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!!

Not everyone can afford to drive, can afford £50+ contracts for the latest phone, heating on all the time, frequent meals out, gym, new clothes, nights out

Why do you assume that people living in poverty are doing any of those things? Or are you suggesting that poverty is the result of poor financial management?

So you don't agree with education for all children?

I would happily pay a lot more tax to have more of these things available to everyone.

I can't imagine what the heartbreak must be like for parent's who can't afford to buy even basic stuff for their kids. It's so sad.And wrong.

But a cheap-ish newspaper is say 50p a day, so if you buy one Monday to Friday only, that’s £2.50 a week.. The same as a Netflix subscription! Most people read the news for free online now anyway.

Why on earth do the poor continue to vote Tory?

Going back to Netflix. There are more competitors in broadcasting and BBC is at less of an advantage. The overall quality and variety of programs has dwindled. The BBC is throwing it's money at the big stars and ratings winners, at the expense of the less popular programmes. I have Amazon Prime as well at Netflix. I find more on there than the old terrestrial channels and BBC. We're also shifting to a digital subscription culture. More people are using social media and this is what's influencing as apposed to TV and radio, then listening/watching on Spotify/Apple/Amazon/Netflix. Unknown musicians don't have to get the stations to play their music, post video's on Youtube which are shared be high profile influencers and celebrities. With proprietary technology it's harder to share, so you're forced to subscribe to the services.

Why on earth do the poor continue to vote Tory?

I am guessing because they believe others would be worst?

I am guessing because they believe others would be worst? How though? What have the Tories done for the poor?

Netflix basic package is £6, half the price of a TV licence.

Around here, a 3 bed semi will cost £300-400k, a 4 bed £600k plus. Cutting back on Netflix or a TV licence will not help much when trying to get 30k or much more for a deposit, nevermind what a mortgage would cost.

Most home owners are older people who bought long ago on good (but not high flying) jobs. Younger owners have either inherited homes or money or have jobs paying upwards of 100k. We couldn't afford our current home if we were buying today, and are lucky that we got a house before huge rises.

What have the Tories done for the poor?
what has anyone? In what state have other parties left the country?

Don't get me wrong, I don't vote, but I find that "it's all the Tories fault" attitude a bit childish.

We couldn't afford our current home if we were buying today

me neither, which is why I started with a cheap and rather grotty flat in a non-desirable area whilst most of my friends stayed in house shares to save as much as possible.

I don't know anyone, may they be 70, 50, or 30 who bought a big detached house as their 1st property. I know some people who got a gift from their family, but everybody else started small.

@Youmadorwhet Italy and Spain both subsidise childcare, and they are poorer than the UK.

My friend pays €300 a month in Spain full time, and the posh nursery opposite my uncles house in Milan is €1500 per year.

My French and Spanish relatives were surprised when I became a SAHM. A conversatin about nursery costs later, and they understood. My sister was paying 300 Euro a month for a full time Montessori nursery which had won awards for architecture, and that included food and nappies and trips.

I have a PAYG phone, (£15 lasts me 6-8weeks), have never been to a gym, last meal out was in 2014, last time I bought new clothes was last August, our heating gets turned on in November for a few hours a day and gets turned off at the beginning of April. I have had 1 holiday abroad in my whole life (stayed with family so only had to pay for flights and spending money), 3 short holidays in the UK in the last 30 years.

When I bought my house in the early 90's (3 up 3 down terrace) the mortgage was £250 a month, renting an equivalent sized house would have cost double that. I had 2 children and when the youngest was 6 was diagnosed with Autism and Learning disabilities, I had to cut down my hours at work, the reality of mainstream education was illegal exclusions, discrimination and victimisation until we were forced into agreeing a so called managed move into specialist independent education at the opposite end of the county.

We had to sell our house and buy another much smaller house in a quieter location and it cost us 5 times as much. I had an accident that left me walking around on fractured bones for a year before I was operated on, then had more corrective surgery a year later.

My oldest child was diagnosed with specific learning difficulties in college and has since also been diagnosed with Autism, youngest is now back in mainstream education and struggling, can't consistently do the commute independently so there are days when I have to get him there and back so I cannot increase my hours now.

It is likely that I will need more surgery sooner rather than later (as was hoped by the consultant) and I will end up with a disability.

My marriage didn't survive all this and we are living on the breadline, the one thing that I need most of all is my car, without it my youngest wouldn't get an education and I wouldn't be able to work at all, I dread to think of what the future holds for my children if they cannot manage full time work and that is unlikely. My outgoings currently amount to more than my income.

I would happily pay more tax for education, NHS etc.

In what state have other parties left the country? The state the country was left in by Labour was caused by a global recession ignited by the failure in the sub-prime mortgage market in America but keep blaming Labour...I just don't get it - Boris is talking about making this country fair, Theresa May stood on the steps of Downing street going on about how things were unfair, Thatcher did, Dominic Rabb is at it now too - but the minute they get into power all that chat about fairness and the poor seems to evaporate. The economy is run like a pyramid scheme - with only the top layers can make money but we continue to berate the bottom layers for being feckless and lazy for being poor but people keep believing if we work hard we'll be rewarded - all of us....that's what they say isn't it?

But, walkingintomordor. it would seem unlikely that you would pay any tax at all on your (very limited) income, so the burden of tax would fall elsewhere. On people who can afford it better perhaps.

@Camomila the Spanish min wage is the equivalent of just over £6 and the Italian min wage As far as I am aware doesn’t exist but is around €7 which is pretty much £6

And uk childcare is subsidized is it not??!!... up to 30 free hours and 20% childcare tax free scheme. So yeah there are some options

At what point do you draw the line? You could point the finger at my family as an example of people who should pay more, simply because our health is better than yours. We are currently lucky in that respect, but there has been life threatening illness (cardiac arrest) in the last decade, and a long medical story. I'll spare you that. We have one DC, and earn every penny we spend; we save for our retirement and have not inherited a vast any pot of money. Oh, and the small business we have created, employing a handful of people, who are all (very) well paid by local standards, is thriving, while paying all the tax imposed/due. Over 40+ years of economic ups and downs, we have thought long and hard and carefully about every move we have made. If there were a political grab to fleece everyone earning more than the average, I think we could, just, afford to flee. And we might. Which would be economic self-sabotage long term by the government, because any country needs to walk a finely balanced line between plucking the goose and minimising the hissing involved in doing it.

My family are well off, but we can't afford sky.

@XingMing I don;t believe many people would flea in the event of higher taxes, because taxes would rise gradually and people would adjust - I expect a lot would threaten to I don't believe quality of life just comes down to money - you feel home in your heart and you run a business - that's hard to walk away from.

Giving more money, unconditionally, to poor people is about the only thing that can save the economy. The past 30/40 years have shown very, very clearly that the concept of 'trickle down' economics simply doesn't work: the result has been the transfer of wealth, not just from the poor to the rich but out of the economy - tucked away in hidden offshore accounts, doing nothing. When the poor have more money, they spend it, which keeps it in circulation. This boosts the economy - the minimum wage employee being able to afford a daily latte means the coffee shop owner can maybe afford another employee; the slightly-better-paid barista can afford to get a haircut or a new pair of shoes, so someone else's business increases and that person can afford some new furniture, or a holiday...
And investing in both infrastructure and early education improves public health, which saves the NHS money later down the line. Improving the prospects of children born into poor families reduces crime.

Oh, and that poster who lives in the middle of nowhere and rejects 'society' - what are your plans for future generations? Inbreeding, or are you happy for your kids to die childless? Perhaps more realistically, what will you do if they grow up to want to, you know, mix with other people and make use of public assets, and get jobs and pay their taxes?

Actually, national anthem, I'm not so sure I do feel home in my heart now. In our youth, DH and I have lived in several countries, on several continents.

I use to believe in free market economics - low regulation with the gov role to redistribute income fairly - all lofty ideas but it just didn't happen - the rich got richer and the poor got poorer - it's time for a new approach!

If you can't afford sky which is what £30 a month cheapest then you are not well off ffs lol! Maybe just spent all the money you do have trying to look like you are.