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Skint Britain: Friends without Benefits on C4

999 replies

amrscot · 13/02/2019 21:16

Is anybody else watching this?

One of the couples take their dog out to hunt rabbits and squirrels that they can eat.

They've just shown him with a dead rabbit he has caught skinning it in the kitchen Sad

Horrendous..

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Thread gallery
12
QuintadiMalago · 14/02/2019 00:03

Biggest problem about running the economy of a country is that it's not their money. That applies to all governments, be they Tory or Labour. It's not their money so they don't have to balance the books the way working people do.

EwItsAHooman · 14/02/2019 00:07

Universal Credit as designed, as implemented and as championed by the Tories has nothing to do with saving the country money and everything to do with punishing the poor. Otherwise why design such cruelties?

Even the guy who designed and implemented it has gone on record to say it's not bloody working, that it needs more funding and the flaws such as long lead in times need removing. When that dickhead, who happily butchered up the benefits system while being told UC wouldn't work, admits UC is not working then it's really not working.

amrscot · 14/02/2019 00:08

I felt awfully sorry for the man who was severely blind, how can they say he was fit for work? And £5 to live off is just a disgrace. Smh SadSad

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EwItsAHooman · 14/02/2019 00:12

DH's uncle was found fit for work. He has arthritis in his legs, has had both shoulder joints replaced, can't walk without crutches, diabetes, angina, depression, and anxiety. He is five years away from retirement. No one wants to hire him yet every two weeks he has to sit in the Jobcentre with his work diary and show all the jobs he's applied for, all the companies he's sent CV's to, and justify why none of them have even offered him an interview. It's soul destroying for him and a waste of everyone's time.

amrscot · 14/02/2019 00:13

@EwItsAHooman it's so heartbreaking 💔

Has everyone on this thread seen I, Daniel Blake?

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WeeTinkerMonkey · 14/02/2019 00:13

how can they say he was fit for work?

Cause they don't see people as human.

www.ladbible.com/news/uk-man-who-couldnt-stand-and-weighed-6-stone-was-declared-fit-to-work-20190204

amrscot · 14/02/2019 00:15

@WeeTinkerMonkey fuck the Tories. I'm glad he won his appeal, rightly so!!

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Stressedout10 · 14/02/2019 00:26

The real hidden problem with universal credit is the benefit freeze. Benefits used to go up at the same rate as inflation now they haven't gone up since 2007 if they had still gone up a single person would receive about £95 per week instead of the current £73.
£23 per week is a huge amount to someone with so little add to that the benefit cap and the fact that you now only get to keep 63p out of every £1 over the £73 a week you earn and you see why so many working people are now in poverty it affects all of us

Needsmorebeans · 14/02/2019 00:29

Do you honestly get sanctioned for missing one phone call though? Not in my experience.

Yes you can. I know a girl whom was sanctioned for missing an appointment because she was attending an interview that the DWP sent her to.

Another who told the DWP she would have to miss her appointment because she was taking an older relative to a very important hospital appointment. The staff member forgot to add the nore to her case file so she was sanctioned.

Ihaveabloodyheadache · 14/02/2019 00:29

Biggest problem about running the economy of a country is that it's not their money. That applies to all governments, be they Tory or Labour. It's not their money so they don't have to balance the books the way working people do.

Plus the fact no matter what party they're in, most are from privileged backgrounds and haven't got a clue what it's like. Until there's your average man on the street making the rules nothing will change. It's an old boys club and although technically on opposite sides, they basically look after their own interests.

amrscot · 14/02/2019 00:31

@Needsmorebeans did she get the sanction reserved seeing as it was due to their error and incompetency!? It's peoples lives they're messing with

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HelenaDove · 14/02/2019 00:31

pensioners will also join the UC list after the 15th May if they have a younger partner under pension age.

mzolobajluk.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/pensioners-now-to-be-sanctioned/

amrscot · 14/02/2019 00:32

@Needsmorebeans sorry meant to say reversed.. think it's time I went to bed Grin

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HelenaDove · 14/02/2019 00:33

so if a pensioner has a younger partner they will get UC rather than Pension Credit.

PickAChew · 14/02/2019 00:41

I didn't watch it but saw the trailer and could immediately mentally name a few people who would do this.

Takes me back, to wartime britain, via stories. Ex filsaid he ate too much rabbit to ever enjoy itm

AngelaStorm73 · 14/02/2019 00:41

I used to judge poor people and think "why don't you stop eating takeaway?" "Why don't you stop smoking?" And then I lost everything and had to live beneath the poverty line and do you know what? After a day in the council fighting to not be homeless I didn't much fancy cooking and I wanted a cigarette too (even though I had given up for quite a while). So I get it now. Because I have literally felt that feeling. That stressed angry pissed off wolves at the door empty stomach fear of impending disaster feeling. I do not begrudge anybody a takeaway or some tobacco.

longtimelurkerhelen · 14/02/2019 00:45

I read a story the other day where a man had to walk I think it was 12 miles to the "local" Job Center (Tories closed hundreds as there is full employment) to sign on. He couldn't afford the bus fare and soon the Bus route was going to be cancelled anyway as the local council (Tory cuts to lg) could no longer afford to subsidise the route. He set off in the middle of the night to get there on time. He can't afford an internet connection, so has real barriers to looking for work.

Many libraries have now been shut (internet access), CAB have had drastic funding cuts all due to Tory cuts.

There are so many tragic tales I could tell you, the one above is the very least of it, it is sickening.

The DWP last year instructed the Job centers to no longer count how many referrals they were sending to food banks. This month the DWP have also instructed the Job Centers to stop giving starving people the referrals (now the full rollout of UC is underway). You can only get food at a food bank with a referral.

You can get referred by a GP (3 week wait for an appointment in our area) or CAB can do them too, if you can get in to see someone. The queues are massive.

It's like the Government are doing everything they can to kick the legs out from under you. There are very few jobs available. The true unemployment figure is 14%. They count someone working 1 hour as employed, they count carers (caring for loved one etc) as employed.

The Tories are truly despicable.

Needsmorebeans · 14/02/2019 00:45

@amrscot
The first one didn't appeal. She was very young, anxious and blamed herself. Only told us about ages after. She is still on UC and it is frequently wrong. She is lucky she has family who can help tide her over. Not everyone has that support.
The second one queries it and was told she could appeal it. Problem there is that appeals take weeks and if you are on only a little money, losing any amount can be disastrous.
People can lose jobs because they can't pay for their transport or a roof over their head because they can't pay rent.

ReanimatedSGB · 14/02/2019 00:47

It's not the poor who are 'stealing' your taxes. It's the rich. It's the people who are piling up billions of pounds in offshore, untaxable banking accounts who are draining the economy of money. Literally. It's the massive corporations who pay ridiculously low wages because they expect their employees to recieve tax credits (your tax money: being used to line the pockets of the already-wealthy directors of these companies).

There would be a huge improvement in the economy, very fast, if Universal Basic Income was introduced, because poorer people spend their money, which puts it back into circulation. People buying themselves a takeaway, a new pair of shoes, a big bunch of flowers, a couple of books; having a haircut or booking driving lessons - that puts money into the pockets of takeaway staff, shoe shop assistants, florists, booksellers, hairdressers, driving instructors, who then pass that money on to travel agents, taxi drivers, painters and decorators, or the extra staff they can take on when their businesses get busier...

The reorganisation of society to transfer money from the poor to the rich which has been going on for the last few decades is what has caused all the problems. Not immigrants, not single mothers, not 'lack of respect' but the greed of many of those who were wealthy to begin with, and the sociopathic bullshit of politicians who have never worked a day in their lives but fetishize 'hard work' for other people.

Frequency · 14/02/2019 00:50

Well said, SGB.

AngelaStorm73 · 14/02/2019 00:55

@ReanimatedSGB

Thank you. Smile
Honestly feels like the whole country has gone mad and then someone speaks common sense!

Howdoidothis4eva · 14/02/2019 00:57

I didn't watch it yet, but I don't think it's sustainable, or right, that the government has to subsidise people's wages, and that people who aren't physically or mentally unable to work can be on benefits for years without working.
The problem is that until people are paid a living wage, (and as I understand it many small businesses would struggle to be viable if they did this), I really don't know what the answers are.

Work doesn't just give people a wage, it can provide self respect, confidence, self esteem, a way to make new friends, to socialise and many more things.

I think a pp was right in that a lot of these areas need investment, but I don't know how that would come about, or how viable that would be in the long-term.

sobeyondthehills · 14/02/2019 00:59

The whole thing is beyond bollocks.

Something like 68% of all MPs are millionaires. They can't imagine a time when they have to choose between eating and heating.

I have just been awarded PIP at tribunal, after 18 months. I now have a month of not having to deal with benefits (as long as nothing goes wrong) before I have to start the whole process with ESA

HelenaDove · 14/02/2019 01:00

Kevin Bridges on working for self esteem.

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