http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010 ... e-benefits


Is that money?

Surely if a single parent had a partner they wouldn't be single. Or are they saying they are claiming to be single to get the benefits?

IMO we need to be much stricter with benefits. Other countries do so quite well and still manage to have better standards of living than the UK.

Go for it!
If the work is offered to you and you don't take it, why should the tax payer continue to fund you?

Maybe it would have been better if, you know, those single mothers had actually tried to find that out before they got pregnant?

If there were no penalties for being in a relationship then it will not be a problem. For the sake of a few extra pounds in the pocket they move into different addresses which costs a fortune in housing benefit. Australia has problem with this. End benefits for couples so that it is two separate benefits. That will solve the problem of families not having anyone working.

It does not stop those girls who want a family but really do not want the man in their life disrupting how they do things.

Women almost certainly being given custody doesn't help matters either.

It is not as if they are always the better parents. It is sex discrimination pure and simple. If Baby Peter who was killed by his drug addicted mum and her boyfriend had not had custody then the chances are he would be alive today.

Perhaps we'd have a few fewer single mums if some of these women got a little better at keeping their knees together.

Just a thought.

Don't you think a large amount of them fall pregnant on purpose?

It takes two to tango - they can't get pregnant on their own!

I personally think that some of the views expressed in this thread are way off the mark.

I do agree with the point about custody though - is it any surprise that men don't take as much interest as society seems to expect, when they aren't treated as equal? In my opinion, a father is equally as important as a mother.

I know a few people who have grown up with single parents one who had a single father, but most single mothers.

Almost all of the people I know who have grown up with a single mother have learned (from their mother) to hate their father, and that's a shame. A few, as they got older, asked about their dad and sought to create a relationship with their dad in their teenage years with the reluctant help of their mother. I know that in quite a few cases, mothers actively try to prevent fathers from having access to their children which I consider absolutely disgraceful and should be clamped down on HARD (if it isn't already).

Exactly my point - they can't get pregnant if they don't shag (usually).

Now there are a lot of men who walk out on long-term relationships with children or have casual sex and don't stick around and I agree that these men should be hounded to the ends of the earth.

However, women have a permanent, in-built biological veto on whether or not to get pregnant. The fact remains that the only two 100% sure methods of preventing pregnancy are ovary-removal and total abstinence; contraception only ever reduces the risk.

Furthermore I have zero sympathy with anyone who has casual sex and gets something out of it that they don't like - be that a child or a disease. If people decide to have sex, they are deciding to risk infections and having children. If a woman doesn't want to have children, she needs to keep her legs shut.

So, all single mums are slappers?

That's a bit harsh, don't you think?

Emphasis added

The vast majority of single mums are those in their twenties and thirties who were in long term relationships with the man involved, and she may have had multiple children with him. So not as if they were trying to get pregnant for a council house.

As Nick points out many of the women use the kids as weapon against the fathers for leaving them for what ever reason. Also many women do try and stop their kids seeking their father, and place lots of obstacles in the way, including outright lying. It is probably far more common than you might realise. Why do you think Fathers for Justice exists? I am sure that the men would gladly pay up if they had access. Though in many cases paternity might also be an issue.

That's not even close to what I said.

Many single mums had a man walk out on them after a long-term relationship.

However, there is also a large number that got pregnant as the result of casual sex. These are the ones I am referring to.