass’ here.
Jail? You (the taxpayer) still ends up paying.

P.S. I’d think a good deal of relatively petty crime is synonymous with the ‘underclass’, GP, but the majority of major crime won’t be. You’ll have to look elsewhere for that.

[Andy_Faber]

Catch 22, Andy. How do you tax/fine people who already have nothing? We are talking about the ‘underclass’ here.
Jail? You (the taxpayer) still ends up paying.

the three lads who I've helped over the past decade or so all had dads in employment, and without wanting to get into another race/culture war, in these cases it was/is a cultural thing. To their credit all three lads have vowed not to follow that path (which is double good for the one which is my youngest's bf). They have all also shared that their mothers were sort of compliant in the broken household because they 'expected it'

[Trickytreesreds]

What would I do in order to break the vicious circle surrounding the underclasses and (put simplistically) crime? Well one thing would be to let COVID run its course, but in this sense COVID isn't virulent enough and such people will survive it and we will just see the NHS resource keep getting stretched to bursting point.

Afraid to say I have no solution (Tricky may have a final one!) but post war Britain has failed to find a solution despite the efforts of many many people offering "help". Perhaps tough love is the only answer

I don't have a tattoo gun?

[Geoff Parkstone]

Possibly the "petty" end of the market yes, but that is the element which impact you and I directly in our day to day life. A lot of the bigger stuff is faceless

[ramAnag]

the three lads who I've helped over the past decade or so all had dads in employment, and without wanting to get into another race/culture war, in these cases it was/is a cultural thing. To their credit all three lads have vowed not to follow that path (which is double good for the one which is my youngest's bf). They have all also shared that their mothers were sort of compliant in the broken household because they 'expected it'

So...broken homes...tick...single parent families...tick...but almost certainly not part of the ‘underclass’.

[ramAnag]

Possibly the "petty" end of the market yes, but that is the element which impact you and I directly in our day to day life. A lot of the bigger stuff is faceless

Maybe...burglary, car theft and muggings I suppose. Personally I think I’m more fearful of fraud and computer crime...being hacked etc. these days...not to mention corruption amongst the so called political ‘elite’.