"Benefits are a lifestyle choice for so many these days"

[Bellerina2]

I'm on the bus and two women behind me are having a long conversation about perceived benefit cheats and one of them just said the above phrase. WIBU to hit her over the head with a rolled up copy of the Guardian??

But seriously, it's so depressing that people think this. Well done to the government and likes of the Sun and Daily Mail for convincing people that those on benefits are leading some sort of charmed life

morethan, can I ask, if your dh is low paid, you dont work and you as a family receive tax credits, how on earth can you afford to send your dd to boarding school?

It was the competitive I've done shit jobs, so why shouldn't you crap.
How do you know what type of shitty jobs other people have done? Oh of course, you don't.

Exactly.

Justanotherlurker maybe the reason those people dont want more hours is because those hours arent guaranteed every week and the tax credits and/or benefits system cant cope with the intermittent inconsistent changes.

I sometimes think compulsory national service in CABs and advice centres would do this country some serious good.

People just can't use the grey matter between their ears Helena. Or they don't want to.

Or maybe it's just empathy and imagination that are in short supply.

justanother whether the majority of people on ZHCs are happy with the hours they work is beside the point. Being happy in a job will not stop you from being sanctioned if you are unable to increase the hours you work.

ssd

She is a very gifted musician and the school is part of the *music and Drama Scheme, available to dc who meet the criteria. The school has something like 94% of dc on the scheme. There are about 8 of these specialist schools but I think only 5 are day/boarding schools, the others being saturdays.

I didnt read that ^^ from candidkates posts at all, I read it as her saying shes done the shit jobs herself and knows its better to do that than sit in the house getting benefit top ups.

ssd

Forgot to add, my dh is low paid compared to others, but does make a good wage, but just not over the tc threshold. We aren't right at the bottom and receiving thousads or anything.

morethan, thats brilliant, well done her!

we get tc too...what are the thresholds, I've heard they are changing too?

ssd
I don't know for sure but think its about 26k, didn't it go down from 42k.
I know that dh won't have as much next year as earnings went up this year.

Before anybody gasps I'm talking cut off point.

It was a bit more than that. She was asserting her moral superiority.

Candid's unpleasant attitude of superiority was proved again by her little 'shame on you, I pay for your DC' rant of bile, I think SSD. Thankfully she got the wrong people and just showed herself up as a prat.

I'd have hate to have read that if I was unemployed or having a tough time on a low income, but there are always spiteful, highly personal ;shaming' attacks on these threads. It's nasty, nasty, nasty.

but, arsenic, she is paying for my kids.

we get tax credits as we are on a low income. I dont earn enough to pay tax, although dh does.

so candid and dh are the ones paying tax here, and she will be contributing to my kids education or health care in a way I'm not.

YY Arsenic. I like your national service idea at CAB centres.

ssd

Please tell me you're joking.

I don't think people need reminding that others are paying their tax, in a snidey way. We all know that if you aren't earning or earning as much as others there will be people paying more into the pot than others.

I would like to have seen the look on some peoples face on here when perhaps a couple without dc reminded them that crb was being paid for by those without dc.
We didn't see lots of threads from people earning huge salaries declaring they donated all of their chb to charity, funny that.
But woe betide if you receive a tax credit top up and dare to have a sahp.

We didn't see lots of threads from people earning huge salaries declaring they donated all of their chb to charity, funny that.

why am I joking? am I missing the point here?

Why is paid work intrinsically more virtuous than being a volunteer or trustee? It isn't.

it's not. The person doing the paid work is more virtuous because they are not living off the state. now, you have to be ready to take this with a bit of nuance, as many people really CAN'T work. But then there are those that feel untitled to do unpaid work they like on someone else's dime. somebody else's labour has to pay for others not to have paid work.

You can play the semantics game all you like, I shall leave you to it.

you are the one calling something plainly not slavery, slavery. I am not playing any semantics game.

by the way, I don't think workfare is a good thing. It's just not slavery.

it's not. The person doing the paid work is more virtuous because they are not living off the state. now, you have to be ready to take this with a bit of nuance, as many people really CAN'T work

Exactly - many can't work. But there ISN'T any nuance in this denigration of other people's lives.

But there ISN'T any nuance in this denigration of other people's lives.

this started when someone else boasted about not working for 20 years, and, from what I remember, didn't have a "can't work" reason for it. in fact, most people have said that those who can't work should get help.

It's a really good thing to refuse to do a shit job where you are going to be exploited and abused, and something which more people should do. All this propaganda about 'scroungers' is partly intended to condition people to think of themselves as worthless and deserving of abuse (whether that's in the form of underpayment, reckless disregard for their safety or actual bullying) and to be grateful for any crumbs tossed their way. A lot of the current top politicians genuinely believe that the poor are feral subhumans and actually the property of the well-off, to be stuck in boxes until they are needed and kept under strict control to stop them getting ideas.

oh for christ sake, who the fuckin hell can refuse to do a shit job these days???

what planet are some of you on here?

I do a shit job for 6.50 an hour cos I need the bloody money, plain and simple.

I dont give a shit about lofty morals and propaganda, my kids need fed and clothed and the shit job pays for that.