Prudent student's guide to living off the state and being a 'parasite' - Telegraph
He may be known for his economic austerity, but Gordon Brown once backed the description of social security benefits as "free money" in a guide to how students could live for next to nothing.
Mr Brown was also involved in advising students how to "con" free food and pointing out that there was nothing wrong with being a "parasite".
The freeloader's charter comes in the form of a pamphlet he edited while he was student rector at Edinburgh University in the 1970s.
Mr Brown's handbook for scroungers, published when he was 22, tells students: "If you're British and can give an address, free money is available from social security, basic £5.80 per week.
"Social and medical benefits are your right, not charity hand-outs, so never be reticent about claiming them. For whatever reason the so-called welfare state was brought into being, it can and must be used to its full extent."
Called Alternative Edinburgh, the 200-page document gives advice on how to find free food and how to get a bath at a posh hotel.
It states: "Sit in the lobby until reception is busy, then walk quickly upstairs or into the lift. Even the plushest hotels have at least one public bathroom to a floor."
For a free meal: "Con your way to asking for a glass of water or sit beside drinkers and they will feed you for nothing."
Hungry scroungers are told to "say you've forgotten your student card" in college canteens. Another "infallible" trick is to attend a party with "a carrier bag of empty cans with two half-bricks at the bottom".
For "experienced parasites" the Edinburgh Festival is a gift, it adds.
But my personal favourite is...
When caught by police attempting to con someone, the booklet advises, "You may think you are guilty but legal advice can show otherwise."
( I'm Gordon, you know where to find me...)
Ah! the memories of those heady days of Uni!
Those foppish hair styles and memories of Rugger!
Drinking all those cans and finding those bricks demonstrated ingenuity and blue sky thinking, still didn't get the bow..had to make do with this old tie stolen from tramp.
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