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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

TheSecondComing · 07/12/2012 14:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

wannabedomesticgoddess · 07/12/2012 14:07

I agree. People who work are also struggling.

Its the propaganda which claims that people on unemployment benefits are living it up compared to those in work that really get to me.

I dont know anyone who does ok on benefits. So I would love to know how those people are doing so well.

Viviennemary · 07/12/2012 14:07

Value porridge, cheap cereal. Mince. Welcome to the real world. I despair.

TheSecondComing · 07/12/2012 14:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OhDearNigel · 07/12/2012 14:12

Value porridge, cheap cereal. Mince. Welcome to the real world. I despair

Oh do take the chip of your shoulder, it must be weighing you down. The point I was trying to make was in response to another poster suggesting that people go to food banks for the thrill of a bit of free food. I doubt many Boden clad mothers are beating down the doors of the foodbank for a box of ASDA smartprice puffed rice

5dcsandallthelittlesantahats · 07/12/2012 14:14

supermarket own brand porridge wont reduce the massive rents, or the cost of gas though. These are the real issues.

Viviennemary · 07/12/2012 14:24

Just to be clear. I haven't got a chip on my shoulder. I didn't suffer or have ever suffered deprivation. But I know of people who have. I've eaten value porridge, cheap cereal and so on. I know you were only using it as an example. But lots and lots of people who don't get a penny in benefit are struggling to make ends meet.

LeBFG · 07/12/2012 14:26

mam29 - I think school meals have always been pricey. When I was at school (20+ years ago) my two parent working family could never afford to regularly pay for hot meals. We always had a packed lunch.

I thought a greater proportion of people are using food banks now - not that there was just an increase in the number of poor. But I could be out-of-touch with this point.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with the terms people are using on this thread, as if we're going to be overrun by a starving population a bit like in the French Revolution! I would expect there to be more less well-off people in times of recession. It would be nice if the people to take the hit were the ones who could easily afford it but in reality this has never been easy to achieve. Money means power and choice. That's why so many people want it after all.

And whoever keeps on going on about Tories this and Tories that, do you really think politicians have any real power? Do you things really would be better under another popular party?

GoldenHandshake · 07/12/2012 14:28

Sherbert is right, to be able to access a food parcel at a food bank, you must ahve been referred by a GP or social worker, or Health visitor. You dont' just rock up and receive a weeks shopping.

The food parcels are also only enough for three days worth of meals, and contain the bare essentials such as bread, milk, beans etc. They do, contrary to what soem of the obnoious attitudes displayed on this thread imply, receive a box of delicious waitrose delicacies.

I try to donate to my local food bank at least once a month, it's shocking the amount of people I see waiting there for their food parcel.

GoldenHandshake · 07/12/2012 14:29

That should say 'do not' !

catsmother · 07/12/2012 14:31

Yes - it is going backwards. When the most needy and vulnerable are being hit left right and centre how can anyone think otherwise ? (plus everyone else who's not very well off).

I'm genuinely scared. I can't remember the last time I had an unbroken night's sleep because I wake 3 to 4 times every night without fail worrying about how to make ends meet, how to do the best I can for my kids, how we'll survive as pensioners (or non pensioners, probably), how we can afford to get to work with train fares and fuel going up and up etc etc etc. And I appreciate that I am comparatively lucky because at least I have a job (but no security, no pension, no sick pay etc as self employed and simply can't afford those things for myself). If I - and 100s of 1000s in work like me - feel like that, what on earth must it be like for those who can't work ?

I hate to be the voice of doom but I think it's inevitable that crime is going to increase - which will affect us all, either directly as victims, or indirectly with losses being passed on - yet the police force is also being decimated, its morale is rock bottom and the Tories have always liked to portray themselves as the party of law and order (ha ha ha). I'm also convinced that in a very short while we are going to see a huge increase in stress related illness - both physical and especially mental - as people struggle to cope with existing in a country where for many, however hard you work, or however hard you work trying to find work, you simply can't make your life any better because housing costs are so high, and everything else is going up way beyond the pace of most pay rises (if you still get one). I won't be surprised if the suicide rate goes up too - which can certainly be described as "backwards".

SherbetVodka · 07/12/2012 14:32

And whoever keeps on going on about Tories this and Tories that, do you really think politicians have any real power? Do you things really would be better under another popular party?

I don't believe that Labour, for all of their many faults, would be dismantling the NHS. So yes, for that reason alone, I do think that the future would look less bleak under Labour.

TheSecondComing · 07/12/2012 14:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SherbetVodka · 07/12/2012 14:47

Yes, this. I don't understand how those people who don't give a shit about the massive increase in poverty, the gap between the haves and have nots getting bigger and thousands of children growing up in poverty don't realise that the more poor, desperate people there are in our society the more likely they are to be mugged or burgled themselves.

A poorer, less equal society with a diminished police force affects everyone negatively unless they can afford to live in virtual fortresses with private security guards, like many middle class South Africans do.

allgoingtoshitnow · 07/12/2012 15:05

Isnt poverty in this country officially defined as earning 60% of the median income or something?

You know - having to accept a Samsung when you want an iPhone.

I think thats more than enough reason to go rioting, nicking trainers and burning down bookshops.

wannabedomesticgoddess · 07/12/2012 15:31

The 2011 median gross annual earnings for full-time employees was £26,244, an increase of 1.4% from 2010. The median gross annual earnings for full-time women was £22,910 (an increase of 1.9%) and £28,409 (an increase of 1.2%) for full-time men.

The median gross annual salary for a couple would be £51319.

60% of that is £30791.

You think a couple on benefits is receiving anywhere close to that? Let me assure you, even with kids they arent.

Its nothing to do with wanting a bloody iphone.

Even couples who work in low paid jobs arent receiving that.

SantaWearsGreen · 07/12/2012 16:17

I am pretty much the most anti-tory person you could meet. I even predicted last year's riots- I said if the tories get in there will be riots during 2010 elections and a little over a year later..

Its hardly a secret that tories are all for the rich. None of them are in the real world, they all grew up privileged and they all believe that people who aren't in that position just need to work harder and then they will become that.. Which is utter bullshit for many, many reasons which I frankly cba going into. So basically none of what is happening is new.

However it is unfair to completely blame the tories. Blair has an awful lot to answer for, although one would argue he very much is a closet tory himself but that's another argument all together. The tories (and less so the libs) have been dumped with a huge mess to sort out and it was never going to happen over night.

We ARE incredibly lucky in this country. DH is from SA where if you lose your job that is it. You either find a new one or you are on the streets, most of the world is like this. We have free education and free healthcare also. Benefits mean we help the most vulnerable of society to ensure they are not left starving on the streets or in a slum. You simply cannot compare the UK to most other countries where people are literally forced to amputate limbs because they cannot afford healthcare, can't read because their parents couldn't afford to send them to school and are starving because they can't afford food. We have benefits so people can eat. Benefits aren't a lot of money because it is purely supposed to be enough to pay for what you NEED and not supposed to become a way of life. It is a prop up for the most needy, not free money for people who could work but choose not to.

We are very, very lucky and you only have to speak to people who have come here to live to discover this. They are so grateful for things like the NHS, whereas a lot of people born here take it for granted. We are lucky that benefits are there as a back up incase we fall on hard times, I wish people would stop losing sight of this.

SherbetVodka · 07/12/2012 16:38

Benefits aren't a lot of money because it is purely supposed to be enough to pay for what you NEED and not supposed to become a way of life. It is a prop up for the most needy, not free money for people who could work but choose not to.

A hell of a lot of peo

Chattymummyhere · 07/12/2012 16:38

I'm not sure to be honest..

I know of families on benefits who are saying they cannot heat their homes, but neglect the fact they spend almost £100 on a tv package a month oh and however much their door sale men loans take every week or fortnight.

Benefits is not meant to pay for massive tv packages with multi room or to pay back loans you have taken out with a massive apr because you have a bad credit rating and rather than save any of your move you smoke it or watch it.

However I have seen working families worry about how they are going to afford to get to work, watching how long their heating is on for because they really do have no money and they don't have massive tv packages or massive loans.

Before someone comes on saying oh yes how can I possibly know how much money certain benefit claimants have, my house is the only household in almost a whole family that works, I listen to them rant and rave about how it's not fair that they have to go for interviews and that the benefits are not going up as much next year and how they don't want to give up extra bedrooms and some even lying about mental health issues.

Sadly people who need the benefits will get dragged down with the rest however I can not say that I'm not happy that a family member still in school will have to give up their dream of living off the system!

SherbetVodka · 07/12/2012 16:39

A hell of a lot of people who receive benefits are working...

SantaJaxx · 07/12/2012 16:42

YANBU. I've been on the dole for 4 months now, I'm applying for around 30 jobs a week, unsuccessfully. My advisor at the jobcentre told me today that if I haven't got a job by the next time I sign on, on the 21st December I'll going on Workfare.

LeBFG · 07/12/2012 17:29

What is all this Tory bashing about? Half the reason the UK is in the state it's in was because of Brown's rediculous borrowing schemes. We were living off borrowed income all during their term.

I don't believe that Labour, for all of their many faults, would be dismantling the NHS - no, they would be piling money into supporting crappy managers and people would still be suffering in queues waiting for treatment.

Sad thing is - we're in a recession. There is less money sloshing around. Hardly the time to be giving more money out in benefits. Then people complain because their child support's been cut.....

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