to wish all these filthy rich people who claim to know what it's like to live off a pittance, would just fuck the hell off?

[sickofthisshite]

AIBU?

Sarah Ferguson claims a family of 4 can easily live off £80 p/wk to cover all living costs

Boris Johnson has said the poor "should show gratitude to the mega rich"

Iain Duncan Smith says living off £53 is doable for a single person.

According to DC, customers at Waitress are "friendlier & more engaged" than those he has interacted with at other supermarkets. As if people who shop in Sains, Tesco, etc don't have opinion on politics & the state of the country, their lives. Just because someone is inarticulate or introverted does not mean there thoughts & feelings are irrelevant.

The list goes on.

Who the hell are these prats to judge those in the vicious, relentless struggle of poverty.

I hope there perfect little bubble is one day burst.

It makes me sick to my very core.

Some people do work since leVing school. They than get made redundant. Spend all their redundancy pay on living and than have to rely on jsa.
They regularly apply for work but who wants a 60 year old with no qualifications. It's not as simple as that.

House! Went a who,e hundred posts before someone brought up how poor people aware in Africa, therefore everyone here needs to shut up and put up.

boulevardofbrokensleep, thank you! I was at work an couldn't remember who is was

expatinscotland read my post. I didn't say that - I was making the point that we get a lot in this country and using my OWN EXPERIENCE in a poorer country as an example.

I read the post.

If you have a television, then you do need a licence for it. If you don't have one, it is an offence (not saying I agree with them, they're a bloomin' nuisance). But if you don't pay for yours if you have a television, then the costs for all other licence payers are increased.

AFAIK, you only need a license if you watch tv as it is being broadcast.

From the TV licensing site.

"You need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it's being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder."

then you clearly didn't understand it. Of course just because some people have it worse doesn't mean things shouldn't be done. But at the same time, people are making out like being poor is a completely uncontrollable fate that can only be improved by huge government intervention. My point is that people need perspective and to take a bit of responsibility.

And before anyone flames me, for the above - I understand that for some people it isn't in their control - thus my earlier point about disability or responsibility

objection even working flat out at job hunting it can take a long time to get a job and you never know if or when you'll be successful. Unfortunately people need to eat in the meantime, pay accommodation costs (having an address is essential to job hunting) and job hunting costs money with transport to interviews. Even scummy little shots like me need to eat, more importantly my children need to eat.

uselessidiot - I fully appreciate that and having been on JSA and HB myself, I know that its a valuable lifeline. I'm not sure what your implying with the last two lines, but I'm not trying to insult anyone or benefit-bash.

Useless in your reply to objection you implied you need to eat ..no one wd oppose that of course but were you saying that on benefits you can't afford to eat ?
Objection I agree with much of your post in that I M thankful that I live in a country were you know there is a safety net if you are out of work : I wd be terrified to live in a country that does not .im not saying people should therefore shut up about stuff but surely this countries benefits are better than what some cou tries provide .and yes I have to say I too have seen starving elderly people and children in other countries.

Of course I understood it. Why do you assume people don't of they don't applaud? I think you spout utter bollocks and the whole I've been in Africa they have it worse is a strawman that immediately discredits the poster.

I've lived in countries with utterly shocking poverty. So what? That is entirely irrelevant to what is going on in the UK.

It's not a race to the bottom.

How is a person on minimum wage working a zero hours contract 'in control' of their situation? They don't even control how many hours they work, or what money they can make. How is a person renting from a private landlord 'in control' of their situation when the rent goes up? How is a person required to go to the job centre every day for no reason other than to make their life even more difficult than it is already 'in control' of their situation?

The govt are full of shit about 'making work pay' - why then are so many people reliant on tax credits? If you're asking what the govt could do, there are a few things. Off the top of my head:

1. Re-introduce security of tenure for private tenants and also re-introduce rent controls. This would stop us spunking £9.3 BILLION a year every year to private landlords in the form of LHA, most of which goes to tenants who are in work. Housing is unaffordable. It could be made affordable again, but it would require govt intervention. Also, use that money that previously went on LHA for a programme of council house building. Private sector renting doesn't work - it leads to poor housing stock and instability for tenants.

1. Invest in manufacturing. The move towards us becoming a service sector economy has meant a downward pressure on wages, which is propped up in the form of LHA and tax credits ie benefits. This needs to be cut, but it will only be cut when unionised workforces are once again the norm, and when we actually produce things and sell them.

1. Renationlise utility companies and the railways. People spend obscene amounts commuting to and from work, and the railways are also costing more in public sector handouts than they ever did in the nationalised days. More people are now in fuel poverty than ever before, and the big six engage in cartel-like behaviour with ever more murky deals at the top concerning the supply of gas and electricity (they are all suppliers as well as being providers so the argument that they have no control over the wholesale price is spurious at best and downright dishonest at worst). The price of energy and transport is a major factor in people being working poor and this could be solved by renationalisation.

1. Stop making life even more shitty for benefit claimants than it is already. Every week we seem to hear about some new scheme or other that doesn't help people into work but makes it more difficult to be a benefit claimant. This way of thinking is based on the (false, to my mind) premise that people are unemployed through choice and if you just make it very unpleasant then they will magically find themselves a job. This does of course ignore the fact that there are five times as many jsa claimants as there are vacancies, and most of the vacancies are not even for jobs anyway but rather are for pyramid schemes.

I agree wholeheartedly with you OP. Why would extremely rich people even think they had a clue about things like that. I do think it is slightly different for people that HAVE been very poor in the past but even then...my parents and their parents were extremely hard up for much of the time when I was growing up. They're not now, they're quite well off. They never say stupid judgey things like this.

The thing is they say they could live on this money but in actual fact the reality for some is that it's not a life it's an existence.
My ds had to stop work as very ill, got jsa but had to pay 20 pounds a week towards his tent as HB only pay a set amount.
He literally could t afford to eat properly and was so depressed stuck in his room all day with not even the bus fare to see me for a change, coukd t join in with anything his friends did, it was awful.
He got his DLA eventually but there is no way he could have carried on living like that.

I wish I could find the article I read the other day, because it had some truly shocking figures in. I can't remember where I read it though.

How is a person on minimum wage working a zero hours contract 'in control' of their situation? They don't even control how many hours they work, or what money they can make.

How are they not in control? How little do you think of peoples intelligence and abilities to suggest that they are not capable of making choices and getting themselves into a better situation?

Of course there are situations where people are completely helpless, but these are the tiny minority.

In answer to the above - work in the zero contract hour job whilst applying for better jobs. No better jobs? Keep looking, keep applying. Of COURSE people control how many hours they work - we aren't assigned jobs, we apply for them and work for them.

Very very few people are so helpless that they have absolutely no control over their lives or futures.

R.e making housing affordable.

Would this result in house values going down? Cos if so many many home owners would be in negative equity, not be able to remortgage or pay their mortgages, leading to foreclosures and a complete new set of problems.

No I was implying you can't eat if sanctioned. When I was made redundant and was still a single mum I didn't eat properly as the first visit to the JCP was so humiliating I didn't apply so I know what it's like to have no income for a time. Each week feels like a lifetime.

maniac I said with housing benefit, if you're only getting £53 a week you'd be entitled to housing benefit

Not full HB/LHA you would only be getting about £65 per week if your single and under 35

Op

Check your private messages

what happens, if you are in a very rural area, and there isn't actually public transport to get to a jobcentre??? OR you don't have money for it / taxi????

Objection, I come from a town where traditionally there was a lot of work in factories. In the 90s, ALL of these factories stopped hiring and all new starters were through job agencies such as Manpower who had them working zero hours contracts. There are now NO JOBS in those factories that are not through agencies and that are not zero hours contracts. They are the biggest employers in town.

Ah yes, but of course, the employees could get on their bikes and look for work.

Or the govt could outlaw such contracts as they break the fundamental reciprocity between employer and employee and have no place in a civilised society.

You say yourself that someone on a zero hours contract should look for other work; well, that implies that you don't think they are a good thing. So why do we have them?

first our nearest is over 8 miles away. You are expected to spend most of the day walking there and back.