To think that people are actually getting more ridiculous in their expectations??

[Youmadorwhat]

I mean ffs, 9.99 for Netflix per month Is justified because it’s entertainment but never mind the fact that you are in deficit every month🙄

Childcare, anything medical (including hospital car parks), education, school dinners and housing should all be subsidized substantially or FREE (and 24/7) I mean should the government not just collect the babies from the maternity ward and hand them back at 18!

I even saw a thread a while back where someone stated that all extra curricular activities should be subsidized for children 🙄

I know people are struggling I get that but the government CANNOT afford to prop up everyone!! Especially when a lot of people are actually at a tax deficit anyway!! Rant over!!

How dare they expect subsidized child care or after school clubs

Yes, in all honesty, it’s not something to be expected or demanded. Having a child is a personal choice, not one to be subsidised by others. I had three children because I could afford them. I don’t expect anyone else to subsidise my choice, pay for their care, pay for after school clubs. That’s ridiculously entitled.

Why this total reliance always on the government to sort out people’s lives for them? It’s not their mandate.

I think some people need reminding that we are one of the richest nations in the world and have a phrase "the working poor".

That is where the issue is. The minority keep getting richer and everyone else has to scrape and save. Why OP aren't you lambasting how the rich make their billions that their kids show off on Instagram? Frittered away on ridiculous nothings 'just because'.

The problem here is mass inequality after years of Tory austerity.

Mond how vile to suggest only people with money deserve housing. Social housing is not free either? Bet your alright jack aren't you?

Isabella good for you snotty. But life happens, what if your DH left you or you lost your job and suddenly couldn't afford your kids? Would you send them back? Who the he'll are you to suggest only the well off should have children (since very rich people are the only ones who can guarantee always affording their kids?) bet your the type who loves looking down on others to feel superior. And no having a child isn't always a choice for many women.

Nice one Isabella. You could afford 3 kids but the environment can't.

“Perhaps nowadays we focus more on the negative and on what we don’t have, where older generations were appreciative, even if they had very little to appreciate.”

Bollocks. this way of thinking is just a teeny step away from “the underclasses knew their place back then”

how vile to suggest only people with money deserve housing.

It's not what I said. I am not against social housing, but it should be for people who need it, not people who refuse to work, refuse to work enough or just want a place they can't afford.

The situation today is that the system is grossly abused, those who NEED social housing don't get it, and many who are in it shouldn't!

The uproar about the so-called "bedroom tax" show how many had more bedrooms than they needed for a start...Social housing shouldn't be for anyone who ask for it, availability depending on the amount of demands, that's ridiculous.

Lonely iIagree sadly there are many ten bobs about who look up to gluttonous selfish greedy billionaires and look down on the worse off as it's makes them feel superior and like 'one of them', and that's why tories have done so well with their us and them propaganda against the poor. Before I deleted Facebook I wS shocked at the amounts of posts about burglaries car theft etc from obviously well off people(flash stolen card, posh houses, likely tory voters) . They get what they likely vote for Imo. Rob the poor blind they'll rob you back lol.

Isabella good for you snotty

Come on, have a proper go!

But life happens, what if your DH left you or you lost your job and suddenly couldn't afford your kids? Would you send them back?

The point I’m making is that I want less government, not more. It’s not anyone else’s problem if my life goes tits up. They’re my children and my responsibility.

You could afford 3 kids but the environment can't

I couldn’t give two hoots in hell, frankly!

Yes, in all honesty, it’s not something to be expected or demanded. Having a child is a personal choice, not one to be subsidised by others. I had three children because I could afford them

So how did you know one of those children would not be born or grow up with a disability that needed medical care or daily support beyond your calculations? How did you know that you yourself would not become disabled or terminally ill and unable to work? How did you know you would not lose your job?

For everyone slagging off these 'billionaires'... we need them. The wealthiest 1% of people contribute 28% of all UK income tax each year. Crack down on them, watch them leave (they can afford to), and then have fun seeing the economic chaos that ensues. The cuts now will seem nothing in comparison.

Even if I didn't have an ounce of altruism in my body and was thinking only of myself, I would prefer to live somewhere where there weren't homeless people and drug-users and beggars in the streets, where I felt safe walking the streets, where I could send my children to a local school and feel confident that their education would develop them to the best of their potential, where children had their talents and skills developed regardless of who their parents were so that each generation had a wide range of successful people in all areas, where colleagues and employees would take a couple of days off work for medical treatment with minor symptoms rather than several months after their condition had worsened, and where my female colleagues and employees didn't leave their jobs because they couldn't combine work with their caring responsibilities, where staff in shops could work out the correct change, where my bins were emptied regularly and the roads were well maintained, and were emptier because lots of people used the excellent public transport system and "annoying" cyclists had their own segregated paths, and the local high street had decent shops and I could see a doctor when I needed one ...

Giving other people stuff they need benefits everyone, unless your aim in life is to live in a gated community with your own private security and doctors and retinue of staff and the hope can that your circumstances don't change enough to make that life unaffordable.

The point I’m making is that I want less government, not more. It’s not anyone else’s problem if my life goes tits up. They’re my children and my responsibility.

So if you die from cancer, as a friend of mine did, leaving 3 small children behind, you don't want any kind of wider society to step in and ensure that they are ok?

You could afford 3 kids but the environment can't
I couldn’t give two hoots in hell, frankly

You do realise that your 3 children will have to live on the same planet as everybody else?

Everything Broomstick said.

Isabella I live in social housing and it is not 'grossly abused' I have complex ptsd and mental health problems from being raped several times growing up including one gang rape and one kidnapping at the grand age of 13, I have never been able to hold down a full time job due to the complexity of my issues and what I belive to be undiagnosed HF aspergers. You'd probably think I'm a scrounger because I also drive a newish car and don't look ill at all.

My car insurance etc is all paid by my dad but people like you would just presume I'm scamming the system. I got my social housing (2 bed house with garden driveway etc) because I was being harassed by previous landlord with a two year old and new baby.

Stop judging people you know nothing about.

For everyone slagging off these 'billionaires'... we need them. The wealthiest 1% of people contribute 28% of all UK income tax each year. Crack down on them, watch them leave (they can afford to), and then have fun seeing the economic chaos that ensues. The cuts now will seem nothing in comparison.

See, you say this but actually these billionaires want British. They want their kids to go to Eaton, to go to Oxbridge, they want to shop in Harrods and be seen with royals on their nights out. Most of them don't pay tax here anyway and have offshore accounts.

You do UK a disservice to suggest they would all move elsewhere.

*don't pay the correct tax here at any rate

The wealthiest 1% of people contribute 28% of all UK income tax each year

Your statistic amounts to bollocks when put into context.

We have one of the lowest taxation rates for the super wealthy in the world. Adding a few pence in the pound, or even (and most importantly) just closing down the loopholes they benefit from, is not going to see them jogging off to another country.

And I'm child free and have no objection to paying a little more tax. Because we're a decent civilised society and should look out for each other.

Someone called such a viewpoint extremist the other day!

2eternities
the fact that you might be using the social housing you need and entitled to doesn't mean the system is not abused by others.

No one has said that social housing has excluded all the people who should be entitled to it.

About affording houses on low-skilled wages - indeed it was possible, about 30 years ago my parents bought a 3-bed house in the south-east purely on one low-skilled/minimum wage job (DM has always been a SAHM).

OMG thank you!! I feel exactly the same. We have chosen to have one child because of how expensive everything is. We both work full time and have just bought a house. My brother and sister in law on the other hand have 3 children with another one on the way. Both on benefits and complain that they are not getting enough given to them!!! It makes me so mad listening to them complain despite not having worked a day.

Obviously there should be exceptions for people who are ill and can not work or find themselves in circumstances beyond their control. but people who just keep having children with no money and expect somebody else to provide them with what they need is just a joke.

It’s not anyone else’s problem if my life goes tits up. They’re my children and my responsibility

So you can afford your current mortgage on your own if your husband walks out? You have insurance to cover that cost? Your wages stretch to the mortgage, all your essential childcare, bills etc. without needing any help from anyone (including family?) If that's the case, I would say you are in a very small minority.

But for the grace of god is so true. We never thought we would have a child with asd. It severly limits my ability to work and we get help with dla so i can cover costs for a school holiday nanny. There are people in a worse position and it is not a race to the bottom. A civilised society should support everyone but austerity has cut all services to the bone.

The most expensive Netflix subscription is £10 a month. So £120 per year.
It's going to take ten years to save £1200 - not a reasonable, nor sustainable saving plan.
It's a ridiculous to expect a person who is struggling with just the bare basics to give up their one form of entertainment just because others (who're invariably in a better position) deem it unnecessary.

What we seem to forget is that it costs a lot to be in poverty. The things that anyone in a comfortable position would deem wasteful are, to others, tantamount to survival.
Those stuck in a trap of never being able to own their own home, go on holidays, take part in hobbies or even just have a trip out with friends know that's the position they're in.
Working 2+ jobs to afford the necessities of life - with the £10 left over they purchase an entertainment subscription, if that subscription increases in price it's then unaffordable.

So they have £10 left per month (which can't be used for anything really) and they can't afford the one luxury they had. It's not hard to see why a person can begin to feel indignant at the disparity of the quality of lives.

And that's before starting on the rest of your post.