To have no sympathy with Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee for having their house flooded

[ReallyTired]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26184129

I feel more sorry for people in council housing along the river than multi millionaires who can CHOOSE where to live.

If you buy a multi million pound house by the river thames then you should not be surprised if it gets flooded. I don't agree with the idea of dredging the river thames as I feel it would destroy wild life.

I agree with them that planning permission should not be given for properties that are guarenteed to flood. Or if people must build on the flood plain then the houses should be built on stilts so that the occupants stay dry. My parents' house is on the flood plain and it is built two feet off the ground so reduce the chances of getting flooded.

[mercibucket]

thats not how it goes tb
la wants to refuse
developers threaten to sue and keep on appealing til la runs out of money for lawuers
la agrees

next application, la gives up

[RufusTheReindeer]

Thanks for that tb and merci

I think a lot of people may buy homes on flood plains thinking it must be ok because the planning department say it's ok...not anymore though!!!

And how would you know if the house was built on a flood plain, would it come up on the survey and solicitors info? Because if you've got that far you've spent quite a bit of money..although it's worth it if you avoid all this!

[Pixel]

I don't agree with the idea of dredging the river thames as I feel it would destroy wild life.

What do you think has happened to the wildlife now then? A lot of creatures drowned or starving or poisoned by sewage I should imagine.

[Pixel]

And it's all very well checking history that tells you the area last flooded in 1947, when no one mentions that they were dredging the rivers and ditches until fairly recently so of course it didn't flood!

[emotionsecho]

CerealMom I am thinking.....

[CuriousGeorgian]

That's tragic!

[Mrsdavidcaruso]

YABU My friend is no millionaire she like 1000s of others is a ordinary homeowner paying her mortgage and going without to do so.

At Christmas we had flooding here and she had raw sewage coming into her house Christmas was ruined for her, her DH and newborn

So you could imagine what she felt when a another family in social housing who had the same thing happen to them were on the front page
of the local paper complaining that their HA had refused to give them a new house as they 'couldn't live in the one they were in now' even though it was sorted out for them.

She was thinking of ringing her building society and asking them to give her a new house just to see what they said.

[Carter1]

I think that the premise behind the opening post is unforgiving of human nature.

It's basically saying that anybody who makes a mistake is deserving of no sympathy at all.

Yes, it IS a mistake to build on flood plains; I can't deny that. But you'd have to be quite mean-spirited not to have sympathy.

It's like saying to a battered wife 'well you married him, made your bed'. I hate that attitude.


What a heartless world that would be.

Get over yourself, OP, YES the people who live on flood plains ARE foolish to do so, but that doesn't mean to say we can't feel sorry for their plight.

We'd all be in a right old state if we received no sympathy when faced with a problem that was, in part, down to our own behaviour. We don't all make the right decisions all of the time.

We all think, 'it won't happen to us'. If somebody offered me a million-pound house on the Thames, before this disaster, I'd probably have taken them up on it.

[PPaka]

He's in his 70's fgs
And just because his house might be bigger and nicer, he's not suffering as much?!

Horrible attitude

[JohnnyBarthes]

This thread demonstrates just how little people understand about how much easier it is to cope with these things if you have money. It's depressing.

I don't particularly agree with the OP, but can't people see that you're more fucked if you're poor than if you're rich?

[specialsubject]

bit late to the party, but...there's a town in North Wales where a new housing estate was built near a river. Bunds and drains were built and there were guarantees that it would not flood beyond a 1 in a 100 year event.

last year - guess what? Entire estate of 100 plus homes flooded, all new build, some not even finished. Cause - poor drainage maintenance.

cutbacks mean there's a lot of this. Drainage patterns change as properties are built (not necessarily on flood plains) and abandoning old waterways means they don't do what they should. THAT is the lesson from all this.

as for Paul Daniels - he worked for what he has. My sympathy to him and to all others who are flooded.

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

I can see people resent and dislike richer people.

How dare Paul Daniels complain? he's had it easy all his life (er no he hasn't)

I hear it a lot. I remember when a teenageboy got killed in the Antarctic and people were laughing because he had a posh name. I've seen it when the wealthy get sick - "oh they can pay for their treatment" - no actually they are dying.

Lots of people actually think like that.

[Carter1]

I think everybody understands that it is much easier to cope with these things if you have money. That's obvious.

But the OP is asking people if she is BU to have no sympathy at all.

And people do have sympathy; it's human nature to have sympathy even if the person's actions are foolish and, sorry, living next to a river IS foolish, because everybody makes mistakes and if we were always told to fend for ourselves for mistakes we'd made, nobody would be around to help us when we made mistakes.

Off topic, but my aunt married an abusive man, her mother always told her to deal with it herself as she'd made her bed etc... Her mother is in a home because my aunt's view is... she can deal with her problems herself.

[JohnnyBarthes]

There are posters here who would have the same amount of sympathy for Paul Daniels as they would for someone who had lost everything, if you believe what they write here.

I can feel sympathy for almost anyone whose home is flooded, but I feel more probably for those who have the least resilience, for whatever reason (not just financial).

[southeastastra]

hope his white rabbits were okay

[ForalltheSaints]

Paul Daniels said he would leave the country if Labour got in at the 1997 general election. So millions voted for Tony Blair's government, and unlike Phil Collins, Paul Daniels stayed put.

So I'll save my sympathy for others who have been flooded.

[sadbodyblue]

life is always tougher when you are poor.

however I feel sorry for anyone flooded really. must be bloody awful.

[Poppy67]

If you buy a house by a river or in a flood plain and your house floods, your fault. Not nice but tough. It is something you should expect to happen. That is the risk you were happy to take when buying that house.

[wowfudge]

The OP's attitude stinks: I wouldn't wish flooding on my worst enemy. I take it Really hasn't experienced their home being flooded? How wealthy or not a person is just doesn't come into it. Paul Daniels has spent money on flood defences for his home. Why the hell shouldn't they live where they choose to when they have the means? I haven't seen PD asking for sympathy - in fact he's actually said they chose to stay there after the last time it flooded.

[hickorychicken]

[SwimmingClose]

I hope his white rabbits were OK too, southeast. Can they swim?

[grovel]

I think it's worse for Daniels than for most because he's so short. You'd only need 6 inches of floodwater for his wellies to be full.

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

[justgirl]

I also dont even like they are trying to gain sympathy are they?? aren't they making a point and trying to raise awareness etc. for ALL of those affected? not like they are saying "boo hoo, poor us, why isn't the government helping us and us alone" is it?