To be really upset to read on MN

[shootingstarz]

That parents are going without food because they can?t afford to feed their kids.

ragged that is very interesting about your family. i was wondering aobut weight also as it has not been mentioned.

"Because that's when it would matter to me, when parents actually became visibly undernourished, and would make this seem like a truly important issue."

there is far more to being nourished than having a bit of fat on your bones. people can be very undernourished and be carrying extra weight. not eating affects energy levels (especially important if someone has to walk children to school, walk to the shops, post office, bank, work etc), mood, ability to function and focus at work, sleep patterns, patience levels (important when you have children). i get thumping headaches from not eating and yes i am also losing weight. that doesn't mean i am underweight but i am certainly not able to function to my full potential.

plomino I dont think i have heard such a wonderful act of kindness ever ,

I lost shitloads of weight. HTH.

I find it pretty shocking that anemia - which can often be prevented simply by red meat and green veg, after all - is still a common problem for women in the UK. My old GP reckoned 1 in 4 women with small children were anemic in her practice.

Nameinchalk, you are entitlted to have strong opinions, but you put words in my mouth, invoked Dickens and made a face at me.

At no point did you 'merely ask' me anything. So I do feel I have been flamed.

Although if you want me to say it for the eighth time - I mentioned fags and bingo in direct response to a discussion on this thread about food vouchers.

If you want to ask me something - ask me. Here I am. Ask away.

Sorry, meant clearly I am poor because i'm thick

Some people won't be satisfied until those who are in poverty are living on the streets, their skeletal bodies wrapped in rags while they gnaw on a bone. Of course they'll be well behaved and not cause any trouble for the rich folk.

oh My mother inlaw was malnurished when she was admited to hospital 8 years ago , she was eating crisps and take away food had stopped cooking and we didnt know she would cook on a sunday when we went , she said it wasnt worth cooking for herself and she had money problems she also hid from family , she wasnt elderly either , she was very over weight ,

Internet access is an essential these days. I was working part time a few years ago and my PC was broken so I asked the office at the organisation where I worked if they would print off their communications that they normally send via email or allow me to use their PC. They refused on both counts. Very unhelpful attitude but it demonstrates that we are well on our way to becoming a society where a PC is as essential as a washing machine.

i agree namein.

people dont have a clue.

Oh dear Morris, looks like you're taking my comments very personally.

Not everything I have posted on this thread is related to your particular comments.

Plomino I know that I have never met you, but I cant express enough what your actions will have done for that lady. I really cant. Takes a lot to make me cry to be honest but your post did. Having been in that position myself....stood in the queue with bits of shopping and not having the money to pay for it, you will have truly 'made her day.' I am beyond proud of you. xxx

there's some disgusting attitudes on this thread. Just hope it doesnt hapen to you cos it can overnight. We had a comfortable lifestyle but dd was born brain damaged. That first year she was in hozzie 32 weeks so I would be there all day with the older 3 kids and DH would be with her all night while struggling to keep working. It got too much so he aranged a years sabbatical from work.
Thing is, if you 'give up' work you get nothing. No income support, no housing benefit. Just the CTC we ot anyway. We sold everything and the CTC paid for the rent. It was awful and we went hungry and me and the 3 kids walked the 4 miles to the hospital daily then dh cycled to work.
Thankfully we got through it. DH now works part time (he is needed as a carer) but that could happen to any of the sneerers tomorrow. Or this afternoon.
It sucks in this wealthy country there are people going without food, homeless, using foodbanks. And then they get blamed. Sickening

Nameinchalk I am referring to the posts you addressed to me.

Not any other ones.

Wow, Plomino, that's such a lovely thing to do!

A few people have been very kind and generous to me, too, and I hope one day I can pay it forward, like you :)

Very unhelpful attitude but it demonstrates that we are well on our way to becoming a society where a PC is as essential as a washing machine.

Apparently (I didn't see the thread) someone was saying a little while back on here, that benefits should be lower, so that the poor couldn't afford washing machines.

Maybe you should report the posts of mine that you find so objectionable Morris?

There are no flames and if you don't like being disagreed with then I respectfully suggest that you don't join in with threads whick may contain opinions which counter your own.

where the hell is the logic in people not being able to afford washing machines?

I am feeling in a very bad mood re:finances recently. I can well believe that there are families that struggle to eat. Luckily (never thought I would say that after two mcs last year) DP and I don't have children, as we haven't been able to afford to eat much more than jacket potatoes and beans for the last month. We did splash out on cheese though, SIOB.

It occurred to me that, although my boss is a nobcheese of the highest order (a whole other thread) I am very lucky in that he provides us access to breakfast and lunch. If that wasn't the case, I would certainly only be able to afford to eat dinner.

I don't think it has anything to do with people not working, DP and I both work, it is the cost of things. We are honestly at rock bottom, the only things we spend our money on are:

Rent
Bills
Car
Food
Mobile phone.

We have the one phone between us and that is on a £15 a month contract. We use it because it gives us free calls, which are essential if you are looking for jobs (like I am.) I need the car because we are in a rural area and my job in particular has no access via public transport.

I don't suppose we are in poverty, but we are god damned poor. I have a professional qualification (teacher) and DP has bags of experience in a professional industry, and yet where are the jobs? It is so very wearing to be this poor. If any of pregnancies had lasted full term I don't know what we would have done.

There's a bit of a nasty streak in the British national personality that is quick to blame others for their own misfortune.

Judging is pretty pointless. Family lives are complicated and you haven't got all the details to hand. It's much better to make yourself practically useful to others who are trying to get by and feeling the stress of it all.

Thanks girls . I've been there , and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

And I think I've made a friend , which I don't have many of ! Bonus !

Apparently the money saved should be given to the real poor overseas. This is hearsay, of course.

I can guarantee that my mother's resulting disability has cost the welfare state more than a washing machine would have done. Everyone else in the area we lived had washing machines, so she didn't even have the option of a launderette.

Chalk - it was you who picked me up. I'm more than happy to be disagreed with, although I prefer it when people don't invent things I've said.

I don't object to any posts on this thread. You said you had 'merely asked' me something which you did not ask me.

You just decided you already knew why I had said what I did, and proceeded to read what you liked into it, with no evidence. Since then, we have been having a pointless argument in which I say 'I didn't say that' and you breeze along as if you can't hear me.