Benefits: Too Fat To Work. Fucking really???

[Mountainygirl]

I just spotted this in the TV guide. Channel 5 have obviously hit on the perfect formula- bring everyone's two favourite folk devils ('fat people' and 'benefit scroungers') together, for a brand new series, which I am sure will be a balanced and fair portrayal of these people's lives....

TV seems over run with this shit atm. Everyone goes on about how sexist/racist telly was in the 70s, but honestly, in years to come, people will be totally gobsmacked about how in 2015, it was almost universally OK to rip the absolute shit out of poor people.

morethanpotatoprints - the problem is not all of us can bury our heads in the sand by simply changing the channel. Not watching it won't help.

For me living on benefits will be my life. My condition is degenerative and I have no hope of even managing part time work at this point, much to my frustration and devastation.

But I've had hate mail through the post accusing me faking, of being a drain on society and having no pride. I've been told to get up off my arse and get a job.

These kind of attitudes have been hugely exacerbated by the media.

I'm housebound, bedbound a lot of the time. Electric wheelchair user. I'm not golfing at the weekend, or off on tracking holidays to warrant these accusations. My crime was to have a piece about my condition in the local paper to try and raise awareness on our national awareness month.

The attitudes are impacting us all, not the 0.3% claiming fraudulently.

I work in social services. I have worked in different areas. The culture in some areas is different from cultures in other areas. I am a supporter of people in need having a decent life. These programmes reflect true life for some people on benefits. Obesity because you have no reason to leave the house and no healthy food options within walking distance is a terrible situation to be in. What I want to say is that we are in a situation now where people are becoming too large to move, clean themselves, care for themselves, cook for themselves. The emotional cost to them is huge. The cost to the state is huge. Social Services, leisure centres, libraries are being cut. Things that give people incentives to leave their homes are disappearing. There is not an infinite pot of money and people just think that there is. You can pretend it's not happening but it is happening and it is costing you a lot of money to deal with this.

Hmm - I too worked in Social Services as a social worker and manager and had a career with the same LA of some 25 years. I never met a colleague who held similar views to yourself; conversely we saw how tough it was for people living on the margins of society, with no hope of anything better, and did our best to support them as best we could. You don't sound like a social worker to me.......

You seem to be obsessed with this notion of people being overweight and somehow typing that up with their need to claim benefit and are clearly critical of that situation. Do you mind people who aren't overweight claiming benefit?

You are quite right, there is not an infinite pot of money but a very small percentage of the welfare budget goes to people unemployed. The vast majority of the budget goes on State Pensions, and topping up the low wages of people employed on zero hours contracts and the like. This govt is cutting the budgets of all public services, not because fat people are claiming benefits, but because they are intent on privatising all public services, so yes services are being cut and they intend to cut even further. If they get re-elected in May they are planning even greater cuts and the state will shrink to the size it was in the 1930s.

The real problem with society is that it is an advanced capitalist society where the main driver is profit and a vast amount of the wealth of the country is in the hands of a small percentage of the population. The problems we face have been caused by the greed of the bankers and the inequality between the "haves" and the "have nots" and a govt that cares nothing for the most disadvantaged section of our society because they only care about profits and privatisation which of course makes more profits for shareholders. The people at the bottom of the pile, those who are sick, mentally ill, disabled, unable to find a job, working but not on a living wage, facing redundancy etc etc are totally demonised by this heartless govt.

I think you need to be better informed about the political agenda, as your comments are fundamentally flawed.

Nana nina - You sound like someone who works for the Labour Party, not someone who works on the front line and not someone who has worked in an area with high levels of obesity and deprivation. Obesity affects all people in society so I care about that too but this topic is about people who have become unable work because if obesity. There is a point when if a person is obese, they develop chronic health conditions, type 2 diabetes, joint problems, incontinence, skin problems and an inability to move. They end up sleeping in a chair because they can't lift their legs into bed, then develop pressure sores. That is what the programme will show. Actually, many people in Social Services do hold the view that obesity is a problem and the level of people who are becoming obese will present a huge funding problem in years to come in terms of caring with specialist equipment, extra carers, adaptations to property to widen doors etc...

Those people sound as though they have MH problems, cherries.

However, the message of a programme called 'too fat to work' is that people on benefits are lazy lard arses with dodgy excuses.

A programme with that title is not dreamed up by somebody who is concerned about obesity. It is created by somebody who is concerned about viewing figures and their next promotion.

It is trash tv.

Absolutely merrymouse. This programme will have nothing useful to say about obesity, it will just hammer home the message that people on benefits are lazy scroungers and what's more , the fat bastards are spending all your taxes on takeaways. I'd stake a large pie in it!

Nail on head merry.

Cherriesandapples As I under stand it the program isn't about people who are too fat to work. It's about people who are too fat to work and get benefits. So it won't be worrying about the plight of a wealthy person who is obese will it.

So we need not pretend it's about the health of the person themselves.

There's a story on the Mail about this show. One of the men featured used to run his own cleaning company but he had a stroke and put on a lot of weight because of that (presumably because he couldn't work) and now has diabetes and high blood pressure. To me, that's fair enough, it's the result of a serious illness.

It does appear that they may have gained their confidence in underhand ways, they have filmed their wedding and they've shown them their wedding invites and menu. Which are actually very simple and look like they're done on a shoestring but they're getting a predictable response.

Also they are seen eating a kebab as a 'celebration after losing a few pounds'. Actually a chicken kebab made from chicken breast in a pitta with salad is very healthy and can be eaten on weightwatchers.

I don't work for the Labour party cherries but I do follow the political agenda and read a quality newspaper, rather than the DM. You sound very judgemental and one of the first things that social workers are taught is not to be judgemental. You aren't a social worker. I have most certainly worked on the "front line" in areas of high deprivation (am now retired) but the weight of the service users was not something that occupied my mind. I was more concerned with supporting them with the tough lives they had, mental health issues, poor housing, poverty, domestic violence, lack of support, stigmatised by society - I could go on and on............and all this was some years ago and things are so much worse now, given the ruthlessness of this government and their attack on the most disadvantaged section of society.

I'm heartened that so many MNs on the thread are of the same view, and can see these programmes for what they are - propaganda that feeds the dull minds of the DM and red top readers.

What is it with you and obesity cherries - I asked before but you didn't answer. Are you concerned about obese people who aren't on benefits??

Nana, this is an issue that has developed fairly recently and certainly if you worked say in London where there is good public transport, people can walk to places to keep fit then you won't have seen it, it wouldn't occupy your mind.

I've worked in London and other areas and although there are obese people in London, like everywhere, there were less people presenting to Social Services with obesity related disability.

I've worked now for 20 years and 20 years ago someone on my caseload who is 18 stone would have been unusual, nowadays 18 stone is common and 24-28 stone is also pretty common. If people are 18 stone plus it doesn't take much for disability to creep in or some acute problem to worsen the disability.

A bariatric bed is £4000+, carers £500+ per week, adaptations to property to remove baths £7000+

At no point have I made any judgement about why people develop obesity but the reality of things is that there are people who cannot work through being obese and that the outcomes for this group of people are very poor. Perhaps highlighting this will make some politicians think twice about selling off local leisure centres etc...

The couple who went on This Morning were very honest weren't they.

'The government are making it easy for people like us. I don't think I deserve benefits - I put myself in the situation. I'm trying to sort myself out.'

Cherries if you think that programme going out tonight will be objective then i would question your professional judgement quite frankly.

Perhaps highlighting this will make some politicians think twice about selling off local leisure centres etc...

That made me smile. But even if we thought politicians thought that way why would you make a program about people who are fat ON BENEFITS. Why not people who are too fat to be healthy?

Let's just stop pretending it's about health.

Helena Dove - I think "questioning my professional judgement" is your way of trying to belittle what I am saying. Are you saying that this issue simply does not exist?

Cherries i used to be obese I lost 10 stone . So im well aware about obesity thank you.

But as pps have said this programme is NOTHING to do with health and all about money.

What worries me is the fact that hate crimes could increase even more after this programme goes out.

cherries I hope I don't come across you in social services!

Crumble bumblebee - Why, because you can't argue with what I have said so you resort to that kind if comment?

Cherries I don't think you work for social services at all because people "don't present with obesity related disabilities" regardless of whether they live in London or anywhere else. LA Adult Services do support people with physical disabilities, but weight is not an issue - referrals on the basis of obesity wouldn't be accepted. Service users of Physical Disability Teams will be all shapes and sizes and with varying degrees of disability.

Helena I wouldn't worry about questioning cherries's professional wisdom because she isn't a professional. And don't worry crumble you won't come across her in social services!

I wonder how the channel that makes Text Santa which is a charity telethon for vulnerable people can reconcile itself with the benefit bashing that This Morning does. Havent watched This Morning for years but they seem to have a very right wing slant. Not only is This Morning and Text Santa made by the same channel but both also use the same presenter