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

To quote Reservoir Dogs, here's the world's smallest violin playing for all the people who voted Tory and now find themselves hit by tax credit cuts...

Other people have said it very well. She voted for what she thought would be best for her own family. She didn't care that poor people, sick people, disabled people would have their benefits cut. I try to find it in me to sympathetic to most people who have problems, but I'm really struggling here.

We all make mistakes. Would you have no pity for a woman who was with an abusive partner because she chose to be with him?

What a stupid comparison.

Most people in abusive marriages don't go into it with their eyes open. They mostly start off being quite lovely and it starts off so slowly and they knock your confidence and before you know it you aren't sure if he is an arsehole or if you are perhaps going a bit mad because you no longer trust yourself.

How is that comparable to voting for Tory who clearly stated they were making huge welfare cuts? Or voting for a party who had already cut money and services from the poor and disabled?

Apples and Oranges.

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.

Expat, they have highered the personal allowance several times and min wage is also going up. Not exactly not doing anything.

Tax credits do need to go, the very fact people can claim to be SE making nothing and net thousands in benefits just shows how flawed the system is. Likewise just doing a few hours a week and netting more than many get for working full time.

A higher personal allowance and increasing the minimum wage is the way to go.

Urgh, I wish I hadn't clicked on the DM to see what they were saying I do think that a member of the public is entitled to ask a politician a question on QT without the media then plastering details of her finances and business all over the press.

It wasn't a mistake though was it? She deliberately voted Tory because she thought it was best for her.
One can feel empathy for her as an individual but she was incredibly naive in thinking that she was immune to cuts.
I can only assume that she thought the preceding cuts to disadvantaged groups was ok. Because she was't included.

I'll save my sympathy for the families of those that killed themselves due to the cuts this government has made.
I think she is actually the one who needs to take a long hard look at herself in the mirror. And votes with less self interest next time around.

YABU. I suspect many people vote what is best for their own personal circumstances. Turns out the bastards have back tracked and she is going to suffer.

Those of us who try to vote for the greatest good are not surprised but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel sympathy for that woman. Women like her are why I am anti-austerity and anti-cuts to the poorest.

I'm from that bit of the country where that woman lives and it's a Conservative strong hold and always has been. There are plenty of people who don't think too hard about how they vote because they just do what their parents have always done. The Tory voters tend to be a mix of forelock tugging working poor "who know their place" and people who have quite hard line attitudes to immigration and other local issues so they pick up quite a lot of people who seriously consider UKIP but decide they're just a bit too hard line.

I do have some sympathy, and I think there will be a lot of people like her, people who will really, really regret having voted Tory. And actually I can't really blame people for falling for the message - it was very cleverly constructed and orchestrated, and ably spread by the likes of the Daily Mail. The Tories said they would cut 12 billion off welfare, but they never said openly what they defined as welfare. It was perfectly clear to me that tax credits would be considered welfare, but I'm old and cynical, and I deliberately read a wide spectrum of political opinion. Many people really don't think hard enough or seriously enough about politics.

Yes, Cookie but making those cuts before compelling employers to pay a living wage and reforming the housing system to control rents means poverty and more poverty. But hey, gives some people who don't understand that life is not enhanced by their neighbour's misery something to feel good about.

needmore I did say that I considered it a mistake. I hate the 'got what they deserved' attitude that seems to breed on these threads sometimes. She got it wrong. So did lots of other people.

Yes she got it wrong. Kudos to her for being brave enough to say so on national TV.

The labour party brought in tax credits and lots of people went part time to make the most of those, being better off on tax credits than working. Its a nice vote winner isnt it? People playing the system. Businesses joined in, cut wages, gov gave top ups, lovely, only loser is the tax payer, now paying in less and taking more out.
People who work need a living wage, businesses need to step up, and create more jobs, and pay properly.
Thats what you should expect from any party. The best for the working people, leaving benifits for those who need help, at a decent rate. Nobody should be cold, hungry or homeless.

Meh.

She knew massive cuts were being made when she voted for them.

Maybe she didn't think they'd affect her personally but she knew they'd be affecting plenty of other people.

'People who work need a living wage, businesses need to step up, and create more jobs, and pay properly.'

But they are not getting that and business isn't doing that, either.

I've changed my mind, I am feeling sympathy for her.

She said:

''I don't seem to be able to climb the ladder out of poverty. I run a household of five people living on less than £400 a week. My day to day living cost are covered by my tax credits, my child benefit and maintainance."

On Tax Credits / Universal Credit you are allowed a year to get your business off the ground. One year every 5 years.

I think the people above who agree with TC cuts should be careful what you wish for. I'm a care assistant in a retirement home which charges the exact rate which the government pays. When y'all see your inheritances disappear even more quickly on increased care home fees, thanks to wage increases, then you'll not be laughing at us low-paid workers losing TC's quite so fast.

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.

Normally I would be right there with you.

But she didn't give a shit when my family were going to lose money, or families like mine. She didn't give a shit about other children who would have to grow up in poverty.

I have more empathy for those who have killed themselves and the innocent children hurt by the cuts. Do I want to see a Tory voter struggle? No. But I most certainly can't bring myself to feel that much sympathy when she herself didn't care until it hurt her.

Of course, she could have realised her mistake, made her choices without doing much research (although god knows it was pretty easy to work out what was happening next) but I think it is pretty bloody hypocritical to expect sympathy when only a few months ago you agreed with their polices knowing what it was doing to people; including many killing themselves.

She got what she voted for. And all was fine in her world until the cuts affected her. Well, if she agreed with the benefits cuts and voted for them why is she moaning now? Oh wait, because she thought she was exempt and she and her children could go on like normal while the disabled and poor struggle more.

We all got what people like her voted for.

I find there's a disconnect between the idea that people have no sympathy for this women because she didn't have sympathy for others.

Is that an example of an oxymoron or a paradox or something? Or just plain silly?

Considering the deceptions the Murdoch press and the Daily Fail put out before and during the election, I'm not surprised that a lot of people believed that hard-working families would be looked after by the Tories.

Lying cunts!

Poor woman on TV was for real and represents thousands of people who are going to be worse off, even though they are in work.

littlegreen66 Fri 16-Oct-15 13:39:05
What did she expect? She expected Cameron to stick to his manifesto promises.

I have no idea why anyone would think that he would keep his promises, given his 2010 lies about the NHS, but he did promise not to cut tax credits.

NO little green. He said he didnt WANT to cut tax credits.

I do feel for her but I have to be honest I do see your point. She doesn't seem stupid far from it. So she should have been aware that regardless of their promises. The tories only give a shiny shit about the rich.
All these tory voters dancing around clapping and cheering in May. Aren't quite so euthoric now

I'm a floating voter in a marginal seat, and I'm very disappointed by what's happening to working people now. I have sympathy for her. When New Labour was chucking money about, it must have been vexing to be a grafter in a lower socio-economic community, where many neighbours were turning over in bed in the mornings whilst you were setting off to work. So I can understand why some working-class people got irritated by the underclass and were wowed by the Tories' striver/skiver rhetoric, although as a liberal Guardian reader type it pains me to admit it.

Who ever has done the entitled to calculator.
Did you take into account the effect reciept of one benefit has on another as often those calculators do not.

The other poster who did a calc based on 1k income it is highly unlikely that this woman only earns 1k as if she did then the cuts wouldn't effect her. She would have to be currently earning more than the current lower threshold so off the top of my head something like 6400 or around that amount minimum for the cuts to impact her by as anywhere near as much as is being reported. I would guess that's she's in the group of people earning over 10k as the cuts next year would hit her by approx as much as they are reporting if she was. less if she was currently earning less more if she is earning more. Obviously that's just a guess.

A single parent carer with one severly disabled child and for examples sake with 2 other children at home,also working 16 hours per week at the NMW living in social housing is going to be hit quite a bit as well (put that example in as someone with approx the same loss but earning lower amounts)

I have no idea why I'm surprised by this but I am astounded that DC hasn't removed the upper considered claim limit for child care from £300pw for more than 2 kids as surely if you want more lone parents in work there is a huge group unable to access the much touted 30 hours who are limited to only having £300 pw taken into consideration in any way, CC costing more than 300 is not sustainable without the amount being raised as the figures just do not work out. It would remove a huge bar to getting parents working full time.

Enjoy your gloat.
Yeah just the Tories often do when the unemployed sick and disabled get their benefits sactioned.