First of all unemployment is falling and the last figures showed the fastest fall since June 1997.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10382235/UK-unemployment-rate-steady-as-claimant-count-falls-fastest-in-16-years.html
It is worth noting as well that the overall hours worked are up and while the numbers working part time are up at a record high, in the main full time jobs were the main driving factor in the figures.
Spurious figures like '1% choose the lifestyle' do not help the debate. The fact is that no-one should be able to choose such a lifestyle, one person doing that is too many and far too many do so.
Tax credits and the minimum wage holds pay down as does immigration all of which are ultimately the biggest enemy of the low paid and vulnerable let alone the unemployed. Simplistic artificial 'fixes' just do not work long term and damage those some think they help.
Zero hour contracts are a response rules and red tape and, as will always happen when idiotic and restrictive government legislation interferes, are necessary in many industries to cope with supply and demand. Only too often laws designed to protect people in work just damage the creation of new jobs making those out of work suffer. Better more flexible labour markets and a health jobs market so if someone loses their job there is another to go to. There is no such thing as a job for life and people need to be able to switch and change jobs.
If the employment laws do not favour the employer then you get fewer and worse paid jobs. I will never employ anyone unless it favours me. No-one will do that.
More whinges about the power companies! Well just be grateful that they are privatised and you are able to switch supplier. If you want to improve things then improve customer information, make it easier to switch, encourage more new entries into the market as well. That is how a government should engage not by foolish gimmicks like 70's style price freezes and a state monopoly will; just make things worse.
'Savage and costly cuts' - get real..... The government still has a massive deficit because it has not cut deeply or fast enough. The public sector is a dead weight around the neck of business and it soaks up far too much of GDP. Real spending cuts that involve stripping out whole functions from government are essential alongside a phasing out of tax credits over 5 years, proper reform of public sector pensions.
Higher public spending should only come from higher GDP and should be kept to an average of 30% of GDP over the economic cycle. I am pleased to see that this, something I have been saying for quite a few years, is being increasingly said by others who know what they are talking about. That compares to a peak of 53% of GDP and is now at a touch under 50% so there is a long way to go.
GaryC - you are wrong about the 'cost' of cuts. There is no alternative to cuts - try spending 30% more every month that you have income year after year and see what happens to you if you do not cut your spending. The same happens to governments too.