I'm disabled and I'll tell you, there are very few people who don't work because it's what they prefer. If you believe that, just take a few months off of work, try to live on what we get each month and then tell me how wonderful it is. This is sickening and disgusting.

My son is one of these languishers. He is 23 years old and has medical and learning needs. His father (my husband) passed away last year from MND. He gets up every day and goes to work voluntarily in charity shops and is part of a volunteering group that helps people with needs gain experience. That is 5 days a week that I transport him around so he can work for no pay. Unfortunately,there are very few employers who would take him on in a paid position, so I have to reduce my hours to facilitate him volunteering. This government know these things but choose to incite rage from their dwindling support. Disgusting!

‘THE TRUE MEASURE OF ANY SOCIETY CAN BE FOUND IN HOW IT TREATS ITS MOST VULNERABLE MEMBERS’

Just when you think the Tories can't get any more evil, they find a new level.

As one of those LAANGUISHING...SHAME on the tory nazis

I lost my job as a doctor in 2004 due to brain damage. I was 38. I had worked incredibly hard to achieve that position. I would give anything to stop languising at home. I wish I was normal and could live a normal life. To suffer everyday of your life to watch others live a life that you wish you had can be hard. I've had to learn to accept that my life was destroyed. I have to be excused from driving and enjoying myself because of my illness. The majority of people who appeal getting their benefits removed win their court cases and get their monies reinstated

I’m autistic and rates of employment amongst this community are very low, not because we don’t want to work but because it is so hard to find a job that can accommodate our needs. We want to work and have a job, but it’s difficult to find somewhere that we fit.

I worked with people with severe disabilities and there is nothing they would rather have than a job. The fact is that very few employers will hire someone with a disability, especially if they have to make adaptions in the workplace.

The way a government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it. Tony Benn

Funny how Daily Mail employed Nadine Dorres who was claiming her £86K MP salary paid for Tax Payers money. Strikes double standards to me.

My wife is on pip and disability, she suffers from heart failure, only 17% of her heart is functioning, she is incapable of working, she gets totally knackered going upstairs, this is so so scary

The same people who say. “ forget immigrants and asylum seekers we need to support our own first!” Are the same people celebrating this

James, this was one of the goals of brexit and what Tories meant about taking back control, removing the protections of the working man in favour of business. Johnson tapped into peoples bigotry to get Brexit over the line and now they are suffering the consequences.

Along with most of the comments, I receive PIP, I have had it cancelled once being told that I had made a false claim and maybe asked to pay 18 months back. I therefore believed them and basically worked and worked and then had a breakdown and didn't leave my room for 3 months. I eventually got it reinstated, then again they tried to cancel it. My husband fought it hard because of what happened. So I have an invisible disability. I still feel guilty and like a fraud. When a govt body tells me I'm faking I believe them. After so much therapy I still think I am worthless. When I saw this article I had a panic attack. Husband had to step in. He finally sent me this. Anyway that was a ramble.

In order for sick and disabled people to be made to work there must be employers willing and able to employ them. They never talk about that side of the equation.

Hi James. This discussion about language is one that's fascinated me since I read 1984 about 40 years ago an realised that by controlling language, you control thought. Love the programme. Thanks for being a beacon of rationality in an increasingly irrational world.

I got issued with a lifetime ban from commenting on the Daily Mail website for criticising them. I view it as a badge of honour.

I can't believe this country isn't more furious. How do the people everybody hates just manage to continue to hold so much power and do so much damage??

I fought for my friend to get Personal Independence Payment. I attended three tribunals with him. He had Type 1 Diabetes and chronic depression at losing his job. He could not take another job because his situation deteriorated so much. In the end we won. It took two years and he was awarded £8,000 in back payments. He died six weeks later.

Rich people getting the poor and middle class to hate the poorest people in the country is a disgusting tactic and I'll never understand how it works.

It break's my heart, again picking on the sick what a bunch of losers 😡

Daily Mail readers may be surprised to learn that many disabled people want to work, but have had their livelihoods destroyed by the same party in government those readers voted for. Which then proceeded to make working conditions mean, nasty and horrid to its own citizens.

I'm excluded from seeking work because of my mental health, and while I'd love to work, being ordered to seek it would have the exact opposite effect.

If they want to go down this inhumane route, then force employers to change their attitudes! They write off those with disabilities.

The Daily mail is a vile rag.Sad that so many buy it and accept what they read without a second thought.

My friend's boy is on disability benifit? He has got serious OCD to the point where he will starve himself to death if he can't find a full ingredient list of anything he is about to eat. His, as many others' condition is not well understood by medics. His problem is not that he doesn't want to work, it is that nobody would or could work with him. So it's really not about abiut his motivation, Cutting his benifits is not going to find him a job. Employers do not want anybody who comes with that baggage,

If the Daily Mail is for something then I am against it if they are hostile to an issue then I am for it simples.

First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me.

This is having your legs smashed up. learning to walk again, finally feeling hope and having them smashed again. Over and over and over. That's what this feels like. This is just evil.

This government's policies are very reminiscent of a certain group from the 1930's. I'm genuinely afraid for friends and family who may be deemed members of minorities this government is targeting.

What I never understand is the fact being disabled is actually the only minority group you could actually end up belonging to at any time. They really do want us to wish it on them!

Economy on its knees, cost of living crisis, and more inequality than ever. Oh yeah, let's start picking on disabled people and those with mental health problems, that will really help.

How about saying employers will be forced to employ disable people. Which they are very reluctant to do because a lot of the time has to be taken out for doctors and hospital appointments. My disabled friend was so excited when a scheme was launched to help people to find work. The only people helped find work were the people employed to do it. She was left feeling very demoralised and dejected.

They’ve(conservatives) driven themselves mad with paranoia and indignation at the mere thought of someone not breaking themselves down from youth to the grave.

I would give anything to work. I completed a Master’s degree to work in my profession. Now I have to live on a MONTHLY check that is less than what I used to make in a WEEK. Those pigs should become fully disabled for a couple years and see how much fun it is.

The "othering", gathers pace. It's only a case of how much fear can be instilled in the population, and anyone with half a brain knows this country is going down the drain.

I am disabled and have been unemployed since I was made redundant. I am trying desperately to find a job but it's not easy. Most of my skills, experience and qualifications are in an industry that I am no longer physically able to work in. I can't afford to retrain (though I am building my skills with free courses), when I asked if there was help available from the job centre, I was told there would have been, pre-brexit, but not any longer. Living on benefits is incredibly hard. - life is pretty miserable. A few months ago, because my redundancy payment pushed me slightly over my monthly amount, I was left for 9 weeks with no money whatsoever. We're having to eat less and go without heat and even then I couldn't manage if I didn't have help from family. If someone offered me a job that I could do within the limitations of my health, I would bite their hand off. I want to work, but I need a job that is not going to damage my health even further.

If the majority of those Tory ministers did a day's work it would their first

Demonising the disabled was the start of austerity,here we are,full circle!

Why does the Daily Mail vilify people? Just because their readership laps up such language.

Most of the people high fiving over the marmalade will be retired.... They're a drain on the state with their pensions and healthcare, but they see themselves as entitled and deserving of that money, and they see disabled people as not.

As someone who has been unemployed for the last 4 years due to mental issues the best way to get people back into work is to improve the systems that are surposed to help people back into work. The fedcap company, look them up, are a joke.

I was disabled by the NHS the government said there would be no compensation because me and other could claim pip and uc likes it's some kind of life I'm £15000 a year worse off in a wheelchair with PTSD because of what happened to me and now I'm scared that the pittance they pay me for survival will get taken away they are vile humans

Going through this dreadful system, yes you can have your welfare taken away from you. I missed an appointment because of my disorder, and I got £205 taken off my monthly payment. You can ask for a mandatory reconsideration if you disagree with their decision, but only around 16% of them actually have a different outcome, and when challenged at a tribunal, 81% of sanction decisions are overturned. I am considering taking them to a tribunal myself.

Thank you James for your comments It’s shameful how disabled people are treated

I'd recommend to Jason Groves; don't ever get sick or find yourself requiring anyone's support in any way.

We see the same rhetoric here in Australia. Just people needing someone to punch down on. My father was an engineer in the Army and when he left after 30 years he got a job as an engineer making farming machinery. The company was sold to a foreign monopoly and immediately shut down all Australian factories. Dad spent the next 10 years trying to find a job, he even took volunteer work in the hopes of landing something permanent from it. He got nothing and had to survive on welfare. It utterly broke him, so seeing people wanting pick on those like my Dad falsely saying that they are lazy, really enrages me. Prople are not lazy, and don't enjoy scraping by on welfare that keeps them on or below the poverty line.

They shouldn’t be called benefits they should be called entitlements as most have contributed so they are getting the help they are entitled to but only after jumping through hoops and put under stress for months sometimes over 13 months 😡😡😡😡😡

We would love to go back to a time when my wife was able to work but life ain't perfect. After getting injured following an accident at work causing spinal damage the next few years were the most stressful firstly fighting her employer to delay her sacking then having her benefit stopped and having to go to a tribunal against dwp,and during this period it becoming fairly obvious she also had MS but takes a while to get diagnosis. Its not nice coming home from work and finding her on the floor and needing picking up and i would love to know the employers that would be happy to have people potentially collapsing regularly on their premises. I know at some point she will come under attack again and i will be ready to support her through it again at that time even if the stress does make us both ill.

I have a disabled son I care for, I feel quite happy to hate the folk who facilitated his marginalisation and now seek to penalise him for it. It might be all I've got left

I have a mental disability and some debilitating physical ailments that prevent me holding down a job or, on some days, getting out of bed. The "handouts" I get are not enough to survive on as it is and so at 35 I am forced to live with and rely on my parents. I hate it. I would love to work and live independently but I simply can't and cutting my "handouts" won't suddenly make me well but will instead increase the financial burden on my parents. This policy will help no one. At best it will force people to try and work who are unable and make them more ill in process. Incidentally, a person being made to feel like a burden is a solid predictor for suicide and suicidal ideation.

Finally someone in the media who takes the time to talk about the language being used . Its more and more villifying. When they will have convinced all the angry people that everyone but them is lazy and perverse then it will be easier to actually hurt those people

I guarantee there is a job for every disabled person in this country. . But it probably is nowhere near where they live. It is probably in an industry that is not prepared to hire them It is probably in an industry not prepared to adapt for them Or accommodate them at all Or support them Or train them Or keep them on if there is someone better abled or cheaper they can get instead. And it will likely be cost prohibitive for them to take on the job. Travel and clothes will equal or exceed the wages in many cases . But that just means they're languishing doesn't it.

Surely it depends on the nature of the disability. I have worked alongside disabled colleagues who have had a very productive career, and come across those with mental or physical disablities who will regrettably (for themselves) never be able to work.

Im back at work after 6 years on disability with mental health, Ive been back in work a year now but its hard. I only lost my job 6 years ago due to a bullying boss with no understanting of mental health resulting in me going on the sick and the company making me redundant.

I served 30yrs NHS Operating Theatres, before the days if lovely lifting devices. I had to pack up work as I have 7 unoperable slipped discs & degenerative spine. I miss work every day. Trust me PIP is an emotionally traumatic quagmire, the forms are incredibly detailed & you have to provide medical evidence. Benefits keep me in poverty. Used all my savings!

Thanks again James O'BRIEN 👏👏👏👏👍

UC and even when it was known as Job Seekers Allowance, even ESA is not even enough to survive on.... you cannot pay your bills you cannot buy luxuries unless you were on enhanced rates, and even that those rates were because you were incapable of work deemed by the system.... nowadays as a disabled person myself, I have been told by employers and doctors that my health is that bad I couldn't hold down a job, that's not to be mistaken with 'I dont want to work' but instead that health has diminished so much that I have no choice but to step back and accept i may never be able to given the condition and state of my health, as the physical and mental health effects each other like a constant battlefield. I used to work a fair amount doing nights which as health both physical and mental got worst i refused to give in... i would push myself until an issue in work where i used to work said nights.... forced me out... i would voluntarily go through the Job Seeker's route (without any pay) get treated like a dole dosser yet despite this, i pushed through and kept applying... and yet despite my willingness to work but need for a local job where i used to live I got 3 interviews in literally 3 years... and those were in retail in local stores... 2 for the same place and all were for well known retail companies... the one i got the interview once for, a school leaver who had stated he "had no intention of working here, i just applied cos the JC said i had to" he did 30 minutes work next day walked out no one knew he'd walked out... but because of that they apparently didn't have the budget to employ more... I moved south and got 2 jobs within a month, one working zero hours and one working part time in a major retail company's store near where i'd moved to... later becoming homeless and thus health worsened, i had to give up the Zero Hours job because of it clashing with the contracted work, and the council claimed they couldn't help me get rehomed on a zero hours contract, no private landlord would take a chance despite having an income... however the retail company who did take a chance on me i gave my all and did my best with however again due to health i found myself collapsing in work a few times and the worst one was whilst in a homeless night shelter where i was rushed into hospital for emergency surgery... and informed i had had a golf ball sized Gall Stone, which according to the surgeon had taken around 20+ years to get to that size... the gall bladder however had disintegrated due to the size of the stone... which i found myself struggling more and more... then roll on a few years and i move where i live now, to find out i have had a heart condition since birth, so where everyone would call me lazy and question why i was always tired.... claiming workshy despite me doing all i could to work.... all that never giving up has resulted in worse health, and a life where i am reliant on a stick to get around, i cannot walk far from my home due to pain and constant mobility and mental health problems.... so it's never a case of people like me not wanting to work (granted there are some out there who are like that but those are few and far between), it is more a case of people like me being unable and employers not being willing to take a chance on people like me... due to added risks, potential insurance issues etc and expenses on specialist fittings or measures to ensure we are able to do the job...

You can certainly hate the person. It's not something done lightly but this current repugnant & cruel bunch seemed to go out of their way to be hated.

The DWP are on my case again..despite the fact I had to take early I'll health retirement in 2011..I had no choice..I was then diagnosed with RA a year later..and I have CPTSD..I am being forced to have a review even though my "circumstances haven't changed"..health hasn't changed for the better..but for the worst..Yet I had to have another assessment..as if my medical records don't count..It is a precursor to cutting my PIP..and forcing me to a tribunal..."We want to make sure you are getting the help you need* they say.....my a***!

I'm a nurse, I have CPTSD and have been off work just over a year due to very poor mental health, functioning at present. I have no income at all since August. I'm afraid to try and claim benefit due to the shame and complicated way of claiming. I've worked all my life and I'm genuinely ill at the age of 50. I don't know what to do and I hope you keep talking about these things because it's a terrible position to be in and I feel like there is no way forward 😢.

I’m disabled, it’s smashing I’m the next target. When are people going to come together and resist this mob?

Every disabled and terminally ill person should be supported to arrive at the daily mail requesting a job and adjustments made for them to work there such as having oxygen therapy available, responding to seizures, rescue medications for spasms and spinal injuries, mobility needs, staff trained to administer injections and depots, support with personal and continence care, ventilation management, be able to communicate in PECs, TEACH, Widgets and makaton, etc.... Wonder what the journalist would say then. Typical ignorant daily mail article

I would say the moral high ground belongs to those that refuse to cooperate at all with this government.

You can't take a job you haven't been offered. I've been unemployed for nearly 30 years. Now I'm too sick to work, having acquired illnesses on top of the condition I was born with.

After my accident 2 months ago i have the worst time in my life. The s**t sick pay, lack of an affordable beds, made me homeless. And all councils just passing me by from one side to another. I am crippled and i need a desk/sitting down job unfortunately. I searched, without experience and i only received reply as not suited... Trying to find a free course but ... no luck. So im stuck in this situation. Thank you UK. I know 400£/month is enough to survive and live amazingly. I stay during the day in a library thats why i have power and internet. Fortunately

In 2010 the first hate campaign from the Tories I had to carry a doctor's note with me to shove in people's faces when I parked in a disabled parking space at a shop, the harassment and abuse were horrendous, my crime I use a walking stick and only true disabled people are in wheelchairs apparently, the staff in the shop were wonderful and often stopped people from following me into the shop, however eventually I gave up going shopping on my own it got to much to cope with, guess it's going to get worse again

be like when they told my cousin with a broken back who can only stand for small periods he was ok to be a chef again. even tho the expert spinal surgeons said he cant. i assume we still use the tory donor's company for these assessments?

This includes my daughter who is recovering from leukemia! My son had a heart attack at 22 is dependant on 8 medications daily & has had 2 more in last 5 years, I saw this devastate my childrens youth when the one thing you should be able to rely on is your health. Work is detrimental to their health & both took over a year because first & second attempts were refused. Despite a minister on tv saying he can guarantee nobody who’s suffered a heart attack will be refused benefit’s!! I can guarantee that’s a blatant lie!!!

"Are there no Prisons?" said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. "Are there no workhouses?" The bell struck Twelve.

The Tories know they're going to lose, so are just throwing out red meat to their base who considers themselves to be the silent majority. Ironically, they are neither silent or the majority.

I wouldn't let anyone near my house that read the daily mail !!!

Sometimes James is brilliant. 10 out of 10.

You underestimate how evil this government is...

This will lead to another wave of suicides and slow death amongst the sick and disabled. I am afraid.

Someone in my circle has been sanctioned by UC, for 90% of their monthly benefit. They did not complete the agreed job search criteria over the course of 2 weeks..... this was at a time where they had a doctors 'fit note' (they call it a fit note, nowadays, for what we used to call a sick note) for the whole period for which they were sanctioned. 90% of their monthly income for 2 weeks out of a month - WHEN THEY HAD A DOCTORS 'FIT' NOTE. It is disgusting and just sums up the attitude of the unemployment system

The same people celebrating this are the same people who post "we should of been looking after are own first" whenever somebody claims asylum.

Wouldn't be the first time the Tories did this.

You have to be chronically unwell to receive the highest levels of PIP. You wouldn’t be languishing you would be coping with profound illness and disability.

There would not be as many people unable to work because of sickness/disability if the NHS services were funded probably.

...here we go again, back to the same policies and vilifying language that we had in 2011. The economy is up the spout so lets go after those out of work.

This is where you end up after 13 years of Tory rule. It's not a coincidence that after years of the NHS being run into the ground, with waiting lists for every medical service going through the roof, more and more people's health has declined to the point that they are not able to work. If you're living with a chronic condition the reduction in care quality may be the difference between being able to work and not being able to

I commented before on one of the barriers to working if you're in poor health. That being- sickness is unreliable therefore people with sickness are unreliable employees through no fault of their own. Aside from the inconsistent and frequent absences, there is also the fact that people on sickness benefits have a chronic fear of becoming infirmed. They tend to live in a small, safe sphere and know their own routine and needs. As do the people in their support system if they have one. Throwing extra people into the mix, especially people who have authority over them and essentially decide whether they can afford to live or not is a very frightening prospect. Particularly because this is by no means the first time government has come for this demographic. There is a righteous lack of trust in the public's perception, knowledge and empathy as well as institutional lack of knowledge and empathy. Especially THIS government. The same government that can't even promise them healthcare? I think most people can relate to that. In order to do a non-stress job out of the home like say licking envelopes, there would have to be additional safety nets in place. Transport to and from work by trusted drivers (because how many bus drivers know CPR or would stop and act accordingly in the event of a full blown panic attack? People in the office would need training on person specific needs and be able to arrange for someone to drive them home, or to hospital and wait with them. Would career driven Karen from marketing do that? It's just too many unknowns, uncertainties, untrustworthies, too many additional people involved that would all have to be intelligent enough to understand the situation and have genuine empathy. It's above most people's pay grade tbh and would cost so much more than just giving the benefits. Working from home might be feasible to some but again it's this very real, learned lack of trust in the system. Until COVID prompted more institutional humanity, however disingenuous, people in poor health were forced to accept regular benefits. There were several strategic roadblocks designed to keep people from basically being able to even apply let alone be fairly assessed. The government has also implemented back to work schemes in the past and people were forced into it, couldn't do it and then had to wait until reapplying the whole benefits process all over again. Getting further into debt that they will never be able to repay. I think people on sickness are traumatised tbh. There is no certainty or stability. They think, 'What horrible thing are they going to do to us next?' Yeah just leave them alone and give them some dignity. They do what they can. A lot of people on sick already volunteer in (should be paid positions that benefit society). I think there might be a time where governmental assistance could encourage people in poor health to earn a living but it's not in this political climate. They need a genuinely empathetic and informed system. This to me is exactly what it sounds like. Picking on the most vulnerable. Also worth noting we wouldn't even be having this discussion if we adopted the obvious, sensible approach. UBI.

I am a healthcare professional and have had Long Covid since September 2020. Wouldn't it be better if the Government spent time and money on research into treating us rather than making us work when we cannot.

If someone is capable of working, physically and psychologically, despite being disabled, then, yes, they have the right to have any support necessary in order to make a living according to their capabilities. The problem is that we live in a heartless system. Penny pinching and ridiculously punitive, while pulling the rug of support for anyone trying to make that leap. Well, it's a long life for most of us, and plenty of time for these empathyless weirdos to experience something like this upfront and personal. Old age will be fun, even sitting on their piles of gold like greedy, demented dragons. All of us heading to the same direction, old age and death, (with any luck), is such an equaliser.

Every time I think they haven't done enough damage they find ever creative ways to do more and more. Not very long ago this Government was demanding attendence at offices.

“the measure of society is how it treats the weakest members” Thomas Jefferson (well known lefty)

That language is enticement to abuse, Its too FAR !! And they need "reigning in"

Daily Mail says and I stop paying attention.

Agree 100%, though I would just point out that 'languish' means 'to be stuck in a miserable condition' e.g. languishing in the Tower, which from what you read out would seem to work within the sentence and equivalate your suggestion of 'surviving' on benefits.

It has reached the stage where the state takes drastic measures against people without any protection 😢

James , I have worked for 40 years and contributed for 35years to the system (5 years my employer did not pay my contributions) I have evidence from 1996 ( my problems started in 1989) when my lower lumbar discs stared to herniated . I kept on working until 2017 when my back gave up . Now I live in constant pain and back spasms 24/7 . What does the government want me to do, as work wise .( 63 years old.

the tories are the kind of people who start an argument with a big guy then punches the small guy next to him !

You know things are bad when you're actually relieved they're not calling for the sick and disabled to be exterminated.

I said the whole way through the small boats debacle every time I heard some knuckledragger whinging "wE sHuD lOoK aFtEr oUr oWn". The second we start talking about 'our own' you'll be the first one to call them scroungers...lo and behold, proved right again.

Begining this week the Tories were on the ropes in that they collectively placed the lives of children under the risk of collapsing buildings, being widely admonished. Mid week theyre lashing out at one of the smallest groups of unfortunate people in the country so as to change to conversation. Its as though their own incompetence creates the situations in which they need victims to attack. Its psychotic. Weak, sad and nasty cunce.

The floggings will continue until moral improves.

Remember, the vast majority of people sanctioned win their appeal, proving they should never have been sanctioned. But the government forces DWP staff to sanction a minimum number of people per day, regardless of merit, and those staff lose their job, if they don't meet that quota.

Are 'they' going to force employers to employ disabled people with all our additional individual needs and costs, training for the existing and new employees?

Even when applying for work there's boundaries. Then how do you get the remits people want when various factors make it difficult to do so? So they don't give you a chance. You may get an interview with the disability two ticks but even with experience and covering basics they still don't give you the job It's impossible. They have absolutely no understanding or compassion. Thanks again for highlighting this, James. I am disappointed that Labour didn't make a louder statement in PMQ's today.