The market for software engineers crashed at a particularly inopportune moment career wise; I had tarried too long at a company whose new management ran it into the ground and essentially walked off with most of the comany's cash--which was substantial. I had just gotten caught in a layoff I shoud have realized was coming but didn't.

I had to retool my skills and learn how to market them, while the market reestablished itself. Me and the market met someplace in the middle.

Only those who can. If you can't give, you qualify to receive. Stop whining or I'll spank you with a fish! :D The only reason some of what you earn is taken from you is because you make enough that you can survive without that amount. You can, can't you?

Why didn't you work at McDonalds, or something? Isn't that what you expect of the homeless?

I did say in my earlier post that those in work pay council tax and those not in work do not. I also btw, pay council tax. I would be horrified if after paying such high levels of tax, my borough could not afford to provide for those of its citizens who needed it.

Oh...am I only allowed to keep things that belong to me if I can prove I won't survive without them? Otherwise they're fair game for anybody who wants them...

Because my efforts were better invested in improving my situation. Had *all* my money been used up (and it was close) I would have indeed ended up flipping burgers, and getting a better job would have been that much harder.

So...some in your council pay taxes, some do not, some of the tax money goes for other things, some goes to those who don't pay taxes, and some goes to you.

Also, on a side note. Sometimes when you help the drowning man/woman, they go on to put more back into the system than they took out. Like me for instance. I needed that social safety net for a while. If I'd been left to drown then nobody would have known what my potential was, or whether or not I could contribute meaningfully to my society.

Having been saved from a watery grave I then worked as an adult literacy tutor, and helped some others out of the pool. Granted some of them seemed fairly determined to stay wet......but one or two of them broke free and are now contributing to their society in a way that enriches both them and it.

The trouble with a system that is brutally determined to let people fail, is that it presupposes that only those that can make it in that system are worth keeping. How many great inventors have died poor on streets, never knowing or having a chance to explore their potential? How many great teachers never taught? How many healers were consigned to McDonalds?

One lad that i taught sticks in my mind. He was a few years older than me and had never worked. Never had a job. Never passed an exam. Severely dyslexic, he hated school and school had little time for him. He was labelled at a young age as a troublemaker and took that as his identity. Spent years on and off in prison for various petty crimes.

He was so clever. Possibly one of the brightest minds I have ever come across. With a little help at an earlier point in his life, he could have been anything, done anything, made enormous contributions to the society he lives in. As it is, we'll never know what he could have been or done. I got to him too late and he was with me for only 6mths. Not long enough to undo a lifetime of despair.

Despair largely engendered by Spexxvet's big roulette wheel in the sky.

While you're at it, how many Einsteins have been lost to wanking in a Kleenex?

:::singing::: every sperm is sacred!

If what you were originally asking was do I work for free, then no, the answer is I don't. But do I charge people for the work I do for them? No. I do not. Anyone in my ward gets my assistance by asking for it, regardless of their income. The allowance I am paid is there to cover the costs incurred in carrying out my duties. That's why it's such a low amount. It's essentially a fixed amount to cover expenses, rather than a 'wage' or payment for services.

Would I help and represent people for free? Well, if I had an independant income to keep my roof over my head then yes. My first year of teaching was voluntary. During that time I was called upon to do more than just teach. Many of my students were completely illiterate and suffering various social problems. I helped them interface with various organisations and authorities. I didn't charge.

My point earlier, was that I believe it is fundamentally right for human beings to help other human beings if they are able to. That can take the form of actually, physically helping people by handing out food to the homeless and it can also take the form of willingly parting with a small amount of one's wages in order to fund a society that provides a safety net to those who need it. Does that mean accepting financial ruin on their behalf? No. It just means if you have an income that allows a comfortable life with a little to spare....spare a little.

Well, that was in fact what I asked, since you don't seem to be making the connection: that you have a vested interest in the welfare system you speak so highly of; if you didn't support it I presume you'd not have been elected.

Sepaking of socialism...doesn't your National Health System offer treatment for dyslexia? I'm assuming as a literacy tutor you could diagnose the difference between true dyslexia and illiteracy.

Dyslexia testing is difficult to arrange. There is a shortage of specialists working in the field. It's also not generally given free to adults nor is it paid for by the Benefits system.

As to whether I can diagnose the difference. Sort of :P. It's not a simple as it sounds. You can be illiterate, you can be dyslexic and you can be an illiterate dyslexic or you can be a highly literate dyslexic.

There are indicators which can be highly suggestive of dyslexia. But it requires full testing to be sure. If someone is illiterate (as in totally illiterate) it makes it more difficult to test for dyslexia, dyspraxia, and scotopic sensitivity. You then have to look at other ways of testing. Dyslexia affects a great deal more than just reading/writing and the way it affects each sufferer is highly individualised.

I've had a little training in how to recognise and respond to dyslexia in students, but I am in no way expert. There's also a lot of crossover between the way dyslexia can manifest in the reading/writing skills and the way in which other reading disabilities manifest.

OK...so what I'm hearing is the answer to my NHS question is effectively: no. Of course, "dyslexia" is caused by the Great Roulette Wheel of Misfortune and thus makes a more sympathetic story.

Well.....Dyslexia isn't dealt with as a 'health problem' bizarrely enough. It's considered an 'educational' matter. I think some authorities are better on this one than mine is. We are a little on the tight side when it comes to spending in my borough:P