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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this likely to happen? Benefit related.

637 replies

littlemisssarcastic · 20/12/2012 20:48

And where would it end?? Is this just the start of a slippery slope ?

Sad
OP posts:
Jessepinkman · 20/12/2012 22:21

This is why I liked the idea of UC. When people have a regular, reliable, fairly fixed income, like a salary, they can see where the money is being wasted, or is going and make changes to live within their means.

This idea seems to be the reverse of UC, where people are dictated to on what and from where they can spend their money.

It was a Telegraph article though. I suppose that their readership doesn't really identify with people on benefits.

itspeanuts · 20/12/2012 22:21

Why so insulted Ghost ship? You know nothing about me or a lot of people and their lives on this thread, yet it doesn't seem to have stopped you tarring every benefit claimant with the same brush and in doing so personally insulting me.

MiniTheMinx · 20/12/2012 22:21

Usual ......is she green or is she blue ?

I'm still waiting to see if it's worth moving to Wigan.

Dromedary · 20/12/2012 22:22

Some people have to live on benefits for years - there are few jobs around, and if you've been unemployed for a while it's hard to get them, more so if you're disabled or a carer. Imagine spending those years not being able to buy a toy for your DC (it's not on the list of essentials), not being able to treat yourself to a meal out or a cinema ticket on your birthday, not being able to take a cheap bottle of wine to a party.
The Tories are determined to create a them and us society, in which those in good jobs hate and despise everyone else, and everyone else is on the breadline and treated like dirt. How can this not lead to a vastly more unhappy and unhealthy society. The rich will be richer, but do they want a lifestyle where the have to lock themselves up in gated communities to keep out the social problems that will be caused?

MrsFlibble · 20/12/2012 22:23

sorry Wild was having a stupid moment, i should it coz im on JSA.

Heroine · 20/12/2012 22:23

Also, instead of drinking or going away claimants should be encouraged to go mental instead ensuring that instead of making alcohol purchases and keeping shop owners and bar owners going, we should publically finance global pharmaceutical companies instead.

Aspiemum2 · 20/12/2012 22:23

Heroine, I love you!

Carrying on from Isabella's post - I vote for a weigh in at the checkout. Those with healthy bmi's can buy treats but those who's bmi's are in the unhealthy range get a big booming "put the mars bars back you fat cow" over the loud speaker

Viviennemary · 20/12/2012 22:23

It's £71 a week for people aged 25 or over. £56 a week for people under 25. Nobody is saying a person can live on that and pay bills and live independently. They couldn't.

usualsuspect3 · 20/12/2012 22:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sunshine401 · 20/12/2012 22:24
Xmas Smile
Dawndonna · 20/12/2012 22:24

I'm interested in views on benefits, just not those who don't listen, don't budge and insist they're right all the time. There are one or two people on this thread who have actually listened and changed their minds over time.
Anyway, I'm off to watch something on my satellite television now, I can't be arsed dealing with people like this so close to receiving the vindication we received last week. That would be the one that said: Oh sorry, yes your husband is disabled, we got it wrong, have some benefits to enable him to have some sort of a life'.
Merry Christmas, I sincerely hope it's not as bitter as you sound.

MrsFlibble · 20/12/2012 22:24

Vivienne I've learned to manage on what i have, without my mum tho, i wouldnt have a pot to piss in.

Heroine · 20/12/2012 22:25

I wonder if we should advocate that all those in work should be given strong british made waterproof shoes so they can step through the rotting bodies of the poor

gordyslovesheep · 20/12/2012 22:25

bet there aren't - the trouble is some people just churn out anti benefits rants without actually knowing facts - benefit claiments are easy targets for lazy point scoring

those who are on benefits or work with those who are not the reality is fucking horrible

I am facing redundancy and the thought of being that poor scares the shit out of me

keep up this 'people on benefits are scum' attitude - and the cuts it allows and last summers riots will look like the last night of the proms!

ChristmasNamechangeBridezilla · 20/12/2012 22:25

Heroine this country is starting to scare me. In an arm-waving, DM-esque "It's gone to the dogs" way. I don't know what this government are going to come out with next.

Hopefully this is an idea which will never see the light of day. Most likely, they have something marginally less drastic along the same lines up their sleeves and will be hard-selling it as a "compromise" to us in the new year, having put this out there to test the water.

Itsnotahoover · 20/12/2012 22:27

What about people who lose their job and end up on benefits? What if they're a few months into a Sky contract or mobile phone contract? Is it fair that they will then gain a bad credit history when they default on these contracts (Sky WILL NOT let you out early, trust me I tried!) because they are not allowed to pay the contracts with their benefits? Then as well as having no job, they have screwed up the next few years of their lives.

Or do we have a sliding scale where we can decide who is worthy of being allowed luxuries and who isn't? Maybe the more time you've been on benefits, the more you're punished? Maybe blood alcohol tests to decide how scummy you actually are?

How the hell would this work? As previously mentioned, a lot of people use charity shops, eBay, market stalls etc and if by doing this, you can save yourself a tenner a week on your food bill, then are you not allowed to spend that tenner on a "luxury"? Or should you hand this back to the benefits office?

Bloody stupid idea!

WildWorld2004 · 20/12/2012 22:27

Thats ok MrsFlibble. Your moment must have been caused by all the booze you are buying with your benefits Wink

MrsFlibble · 20/12/2012 22:28

Some people didnt ask to be on benefits or enjoy it, i had to go on benefits, because my partner left me and my DD in the shit, now im on JSA, and the jobs are few and far between, its a shit way of life, made shittier by people who think people on benefits are lazy, scrounging dirtbags.

Heroine · 20/12/2012 22:28

Its not a real policy, its DM-fodder to keep all the white-faced paranoid nodding dog reactionaries happy for a while, its the right-wing version of a Biscuit

MrsFlibble · 20/12/2012 22:29

Wild Oh yes, i really should spending too much on booze, its bad for me.

MrsFlibble · 20/12/2012 22:30

^See, im losing it by the minute.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 20/12/2012 22:31

I agree with most of what GhostShip has written.

gordyslovesheep · 20/12/2012 22:31

well if you didn't spend it on booze you'd only fritter it away on holidays to Cuba, Diamonds and ponies

sixlostmonkeys · 20/12/2012 22:31

Lets just say this does go ahead. Those on benefits are not allowed luxuries. Good say some. Would this move on to phase 2? Are anesthetics and antibiotics deemed luxuries? Education is surely a 'luxury'. etc etc etc.

LadyBeagleBaublesandBells · 20/12/2012 22:32

What the hell is happening with MN?
A thread like this not so long ago would have just mocked the opinions of the benefit bashers, now it seems to be the majority opinion.
And that includes the so called 'middle classes', comfortable in their lives but absolutely here to defend us bastards on benefits.
Even they've disappeared with the onslaught of the outraged taking the lead.