II WOULD like to ask M Schmid (No need for gloom, Your Views Monday, October 26), is this person living in the real world? Disabled people are losing their benefits, people weeks away from retirement are having to sign on the dole -- is this what you call a new deal? First it was the CSA after absent, non-paying fathers, but only the decent were hounded. Now it's 'get the genuine sick people on the dole' no matter what the age group, when, in effect, there are young, able-bodied people walking the streets with no jobs.

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