Getting a Job (“Job”) in England Sounds Great

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government’s Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

— Some people had a terrible time in London during the Jubilee. You see, they were supposed to work without pay, and also apparently without sleep or food or toilets. Your unpaid internship doesn’t sound so bad now, hmmmmm? (It’s still bad.) (But not this bad.) (Let’s not compare things, shall we?)

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