As someone who was on JSA on and off as I struggled to find work that lasted more than a few months, or even a few weeks as temping was all that was available, I can categorically say that it is not possible.

Even with Housing Benefit and Council Tax paid, the job seeker still has to have phones and internet access to be able to conduct meaningful job searches and to respond as quickly as possible to potential job offers.

However, when JSA was introduced, it was never intended to cover such 'luxuries' as phones.  If you need an emergency loan, it will be for utilities and food  - phones are a luxury.

Then for those who do not live near a Job Centre, they have to pay pubic transport (or petrol and parking) to get to their obligatory signing on appointments.  Anyone living near a JC doesn't have to pay that - so many lose out.

Then, there's the business of what happens when your clothes start to look worn down but you have no funds to get something that looks smart and helps you keep your confidence at interviews.

None of the charity shops that I've ever come across will sell anything remotely resembling a good smart working outfit for a woman to make a good impression at interviews and even then, the clothes still have to be purchased.

Then, other things start to fail and you cannot get them repaired or replace - or you apply for a loan from the emergency fund - but then that is removed bit by bit from your weekly JSA whether you like it or not - so you have even less to manage on.

Then there's the cost of attending job interviews - no help with those unless they are at least 35 miles away and you apply for help with the fare beforehand.

As the months tick by, and you've cut your food, got ill because you bought something that was reduced because it was at it's use by date, but it wasn't good.

You keep buying and eating the same foods because they're cheap - but eventually your body does not like having the same food over and over again.

Whilst it's one thing to go on an "I can live on a sixpence and in a matchbox" holier than thou, trip - being on benefits over time, when you don't want to be but you cannot get a job, slowly saps your self-confidence, self-belief, self-respect.

You cannot do the things that 'normal' people can do. You drop out of clubs - you don't go very far because you have no extra funds for getting out and about to enjoy yourself.

Yes, if you want to be some kind of uber-efficient eco warrior - but that would be your life-style of choice and you'd most likely be with other like-minded friends and social scene.

But even people who live off-grid eventually have to find some way to replenish those items they cannot provide for themselves, such as clothes and utensils.

Yes, there are areas in the country where people are better off on benefits but if you look at those areas, this will be almost entirely because they live in deprived areas where there has been a paucity of job opportunities for a very very long time.

There are those who are and have been working the system for far too long - there are wads of immigrants who are, and have been for a very long time, handed luxuries on a plate.  There are those who have been getting DLA for a very long time without anyone checking to see if they are still (or where ever) entitled to it.

But benefits is not an easy issue to dissect and make simple sound-bytes about.

Having spent weeks and weeks at the JC, watching and picking up on the way other claimants behaved, yes, I saw those who were quite blatantly swinging the lead and the JC were not good at dealing with.

But I saw by far, far more, those who were desperate to get work, to not have to claim anything but to have their own money and dignity returned to the.

IDS and all those other politicians just add insult to injury with their arrogance and ignorant posturing.  If they're so sure they can live on less, let them A) take a pay cut and B) far more importantly which very few people know about - have the amount they contribute to their pensions increased in line with the rest of the civil service.

Benefits - look at what benefits the MPs are raking in and then decide who is getting something for nothing!