To have zero sympathy for this woman

[wasonthelist]

The tearful woman on BBC Question Time claims to have been a Tory voter. She's reaping what she sows.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hame-you-hardworking-mums-tearful-6643284

williaminajetfighter Fri 16-Oct-15 21:28:56
The mind baffles. The govt is in enormous debt but people don't seem to care, really.

Cash handouts = good! And then when the cash handouts don't continue in perpetuity, people get cross.

I do care about government debt - and the deficit (which are not the same thing).

What I don't accept is this government's zeal in concentrating the cutbacks in a few narrow areas, whilst offering tax breaks and concession that will benefit a tiny number of people who don't need the money.

On the face of it, weaning the nation and employers off tax credits isn't a bad thing - but just slashing away cash with little warning from precisely the people who are least able to cut back or make up the difference is simply nasty and vindictive.

Osbourne is missing all his borrowing targets in any case.

We are certainly not "all in it together".

We never were.

I remember the horrible threads too. I imagine that it was exactly this sort of woman shouting the loudest about how the country couldn't afford 'welfare'. Of course it was fine when it was those mythical people where 3 generations had never worked, and of course the posters personally knew such people. I think they were laying into single parents too. Now it's them on the receiving end of the cuts and suddenly there are tears.

So what is she going to do - get out there to protest? Find a job which pays enough? Get the ex-husband to contribute more? I won't forget that nastiness in a hurry, so it is difficult to sympathise.

I've no political allegiance, but I feel zero sympathy for her:

She voted Tory knowing they had promised to cut the welfare state, but assumed they would cut someone else's benefits, or access to public services, not hers.

She has no empathy for others who suffered, just contempt. Her tears are self-pity:
"I work bloody hard for my money to provide for my children, to give them everything they've got."

btw, I dislike the principle of tax credits, subsiding employers who don't pay adequate wages, or subsidising incompetent small businesses.
However, state help should always be phased out gradually and parallel to this, IHT and the top tax rate should be increased, with several more upper bands.

The burden of tackling the deficit should not just fall on the low and lower middle income groups.

Me too Scissors Im 42.

Well I'm older than 42 and I remember paying the poll tax, but that doesn't stop me from having sympathy with a person who believed the lies that their elected prime minster told in front of the entire UK on primetime TV.

Of course Cameron didn't expect to win, so he was expecting to be able to blame the LibDems for all the ills of his government. I hope that it is their poll tax.

I was only 11 years old when i watched the coverage of the 1984 miners strike on the tv news and it left a huge impression on me.

jubblie that may have worked as an excuse circa 1985 or thereabouts but there are other sources than the tv. We live in a digital age and she has also already said she is politically aware.

Blame the Lib Dems - what?

LibDems -if the Tories had had to stitch up a coalition like last time. So any unpopular policy would be laid at the door of the Lib Dems (or whoever). It won't affect Cameron because he's said he's standing down as PM.

It would be nice if we lived in a society which cared about vulnerable people, but we don't. That's not the fault of the lady who was on Question time.
We should be very angry, but not at this lady.

Historically it will affect DC.

Sorry, why shouldn't we be at least a little angry about this lady? She knew what she was voting for - she knew the Tories were going to make cuts, albeit not knowing exactly where the axe would fall, and yet she still voted for them.

The Tory actions have probably benefited me, or at least not caused me any disadvantage yet, but I couldn't bring myself to vote for them, having seen how they have been hammering the poor.

We live in a democracy and that was her choice. I care more that politicians who were in power lied to gain votes.

@jubblie that was my point! Younger generations not having the memories of house upon house in your street being repossessed and whole communities devastated. I have some sympathy for some younger people who voted Tory in the last election and maybe not fully comprehending that, yes, a government really would cut people off so quickly and so hard.

I remember the Conservative government of the 1980's as well and vowed never to vote for them when I was old enough too. Saying that I don't recall Thatcher hammering the Welfare state as much as this cabinet are doing. I can't remember there being sanctions being in place like there is now. It was a horrible time though. I have never forgotten my parents despair when they won the general election again in 1987.

I sincerely hope they don't get in again in 2020 or if they do they're in coalition with another party. It's only now without the Liberal Democrats reigning them in a bit we are seeing how truly nasty the Tories towards are the poor and the vulnerable.

I feel sorry for her as she isn't that bright.

She is probably receiving quite a lot while doing her se job. These tax credits have inflated the price of things, especially housing benefit. Its impossible to afford the rent around here on nmw unless your topped up, that isn't sustainable and only benefits the landlords long term. Too many people have become reliant on long term state handouts.

Well the day I lack empathy for someone who is struggling, even if they did make a decision that I consider to be a mistake, is the day I take a fucking long, hard look at myself in the mirror. I never want to be that person. Precisely.

I don't think she's very bright either.

You have to question the thinking of someone voting Tory whilst being so reliant on Tax Credits. I mean really. What the actual fuck WAS she thinking??

I rely on them. I wish I didn't but I do. And I will be until the time comes when I can find a better paid job with more hours. I'm having no luck so far with that. I'm trying my hardest not to use the Tax Credits I'm getting now to prepare for when I lose either all or the majority of them and it's not easy. In fact it's fucking grim.

So less than six months after the election, there's a tory voter laying into the government on tv and all some of you want to do is snipe at her?

Let's hope Corbyn has a bit more nous than this.

Some people preferred the poll tax system, it was equal for everyone which is much fairer than basing on inflated house prices. We'd have much better public services if it was still in force. We would be worse off as a household as have a tiny place but the roads, services etc would be better as the council would have more to spend.

They had a lot of support at the last election, enough to get them voted in alone rather than a coalition. People vote two ways, selfishly as to what will gain them the most or others for the party they believe are best for the whole country.

Will the cuts save the economy, who knows. Will they stop people taking the p and doing the bare minimum whilst others pay for that choice, yes in some cases.

We need to protect the old, disabled and sick as part of the vundrable group but the rest did need something to make them act responsibly . Nobody should be on benefits as they want to be a SAHP, work part time etc or play at a SE business to avoid JSA. That's where it got out of control and stopped being welfare and became a joke.

What's wrong with working part time?

I cannot understand the tax credits system. It seems to me that it is just using money that could be used to help those who really need it most in a way that allows employers to pay less.

I don't want people to suffer but think there has to be a rebalancing and, as Cookie said, people have to realise that they cannot take from the state for reasons other than it being essential

And wanting to be a Sahp?

As a childminder, I've noticed a recent change in attitudes to part time working.

More and more parents are working full time now. It used to be that children were with me 2 ot 3 days a week; now more than half are full time and I've had another parent in tears this week because her company has reneged on a promise of part time hours: she, too, now has to work full time.