to think that owning a flatscreen TV proves nothing about someone's income

[dashoflime]

Here is a flatscreen TV from Brighthouse

As you can see the APR is horrible but the weekly payments are fairly affordable. They are designed to be.

Now that we've established how people on low incomes can afford flatscreen T.V's, perhaps we can move on to accepting the legitimacy of people wanting nice things in their houses even supposing they have less money to you, or indeed different taste.

And then maybe we can have an adult conversation about the problems facing this country without it descending into a mean spirited picking apart of the minutiae of how individual working class people choose to spend their limited money.

Jeez

Crazy George's! As students we all chipped in a fiver for a radio rentals ex model. You had to stick a knife in the on button to keep it on, I only replaced that a few years ago!

"Awesome I'm stupid for not being able to afford a TV from anywhere else at the time at any point in the foreseeable future after our old one completely broke down. Good to know. Please tell me how much better you are than me for not being fucking poor in other ways."

exactly^^

I'm really disappointed that some people have used my thread about not bashing the poor for being supposedly wealthy as a jumping off point to bash the poor for being supposedly stupid.

We have quite a bit of STUFF, we're skint. Mostly the 'stuff' was a family gift from my parents at Christmas, not bought by us, we do look after it though... some of the stuff we bought when we aren't as skint as we are now.

I really hated all the chat during the London riots about kids who had Iphones so they couldn't be living in poverty or deprived in any way. It's a crap line of argument.

In war time Britain, women still paid to have their hair done even though times were hard, in this recession, women still pay to have their nails done. It doesn't mean they're rich, it means they are lessening the burden of not being able to buy a house/have a holiday/be comfortable.

Everyone deserves a roof over their heads, enough food to be well fed and healthy, healthcare, and social support. Income regardless, we all deserve these things. It is undeniably sad if you cannot afford a tv and if your child has not got the same entertainment options as his/her friends. No one 'deserves' a tv though and no one needs a tv. It is not an emergency item. I am honestly surprised that people would buy a non essential item like a tv from Brighthouse at extortionate and crippling interest. You are poor enough to require the services of this awful company yet you will pay way, way more than someone on a comfortable income who buys the exact same tv from John Lewis or similar. I just can't see how allowing yourself to be hardcore exploited for a non essential item is anything other than a foolish choice.

You don't have to be rich, just fucking stupid to buy a 'flat' or any other screen tv from Brighthouse.

What about middle class people who took out massive loans and mortgaged themselves to the hilt before the banking crisis? Now some of them are moaning about how they can't get by without CB - a poxy £30 - £40 a week. That's pretty fucking dumb too.

You can be be stupid and have money.

I think people buy stuff from places like Brighthouse because they have no other choice. I hate the attitude that people on benefits and low incomes shouldn't have anything nice, or a bit of comfort in their lives.

I had never heard of this Brighthouse before now. Shocked at the interest!

I recall that our TV was a rental back in the 80's when I was growing up. My Dad had a heart attack, lost his job and spent a few years unemployed we continued to have a colour CRT TV throughout his period of unemployment. So were we the 80's version benefit scroungers?

Buying a TV would mean that any repairs and replacement is to be paid by the owner - like renting a house really - Radio rentals retained the responsibility for maintenence. I don't think it is sinful to have a flat screen tv now on credit. There are far worse ways to waste money.

All Tvs sold now are flat screens
You would probably have to pay more for one that's not as I would be considered vintage

Though I think I would prefer to save up 4-5 months on 4.50 a week and get a better than get that one from brighthouse

Nah Funbag - it doesn't work like that on here. Middleclass people are all members of Mensa and never fuck up apparrently. They just rack up their debts in posh shops, innit?

Mortified at my spelling of apparently [hshock]

Of course you can be stupid and have money. And be smart and have no money like me

Nobody said otherwise and its really obvious

being poor doesn't mean you are immune to having your mistakes pointed out to you. Nobody is.

If my TV broke and the only way I could get one was Brighthouse, I would.
If I'm an idiot then so be it, TV is essential to me.
I'd pawn my engagement ring again and buy a small one instead

im a single parent on benefit

we have flat screens in 2 of the bedrooms and a small normal tv/video in the other

BUT i still have the huge old one in the lounge much to my kids shame,it will stay there till it breaks or i get round to sorting out the summer-house into a proper den (electric,insulated etc) for the teens

brighthouse should not be able to charge the rates they do

yes its a buisness and needs to make a profit but the rates are in-humane,same with payday loans

ive been lucky that ive never had to use them,some are not so

And saying that buying a tv from Brighthouse is stupid/foolish is not a general attack on the poor. It is simply passing comment on that particular purchase. I am against cuts to benefits as I firmly believe that we are all deserving of the things I mentioned in my last post.

One of my good friends is on disability. She had been saving for a tv for ages and bought a 42" lcd in ASDA for a ridiculously low price. This was years ago and she still has it, works fine even though it's one of those odd names on it.

So it is perfectly possible for people on a low wage to have nice things.

Bright House and those kinds of places are an utter curse but I suppose, if you were desperate for something then it would your only option.

Yanbu. We had a flat screen LCD when we couldn't even afford to pay the gas bill. Our tv packed in and next door kindly donated theirs when they got a new one in return for me feeding their cat when they were on holiday.

24inch TV is nothing.

[[http://www.brighthouse.co.uk/products/televisions/sharp-aquos-60inch/ I'd go for this one. On £60 per month.

And I've never seen anyone picking on working class people, you know people you go out and work every day in ordinary jobs that you don't necessarily need a degree for. It's people who've been on benefits for years and have wide screen TV's are the ones people have a face about.

Sorry Here

60 inches! I couldn't cope with that.

i have a flatscreen tv but it was bought for me by the inlaws. before that my tv was 13 years old.

I could not afford a flat screen tv on my income.

"It's people who've been on benefits for years and have wide screen TV's are the ones people have a face about."

yeah, but they shouldn't. Really. You get such horrible vicious snobbery on mumsnet sometimes.

i have a sympathetic face for the poor folk who can't get a job

The point being that they are standard kit now anyway.

If people want to moan about excess they need to move on to 3d tellys or whatever the latest thing is ( luddite)

And what really bothers me is when that snobbery derails otherwise useful threads about wider economic issues. Like, we can never get beyond this circular question about whether such and such a person is really poor because, oh look they have such and such an item, or they made such and such a choice.

YANBU. I suspect the people who use it as a lazy shorthand are people who buy all their electricals fresh out of a department store's top range with a five-year warranty, and so believe that everyone coughs up as much as they do. There are lots of ways of getting cheap, decent electrical kit, it's not the 1970s any more.

Honestly. If people are poor, they can't eat out, eat nice food, go to the cinema, go on holiday, buy clothes, shop, have friends for dinner and so on, and now some of you say they should have no TV either?