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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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to think that when there is a schools place crisis perhaps the government should think of ways to reduce birth rates?

647 replies

jellysandwich · 04/09/2013 10:27

In my area (London) there is already a huge shortfall in places because there has been a baby boom. They are constantly opening new schools or creating bulge classes but this is often at the expense of other children who lose their playing fields and there is just not enough room in London to keep opening new schools and there is already a housing crisis because the country is so overcrowded.

I think perhaps it is time the government thought about limiting child related benefits to 2 children (which is the replacement rate) and those that want to have more can do so but not with taxpayers money. It would go some way to stopping some of the problems that rising birthrates create such as the school places crisis, overcrowding, pollution, increasing struggles for resources such as food and water and in an already overpopulated world I think the government is being negligent in not putting some sort of limit on child related benefits, especially when it seems to be counter-intuitive (if you work you don't get more money each time you have another child).

OP posts:
hobnobsaremyfavourite · 05/09/2013 19:48

no I love a debate and am happy to learn.
goaders ....well they just....goad.
HTH
:)

eineschlampa · 05/09/2013 19:48

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 05/09/2013 19:49

my usual tacti....really....okay...

eineschlampa · 05/09/2013 19:50

So is your idea of a debate just throwing some google links around and passing them off as real then?

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 05/09/2013 19:50

could you link me to some examples of that "tactic"?

Loopylala7 · 05/09/2013 19:53

This made me laugh out loud, I'm imagining government officers coming round lecturing couples who look like they might just be at it the ways of abstinence and handing out condoms in case the urge should backfire!

IneedAsockamnesty · 05/09/2013 19:54

I think its amusing that so many of you know one of these never worked 3+ kids families who love solely on benefits yet the dwp doesn't.

And filee the foundation that conducted the study comparing amount of children in in work families to out of work ones did use data provided by tax credits.

morethanpotatoprints · 05/09/2013 19:54

Erm hobnobs has been on the thread for some time now and there has been quite a lot of goadiness, if you read.
I don't know if I agreed with hobnobs views but he/she is right about the goadiness.

LtEveDallas · 05/09/2013 20:00

I don't know about 'google links' (why exactly is that a bad thing btw?), but I believe statistics from ONS. Why is wanting proof a bad thing? Why would you believe an anon poster on an Internet forum over verified data?

If I said that the moon was made of green cheese, would you believe me over NASA?

Dawndonnaagain · 05/09/2013 20:09

Eine Schlampa = The Bitch. But you're not a goady fucker. ok.

expatinscotland · 05/09/2013 20:28

What a disgusting thread.

twistyfeet · 05/09/2013 20:43

It's a ridiculous thread. As if anyone actually has a baby to get £13 a week.

merrymouse · 05/09/2013 20:47

You can't have first hand experience of the country being overpopulated, (unless maybe you are some kind of all seeing, omni present celestial being). The only way to verify that kind of information is through statistics.

Fairy1303 · 05/09/2013 21:00

This thread is disgusting. I can't believe what I'm reading. I think the genuine 'chinas one child policy is good' post was the cherry on the cake for me.

Has anyone noticed that the OP has not come back?

filee777 · 05/09/2013 21:02

FFS you get MORE THAN £13 A WEEK

If you are on a low income or unemployed you get up to £80 per week per child.

I seriously think some people are living in a completely different country to me!

Dawndonnaagain · 05/09/2013 21:17

80 quid, per child. I don't think so. For crying out loud, my children are disabled and I didn't get that much when I was on benefits.

ubik · 05/09/2013 21:18

This thread is shocking

On a slightly lighter note I remember when London councils started "reorganising" closing all the primary schools due to a dip in the birth rate, about 15 years ago. We seemed able to accommodate and educate all these children then.

We also seemed to find places for ordinary people to live in central London (my own family had a Georgian terrace in Camberwell in the 1940's, a working class family!) and raise children.

We managed to do this in the past - i don't understand why it's so difficult now.

Dawndonnaagain · 05/09/2013 21:19

a list
I don't think any single parent with a child is living the life of riley on this, do you?

IneedAsockamnesty · 05/09/2013 21:20

Filee, if you think being on benefits even in work ones is so great and they provide such a lavish lifestyle why don't you quit your job and do 16 hours pw at the nmw and enjoy the luxury you think tax credits provide.

I know I wouldn't want to try it.

BlazinStoke · 05/09/2013 21:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LtEveDallas · 05/09/2013 21:23

Child Benefit: Eldest or only child £20.30 per week. Subsequent children £13.40 per week.

Or Filee, are you NOW talking about other benefits?

BlazinStoke · 05/09/2013 21:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

filee777 · 05/09/2013 21:28

I've always been talking about all child related benefits, as the OP has!

How many times have I said 'this is not just about child benefit'

FFS

filee777 · 05/09/2013 21:29

First child - £20 a week cb
Child tax credits - 62.50 per week

IneedAsockamnesty · 05/09/2013 21:33

So would you be happy to live on that? And have more than one child?