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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think this country is going backwards?

72 replies

ElfBabies · 07/12/2012 11:04

George Osbournes budget .......he has left the wealthy wealthier and is taking away from the poor

He's like Robin Hood in reverse

I spoke to someone today who runs a food bank and he said that they are struggling now as so many more people are coming forward for help (this is in Scotland)

This is Britain.....a country which is in the first world......and yet there are members of our society who can not afford to feed themselves.

This is wrong .....you have power companies making millions, banks making millions

But we are going backwards....poorhouses and workhouses will be opening up soon.

Oh we already have them with the workfare scheme

I'm so angry at what this government are doing but I'm not sure what I can do to change it?

How do I make a stance and start to say 'no'

OP posts:
allgoingtoshitnow · 07/12/2012 11:45

You'd be less angry if you stopped listening to the scaremongering and class warfare coming out of the Labour party. Very little of it is true.

wannabedomesticgoddess · 07/12/2012 11:55

What part of the OP isnt true?

Food banks are seeing a rise in demand.

Banks are making millions. As are companies.

Workfare does exist and it is disgusting.

So which part implies scaremongering?

JingleBellsRawSharkSmells · 07/12/2012 11:56

I think what allgoing means is why don't you stick your head in the sand given you spoke to the man running a food bank - or was he scaremongering too?

WellingtonBoot · 07/12/2012 11:57

Neither party are great. Tony Blair earned £12million last year & paid just £300k tax.

On the other hand, I find the Child Benefit changes, where a couple with one parent earning just over £50k and the other earning nothing start to lose it, but another couple with the parents earning £49.9k each get it all Very Unreasonable Indeed!

allgoingtoshitnow · 07/12/2012 12:01

All of it. There have always been food banks. The popularity nowadays is as much to do with free food as it is to do with people 'starving'.

Things would be no different under Labour. In fact probably a lot worse.

We have it easy in this country. Benefits are very generous.

Original poster
ElfBabies · 07/12/2012 12:03

err no

The budget has given higher rate taxpayers a bit of a break which could see them potentially £50,000 better off next year , yet the same budget has said they will not raise benefits by the rate of inflation, essentially leaving the vulnerable in a worse position

In layman's terms this means an unemployed/disabled/pensioner will be £44 worse of come the next year.

Do you think that is fair?

I'm not a labour voter and I find it insulting you think the only people who can see what is going wrong with this country must be brainwashed Labour supporters

OP posts:
LDNmummy · 07/12/2012 12:07

Yes, people love taking their children to get their one hot meal of the day in the local food bank.

I do it once a week as a special treat for DD and I.

MurderOfGoths · 07/12/2012 12:08

"There have always been food banks. The popularity nowadays is as much to do with free food as it is to do with people 'starving'."

So the people going to food banks are just doing so for the fun of getting free food?? FFS

noisytoys · 07/12/2012 12:12

This country is scary. Really, really scary. I'm almost scared to watch the news for fear of what will be cut next.

Hobbitation · 07/12/2012 12:16

It IS going backwards. Most people are worse off than when the Coalition came into power, except the richest 1%.

Svrider · 07/12/2012 12:18

Yanbu
I was at morrisons the other day, when there was some sort of altercation
5lots of people were involved
Lots of pushing, shoving and shouting
I actually felt quite scared
What had happened?
The morrisons man had brought out the cut priced meat, that has to be sold that day
Yes
They were falling out over cheap meat
3of the people had children....Sad

Dawndonna · 07/12/2012 12:18

The popularity nowadays is as much to do with free food as it is to do with people 'starving'.
What a charmer. Are you George Osborne?

Original poster
ElfBabies · 07/12/2012 12:20

The popularity nowadays is as much to do with free food as it is to do with people 'starving' - allgoingtoshitnow

So you think food banks are popular and folk just roll up there for free food?

What planet are you on?

We have it easy in this country and benefits very generous - allgoingtoshitnow

Do you honestly think that?

OP posts:
QuietNinjaChristmasSpecial · 07/12/2012 12:22

I had this discussion with dh yesterday. Or rather I ranted discussed and he couldn't get a word in edge ways listened. By the time I'd finished there wasn't much he could say apart from 'I agree with you'
This country is going to the dogs and it terrifys me.

SoniaGluck · 07/12/2012 12:25

allgoing Have you ever tried actually living on these generous benefits?

wannabedomesticgoddess · 07/12/2012 12:26

What is scary is that people like allgoingtoshitnow are believing the tripe about benefits being generous.

Look at benefit rates in comparison to living costs. Then say they are generous.

Free food. Thats so insulting I can only laugh.

MurderOfGoths · 07/12/2012 12:28

wannabe Quite. And the really stupid thing is that people like allgoingtoshitnow think they are the ones not being led by propaganda. When the facts aren't enough to make them see, what on earth else can we do?

Original poster
ElfBabies · 07/12/2012 12:29

I just find it worryng and sad that people here have to go foodbanks

Many benfits are stopped and try feeding and clothing a family of 4 of £56 pound a week

OP posts:
BusyLittleSpider · 07/12/2012 12:30

Yes, it is going backwards and unfortunately I would predict that there is still worse to come when you consider the meagre 1% rise in some benefit payments and the dismantling of the social fund.

You would hope that the government would be prepared for the massive rise in crime as people literally have no other way of feeding themselves and their families and the inevitable rise in the cost of the NHS. But no, cuts to these also.

JingleBellsRawSharkSmells · 07/12/2012 12:35

This song has been going around and around in my head recently.........

www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/anais_mitchell/why_we_build_the_wall.html

wannabedomesticgoddess · 07/12/2012 12:35

I havent a clue Murder. It really has me in despair.

We are a family of 4 and some weeks its a choice between heating or eating.

And jobs? There are none. DP has been applying for everything since august and doesnt even get replied to. And hes well qualified.

SherbetVodka · 07/12/2012 12:36

I think you have to be referred to a food bank by social services so would have to be genuinely struggling to afford even basic food items. And even then, the number of visits you are allowed is restricted. It's not like you can just pop into the food bank instead of the supermarket because you're too tight to pay for groceries.

Hopefully someone who's clearer on the details than I am can confirm this.

VinegarTits · 07/12/2012 12:43

YANBU we can all make a stance and say no by not voting the government back in in the next election

VinegarTits · 07/12/2012 12:43

this government, i.e the tories

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 07/12/2012 12:50

The really scary thing is that the UK's structural economic problems (i.e. that we are globally uncompetitive in most sectors) cant be solved by any government that you'd want to vote for. Globalisation has resulted in a "race to the bottom" and massive downward wage pressure e.g. If you told someone in the UK that they would get US$150 equivalent a week to work in a factory, they would, rightly, say "that's not a living wage", Say the same to someone in China, Philippines, Vietnam etc and they'd think all their birthdays and Christmases had come at once. I think they'll come up and we'll go down, and we'll all level out in the middle somewhere. God knows how though.