So-called benefit reforms

I see the latest government initiative is all about forcing people on benefits to take jobs. I don't doubt that quite a few people have been utterly demoralised by unemployment and might be helped by being given a job to go to - trouble is it would probably be a rather pointless one. And if they try the same trick on the hundreds of thousands who find themselves in the penumbra of mental illness, what is going to happen? Most workplaces these days are totally devoted to the idea of high-pressure long-hours I've-done-more-than-you crap, and how is someone fragile going to survive in that? These vulnerable people are all going to run away or get sacked in weeks. If we had proper government and union monitoring of working hours and conditions people might survive. That means eight hours maximum (and seven for preference). If you want to keep the ultra-competitive workplace, you'll have to accept three million on benefits. And counting. A lot of us can't cope, and don't want to.