Get on yer bike - and deliver some letters

Cerebral right-winger Chris Grayling had his Norman Tebbit moment yesterday by urging the unemployed to take up casual jobs over the Christmas.

The Works and Pensions minister stated that “Now is a great time to apply for one of the tens of thousands of Christmas jobs” as Britain’s 2.57 million joblessness total reaches a 17-year high.

His comments come on the release of figures showing Royal Mail has already been inundated with 80,000 applications for just 18,000 Christmas vacancies.

But as the Sunday Mirror points out, Grayling failed to mention that the postal jobs are at the minimum wage of £6.08 an hour and would cost applicants their Jobseeker’s Allowance if they worked more than 16 hours a week. They would have to reapply after Christmas... then wait about 10 days for the benefit to start again.