I mean, it states that the stereotype of poor people just buying alcohol and cigarettes is false, but I’ve lived in areas where it’s absolutely true, where crime is high, benefit cheating is seen as the “norm,” and people lie about disabilities and mental health issues to get more cash because they just don’t want to work.

The idea, without much thought, is great. A world without poverty is something that everyone should want. But I think that it’s the people with vocations that forget that for a lot of people, work is a drudge that they go through for money to sustain themselves and their families. If someone’s a doctor, a teacher, a hairdresser, a builder etc and they love what they do, that’s great, but that’s not the universal experience.

Plus, what would we cut to create the UBI? Because even means testing pensioners is highly unpopular, even when people are reminded that there are highly wealthy pensioners that are still being given welfare. And if disability money is removed to only give a UBI, the disabled still have to pay for the extras that we need to survive – and aids and private transport aren’t cheap. The entirety of mobility benefit can be taken to hire a car, including everything aside from putting petrol/diesel into it. Suddenly, without that benefit, those that rely on using cars (especially those specially fitted for their specific disability) would end up losing out. Car payments, car alterations, insurance, servicing, etc, that massive bill suddenly appears.

So, I don’t know. Great in theory, but I’m not an economist, so I can’t really say if it’d work or not.