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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To think This Morning was wrong to shame this woman?

313 replies

MrsMattBomer · 07/01/2017 13:09

www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/phillip-schofield-blasts-benefit-scounger--9561308

Sorry, but what business does he have to decide what someone spends their benefits on? So what if she bought a bottle of Prosecco?

He says he doesn't care about the Prosecco but it's so obvious that he does. This is a man worth £2million sitting in his ivory tower and shaming a woman for buying a £4.99 bottle of Prosecco.

Is this what this country has become? A country where we deny people any pleasure or fun because they are on benefits?

OP posts:
Cwtchythings · 07/01/2017 13:28

I don't think there was anything nasty about it. It's worth watching an interview if you're going to have an opinion on it, rather than reading a short tabloid article about the interview and forming a conclusion based on that.
Sounds like she's getting the publicity she wants to sell the books she's writing anyway, so I can't get too upset for her getting a grilling.

NovemberInDailyFailLand · 07/01/2017 13:29

It's clearly a book plug, but I have always found my 'Xmas tenner' (for my disability) a bit laughable.

Original poster
MrsMattBomer · 07/01/2017 13:29

Astro55

It's a tenner. A fucking tenner.

If you lived on what someone on benefits lives on, you'd probably be glad of that extra tenner that might make one day a year less miserable than the other 364.

OP posts:
CannotEvenDeal · 07/01/2017 13:30

It's nothing like the Victorians or Romans imo. As a pp has said, many ppl on benefits are proud of having so many luxuries that they've not had to pay for.

Original poster
MrsMattBomer · 07/01/2017 13:32

SheldonCRules

IT'S A TENNER. A FUCKING TENNER.

Are you seriously saying a tenner is now a luxury? Jesus christ, the media has really worked then. Clearly everybody on benefits is living it up and sat there with Sky TV subscriptions, plasma TVs and a Mercedes on the drive?

A) Benefits don't even cover heat, food and housing most of the time
B) You only get the bonus on certain very limited benefits
C) Even if you do get the bonus, who are you to decide what they spend it on? The Xmas bonus exists to give someone the chance to maybe enjoy Christmas and buy themselves a bottle of fizz or some mince pies that they wouldn't normally get. The fact you want to deprive people of any joy or pleasure at all says everything about you.

OP posts:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 07/01/2017 13:32

What happens when an attention-seeking publicity hound 'meets' an attention-seeking goady poster...?

YouHadMeAtCake · 07/01/2017 13:33

She is the ultimate goady fucker, " thanks taxpayers , benefits paid for my Christmas" No he's not a nasty twat. I think he's an outraged taxpayer sick of people like her. She gave up her job to seek fame and failed. She boasts about being proud to be on benefits, she spent £2800 on Christmas gifts her four children by four men, two husky puppies, laptops, iPads etc. she had Botox, nothing wrong with that, I do too, but she used her benefits to pay for it. People on benefits are not supposed to be spending it on fucking Botox. What a joke. She's been on tv shows trying to be famous, for nothing. No, she's not a victim, she's a leech.

Original poster
MrsMattBomer · 07/01/2017 13:34

CannotEvenDeal

Oh, you mean the tens of people that appear in the nasty voyeuristic documentaries?

There are thousands who have died trying to claim benefits or who have been wrongly sanctioned, but let's not talk about that, eh? Because that doesn't fit your narrative of everyone being a scrounger and might require you to realise the vast majority of people aren't living it up.

OP posts:
gillybeanz · 07/01/2017 13:35

I wish her all the best tbh, but i'm also not tax payer.
People get too hung up about people on benefit.
It's nothing to do with anyone what others spend their money on, it's not even the tax payers money to begin with as it's ring fenced by the government.
They will take the money whatever.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 07/01/2017 13:35

You're just sounding more ridiculous with the ranting OP.

What about the fact she has just spent £2,800 - yes two thousand eight hundred pounds - on her kids?

RachelRagged · 07/01/2017 13:35

There have been times I have been on benefits and did think arrogant get Schofield . .

However , thanking the tax payers was too far .. and yes, as a now tax payer, seemed like she was taking the piss. Makes it look like all claimants are like her.

Original poster
MrsMattBomer · 07/01/2017 13:35

YouHadMeAtCake

She didn't say they paid for her Christmas. They paid for her bottle of Prosecco, that's all.

Oh and seeing as both her and her husband paid tax for years, and she's entitled to contributions-based benefits, I think she's entitled to claim what she wants, to be honest.

OP posts:
CannotEvenDeal · 07/01/2017 13:36

I think you need to go and make a cup tea and take a lie-down OP.

RachelRagged · 07/01/2017 13:36

Then again the other side of the coin is rarely spoken of is it .

CannotEvenDeal · 07/01/2017 13:36

Is she your mate or something? Why so irate?

amispartacus · 07/01/2017 13:37

What about the fact she has just spent £2,800 - yes two thousand eight hundred pounds - on her kids

That's on loans and credit cards- which raised questions in itself - getting a loan on benefits can cause problems with repayment

TheGruffaloMother · 07/01/2017 13:37

I didn't see it but from what people are saying here, it seems the interview itself was quite balanced. Considering the journo who wrote it felt the need to include how many people father her children, I'm willing to bet that this is an inflammatory journalist's take on what was an interview that was mildly uncomfortable at one point.

daisychain01 · 07/01/2017 13:38

I know if I had to rely on benefits I'd be thankful to the taxpayers for paying towards that system.

If I had to rely on benefits, I would keep my mouth shut for fear of coming across like a GF.

Just saying ....

amispartacus · 07/01/2017 13:38

Just out of interest - why was she on This Morning?

What was the reason?

Imnotacelebgetmeouttahere · 07/01/2017 13:38

Didn't see the interview so can't common on the woman or the interview

However it's pretty clear a lot of people have no clue how the benefit system actually works and that a vast majority are living in poverty whilst on them. If a tax payers average weekly food bill was £100 and they decided to forgo one item a week to save £5, and used that money to fund a nice Xmas for their kids = amazing.

Person on benefits does the same = outrage. Hmm

needsahalo · 07/01/2017 13:38

She keeps saying she's proud to be in benefits

Should people on benefits be ashamed of who they are? Of the circumstances that have brought them there? I was on benefits for a period, was I wrong to hold my head up and continue to be proud of the person I was? Was any value I had as a person only to be measured by the tax that I wasn't paying at that time?

SheldonCRules · 07/01/2017 13:39

It's not just £10, the article says she bought £2800 worth of presents with benefits.

That could gave funded a TA for a term for struggling children etc.

CannotEvenDeal · 07/01/2017 13:39

For the record, I never used the word scrounger and I did not say that all ppl on benefits are the same so you can piss right off with that.

If anyone's generalising here it's you dear!

amispartacus · 07/01/2017 13:39

It's not just £10, the article says she bought £2800 worth of presents with benefits

The article said she used loans and credit cards.

gillybeanz · 07/01/2017 13:40

She has got in debt to pay all that money for her children's xmas, and that's up to her.
Many others do this, why is it acceptable for those who pay tax, or work and not those receiving benefits?
Those complaining can choose to do the same if they want to, there's nothing stopping anyone.