By Gregor White

Copyright inverness-courier

Call to cut benefits divides opinion

Inverness Courier columnist Colin Campbell took aim at benefits in his latest opinion piece, arguing that while moves to cut the bill had gone too far in the past something has to be done now, particularly against a rise in cases of mental health issues.

“When claimants are wealthier than persons working on minimum wage then there is no incentive to work, so yes he’s absolutely right!!!!” – Gregor Hay

“Gregor Hay, or make companies pay people properly? Most benefits are paid to people in work, or pensioners who have earned it over their working life. Let’s stop vilifying the poor and focus on the real issues.” – Dave Mitchell

“Gregor Hay, no he isn’t right at any level. It’s paying a wage that people CAN live on that is more important. Cutting benefits isn’t the solution to that, it compounds the problem.” – Douglas Martin

“The question is – where is the support to get disabled people into appropriate jobs? If the answer is nowhere – that explains the issue.” – Fae Rosalia Ducker

“Let’s start with cutting back on expenses, pensions etc of politicians at ALL levels of government.” – Campbell Brand

“I’m wondering whether it’s the top one per cent that grew their wealth by billions the last five years or was it the poor people?” – Michael Birney

“Benefits only for those who really need it. Why are there so many claimants? Because they earn more than the lowest paid workers.” – Emma McAllan

School staff under pressure

Staff at Drummond School in Inverness, for pupils with additional support needs, are suffering “critical levels of stress and exhaustion”, according to a union. UNISON says its members at the school routinely face chronic understaffing, unsafe working conditions, and are often asked to perform beyond their job descriptions and pay grades.

“We have allocations of funds for nonsense projects that bring nothing to the city, why is the council not fighting for better funding for basic services instead?” – Anne Hughes

“How many parents have been forced into home-educating because they know their children just won’t be safe or well cared-for at school? Situations like this have so many dramatic knock-on effects for our communities as we all struggle to fill in the gaps left by services that we should be able to trust, but can’t.” – Accessible Inverness

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