The undeserving poor are not to blame. The blame is with governments that have progressively bankrolled laziness and fecklessness. The solution is to stop recycling money from those that work to those that don't and stop rewarding people for having children with cash and self-contained accommodation

John , London, England

Of course both the 'deserving' and 'undeservign' poor are POOR.

The reason for that lies with capitalism and unfair distribution. The upoor are neglected battered and sidelined from birth, while the dpoor are ruthlessly expolited while being encouraged to hate other poor people, not their rulers.

Mike Murray, Bath,

The noble article would argue for the right of people, whoever they are, to speak the truth as they perceive it, whatever that is. Endorsing discrimination because it is the 'right way round' and pragmatic is not healthy. It will do the deserving poor no favours.

Rob, Reading, UK

Consider the other side of the spectrum too.
What about the undeserving wealthy?
They too have never done a decent days work.
Instead, they have lived off inheritances, interest & dividends acquired simply by virtue of existing wealth, undeserved bonuses, tax loops and exploiting the less fortunate

Jeremy, London, disUnited Kingdom

The BBC Program "On the Fiddle" was showing investigtions for people who had been claiming benefits for 11years.

How on earth is it that anyone can claim benefits for so many years without anyone bothering to check if the claim is justified?

Mike Carter, Bristol,

When I read Tuesday's article it confirmed my belief that the Tories haven't changed one iota; it remains the party for those who have.

Margaret, Lincoln, UK

Erm, smarty pants Jonathan from London, perhaps the writer is making a a nice understated joke with the words Victorian and preachy. What do you think?

Mike, Haslemere,

Yes, but what the Victorian social workers did insist on was that the deserving poor not be made to look like suckers by the undeserving poor.

The right way to do this, Parris implies, is by unspoken universal agreement to honor the decency and respectability of the "hard working class."

Christopher Chantrill, Seattle, USA

Erm, I think Mr Parris was merely extending the thought that it was not a new idea!!
Right on the mark as usual.

Peter, Hong Kong,

They can't pay the rent but comes eviction day you'd find 3 sets of tv and 3 stereos and all the latest gizmos, on income support! Still we have created and industry around it which hundreds of thousands of jobs arelinked to supplying dolites' needs. A truely non self-generating sector. Sad but true

Glynn, Kingston,

What Matthew Parris calls "an uncompromising right wing message" is, in fact, simple social conservatism that both the Tory and Old Labour parties used to support. With no party supporting those values these people are turning to a party that will - the BNP. Still think the Tories should keep quiet?

Stan, Slough, England

I have an idea. Why don't we all go live in Spain, claim our benefits/pensions, contribute nothing to the British economy, make no effort to learn the language and customs of the locals, then (if we have time after all of this), whine about how terrible the youth are of a country we don't live in.

Sarah B, Leeds, UK

A good anecdote. Unfortunately times have changed & we now have a dwindling middle class to glue society together. Unless we drastically cut public spending,like Portugal, we will have social disorder on an unprecedented scale with a reactionary elite curbing civil liberties to control the masses.

Steve Marchant, Newton Abbot, UK

You are so right, funny how one can miss something that on reflection is so obvious. Great read as always.

D Case, Newquay,

This will see an end of council estates full of 40” plasmas, Sky mini-dishes and done up Ford Escorts. It will also cut the booze and cigarette culture as they simply wont have the money to spend on them.

Daniel, Calday,

There should simply be a bus pass and food vouchers for basics from whichever supermarket will be most competitive – this can be contracted out to the cheapest. Say if Sainburys will give a bundle of bread, milk, rice, meat and vegetables cheaper than Asda then they get the contract.

Daniel, Calday,

However, Ellesmere Port and Neston is full of the unemployed who could quite easily get a job at Vauxhalls however they just don’t want to.

There should be no unemployment benefits in the form of money.

Daniel, Calday,

There needs to a full scrap of allowances for people who are unemployed for over 3 months since there are the jobs out there they just refuse to take them...Some of my friends for a summer job are working at Vauxhall, Ellesmere Port at night in the factory.

Daniel, Calday,

The Tories need to become as hypocritical as Labour. Labour take the moral highground with no morality! Professional benefit claimants should be rooted out and dealt with quietly. The Tories have to remember however, that jobs are at a premiun in northern cities. People want to work and can't.

judy, Liverpool, England

Paul, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

You have hit the nail squarely on the head. Low paid work leaves people in debt. Until wage levels are addressed the benefit claimant numbers will continue to rise. 8 million or more so far I believe. I can't see the country being able to carry this in future.

judy, Liverpool, England

"foreign fruit pickers are working in Britain because Brit youth refuses to do the work."?

Nonsense. Gang-masters pay below the minimum wage and conditions are atrocious.

But I am sure that ex-pat whingers will still snipe from the comfort of their villas.

Alan Henderson, Whitley Bay, Engalnd

What about the undeserving rich, people whose money was inherited from land grabbbers, slave traders, child and women traffickers and exploiters, invaders, looters and pillagers? They are a social blight in more ways than the poor.

DP, London, UK

How is it, that regardless of facts and twelve years of disastrous nulabor;(socialism in disguise), the Conservatives, and of course, Mrs Thatcher, are to blame for all our problems. Every single labour government has ended in disaster. This one will be no different.

C.Wood, Camberley, UK

It's really simple: invest in stupid behaviour and you get more of it from stupid people. Manufacture a culture of deprivation and class-warfare that justifies personal poverty-creating behaviours and you can construct an unstoppable parasitic welfare state to absorb all our our taxes. Brilliant.

Jamal Akhbar, Edinburgh,

A myth has grown up that the Government or any government can do "everything". Then people end up poor AND cross because someone is being cruel and witholding.
Politicians do need to be more honest about what they can provide and what they can't., and set people free. Removing 10% tax was v bad

Moira, Hungerford, UK

Thatcher's strength was to make people believe they could help themselves without state help. We are now back in the land of 'income redistribution', where additional effort just means additional tax. I work 4 days a week now. If taxes were lower i'd work 5. Why should i work just to give it away?

andrew, swindon, uk

Quite.

Don't give the cynical Champagne Socialists the Tools Weapons they need.

Well Said Mr Parris

Ben Moss, london, England

I canvassed Wandsworth in the 80s - stood as a Labour candidate twice and was beaten in 'winnable' wards both times. The real working class vote abandoned Labour . They did not identify with a Party that courted and apologised for the lazy and feckless - handouts for those who just refused to work.

Mark, Berkhamsted,

BJ Deller is on the right track. Except the sickness beneficiaries need to be tested more stringently as well. And I'm a LibDem voter. And I work for my money. So link benefits with community service, tidy up grafitti & get the employed army of immigrant street cleaners to supervise!

Tim, Ealing, England

Those unemployed for a long time are a result of the development of a materialistic society. Particularly now for unemployed people it is easier emotionally to shut your self away from society than to accept a life-time in a low paid dead-end job where you still can not fully participate in society

Paul, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

How lovely of BJ Deller to write from Spain about denying benefits and giving fruit picking jobs to our youth,. They'd love to join you there but the minimum wage would barely cover a coach to Skegness. It's always the haves who want the have nots be working so they can keep their place in the sun.

DP, London, UK

You lived on the dole for a week? Try living on it for EIGHT YEARS. as my family did - AND my father went out every day to try to find work. Five of us living in two rooms, no runnng water, sharing a lavatory and the means test every month....

Dole for one week?

Don't make me laugh.

Eileen O Conor, Cordoba, Spain

Britain is in catastrophic decline caused by a Conservative hegemony (not declined by Labours 10 years in power) - short term gain, callous indifference to the poor, and arrogance that belies belief. No investment, poor access to skills and training for the unemployed. Hence social breakdown.

Jon Kingsbury, Southampton, UK

Do not give handouts, give jobs. For example, foreign fruit pickers are working in Britain because Brit youth refuses to do the work. Why should they when they have benefits; so stop the benefits. Give only to those who genuinely cannot work. Return to a working nation, proud of its achievement

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

"But it was really the Victorians (preachy as they now sound) who developed the idea of undiscriminating provision. Re-read Dickens, Trollope, the parable of the Prodigal Son."

Erm, think the last of those predates the Victorians. By at least 1830 years.

Jonathan, London,