To think that if Heather on EastEnders was that broke

[RunAwayWife]

She would have taken the veg off of billy,

And id Dot advertising those chocolates???

reelingtheyears - yes think they are free through the gp as is gym membership and swimming. A friend has lost lots of weight since getting free membership as the cost was her only barrier.

The best thing for Darren is as a used car salesman which I'm not sure he's still doing and his awful bimbette girlfriend.

I've just watched this on catch up and felt really sad...sad because this is reality for some people.

Oh yes, we still have a safety net in this country but IME the people who need it most are not accessing the right benefits.

Heather's character has always been portrayed as a bit simple and therefore she would not be good at budgeting or knowing what she is entitled to in benefits.

It's all too easy to make references to a few people who scam the system and believe that no one lives in poverty any more. The fact is there are many extremely vulnerable people out the in situations like Hev's and it's not just them that are suffering - it's their kids as well.

And this is only going to get worse under Cameron's cutbacks.

Oh come on, Jodie, Darren's girlfriend, is as sweet as pie. Okay, so she's never going to be on university challenge, but she loves Darren and she loves George and her hearts in the right place. Actually, Darren and Jodie are probably my favourite couple at the moment . . .

Last night's episode was so odd and disjointed, at the beginning when she got George out of bed I was SURE it sounded like they'd used a voice over of Heather.

And as for the panning between a sleeping Heather, to the grubby looking boiler, then back to Heather, back to the boiler, Heather, boiler, Heather etc...

You just know that Harry Hill is going to absolutely rip it out of her - ie, her taking the whole of his show to get up the stairs in her mum's flat or something about when she said she was hungry

There is a distinct lack of tottie at the moment. Jack is looking a bit haggared, no pretty males to turn on for and the story line is rather bitty and weak. Or positively vile, how long can Ronnie keep quiet about the switched baby for?

It will get worse with Cameron.

Also, Heather's just been really ill and had to take time off work, and I bet that neither the laundrette nor the corner shop give any more than Statutory Sick Pay . . . And she will have been home all day, thus using more heating and electricity, and will have had to buy medicine.

No totty? What about Max

Yes Max is hot.
So's Ryan.
And Phil's still Phil . . . .

Wow, someone who actually agrees with me re. Max. I do think I love Max

Ryan's ok too.

Definitely not Phil though

Sometimes, I think I love Max too. I don't think I'd actually want to be married to him myself though.
With Phil, well, really, I suppose I'm remembering times past. When Phil and Grant were IT.

Well, you can't marry Max because he's mine

LOTM -

You are all nuts, Max is a minger Now masood on the other hand..... He is HOT!

Rambling Rose, don't worry, Max is yours. Yes I can see the attraction of Masood, too - he's generally really nice and calm, too, which would actually be good for a 'real life' husband. Also, although he's too young for me, obviously, Tamwar - he's hilarious!

Oh, yes, the grubby boiler!

I mean, it doesn't matter how poor you are, you can still wipe down your boiler.

Don't want to get carried away on what is quite a jokey thread about a TV programme...and I know that this is different from Heather's situation but...

I was the main earner in our house, lost my job, looking for work and we are really struggling. Yes we had debt which we built up whilst working and which was manageable whilst working, but now that I'm not it isn't (lesson learned on debt there!) and it is damn stressful.

Not to mention as I was earning too much for the first 6 months of the year, we are significantly Ltd on what we can now get for help. I'm not entitled to JSA anyway and the only bit of benefit we are entitled to is £40/fortnight housing allowance.

Anyway sorry, don't want to ramble on but just wanted to say that some people really do struggle like that!

You're not rambling wineonafridaynight. I'm really sorry you're struggling. I just hope that some of the posters who don't believe that people can really be as poor as Heather take heed of what you're saying.

Oh - I know - and joking aside from which character I would most want to be married to (?) I watched the episode with something approaching trepidation because I think most people are only something like 6 months salary away from poverty - if not significantly less. My husband and I are both self-employed, and if (God forbid) both of us found ourselves with no work for a few months, well, we wouldn't be able to keep up mortgage payments, etc. and it can all spiral downhill very quickly.

You can have Max, for me it is Masood and Alfie and yes although he is just out of nappies Tamwar

Altinkum what do you mean Heather isn't real? I've been watching EastEnders for 18 years now. That's over half my life. I count Heather as a genuine friend.

I'd say much less than 6months Puffykins. I remember some report or study a few years ago that found that most people had barely any savings and couldn't live for more than a month or something if they lost their jobs.

And no, I wouldn't say no to Masood either

That's terrifying. Poverty is no joke. And the effect it has on children - oh my goodness thank God George wasn't in the flat with Heather last night.
We had a glimpse of serious poverty incidentally when Bianca first came back, too. Do you remember? She and the children were sleeping in a bus shelter and then SS got involved and she had to go and reclaim Tiffany and Liam and Morgan. Somehow though, because Bianca is a stronger character than Heather, it didn't seem so awful - just a hiccup in her circumstances. With Heather it seems more hideously monotonous. Like, how will she get out of the poverty trap?

Actually that's a serious question - how will Heather get out? She's about to be hospitalised with carbon monoxide poisoning, which means no wages. Okay so hospital will feed her (and hopefully Darren and Jodie will look after George) but in the mean time, how's she going to pay rent and council tax and everything else? And, once she's out, how will it get better?