Stop implying it's not so bad now because you grew up with no central heating and scraped ice off the windows.

[flashbac]

FFS

I also had no central heating in the house as a kid. There was a hole under the bathtub that cats would use to come in while you were freezing arse off on the loo. It was bloody grim. I don't wish it on anybody. People shouldn't have to be uncomfortable in their own bleeding homes for goodness sakes. It shouldn't be happening in this day and age. Stop defending it.

Its called adapting, that is how the human race has survived this long but for some reason as Covid proved people dont want to adapt anymore, ni its so much easier bitching, moaning and bringing everyone down who dare so much as throw another perspective on it, than finding a solution.

It's a blunt, goady way of making a very valid point though. Mn never fails to amaze me in particular, people bleat about the environment then wander around the house in TShirts in winter. I only know one person IRL that does this. Its lazy, entitled and hypocritical. Someone on another thread said people only care about this stuff when it hits their pockets, rather than any genuine care for how wasteful they're being with their resources

Yes I agree.

I lived with no heating, and it was ok (cold before I got the fires going, but manageable). I don’t want that for anyone. We should moving forward in society and anyone who wants to live in a warm home should be able to, regardless of who grew up with what hardship and turned out ‘fine’. If you think it’s ok for people to endure it now, you are not ‘fine’. You are plain vindictive and a bit patronising. People know they won’t die. But it’s grim and they want to share that and get support, not be told they’re big babies because they want to heat their homes!

People ARE saying it. Lots of threads with people Looking for tips and support, and just today I’ve seen (I’m paraphrasing) ‘people today are too used to warm houses’ and ‘we coped, and so will you’

The only answer is that’s it outrageous that people should be in fuel poverty in a first world country (fuck off with ‘fuel stress’ that makes it sound like a middle class choice, not a grim reality for people who don’t get paid enough actual money)

So there!

Don't bother rising to @JaniieJones. No one but the most sociopathic of Tory trolls can honestly believe we'd be worse off under a different govt right now.

I just hope people remember this shitshow in 2 years' time.

We had to leave the house to find Internet access. Kids school closed and when it did reopen they refused nursery kids as it was some what dangerous. They back tracked the day after, the nursery teacher was unimpressed at the head teacher for not allowing my youngest to stay somewhere warm. Spent a fortune on a gas kettle to have hot water. Bought meal deals as couldn't afford anything else and northern powergrid turned down paying out for those and classed it as a grocery shop.

@Moonface123

Its called adapting, that is how the human race has survived this long but for some reason as Covid proved people dont want to adapt anymore, ni its so much easier bitching, moaning and bringing everyone down who dare so much as throw another perspective on it, than finding a solution.

What utter twaddle.

It's not 'another perspective'. It's irrelevant, patronising, smug bullshit from the 'I'm alright Jack' brigade.

Remember getting dressed in front of the fan heater in the kitchen and waiting til the last minute to go to the loo cos the only heating was t.he coal fire in the living room. Rest of the house was baltic. Don’t remember being hungry though meals always had veg from the garden. Never had fruit or chocolate biscuits in the house as they were considered treats. At times was def grim but no one in this day and age should have to choose between heating and eating.

Oh judge away. You should be thanking us tbh. If the 2019 election had gone the other way (I know I know, no chance with that leader) we'd be in a much worse position.

And the facts that corroborate this ludicrous opinion are...?

No. Thought not.

@Sceptre86

It isn't a race to the bottom. With each generation we should collectively want things to improve for everyone, not get worse. I really don't understand why people think because when they were kids they had to sleep with 4 layers and survived that I or anyone else should want that for their kids.

We slept with newspapers on our beds rather than blankets: I don't want this for anyone.

I don't want damp, mouldy homes. I don't want homes that create vast physical and mental health problems.

I don't want homes that are badly insulated.

None of the above is unreasonable.

Couldn't agree more @Manicsfan

Totally agree OP. I'm 63 and still remember the misery of getting into a cold, damp bed on a night, not wanting to get back up in the morning, icy breath in the house. It's not character building, it's awful. I'm lucky that I'm in a well insulated flat which is cheap to heat, I feel so sorry for anyone living in a draughty house now. Also, we didn't suffer the cold because we'd been priced out of using heat - there was only one fire in the house - it's a completely different scenario!

Also just remembered my Mum asking neighbours to borrow their coats to put on our beds in the early 1960's. It's not character building at all, it's a terrible way to have to live.

[quote hobbledyhoy]@JaniieJones

You're joking surely?
How much mental gymnastics have you had to do to convince yourself that things would be worse in a hypothetical Labour government.
This is why things don't get better. Because people cling on to the small amount they have because they believe these arseholes in power that other (read poorer/migrant etc)people are trying to take it away from them.
You end up diddling yourself (and everyone else) out of a better quality of life. [/quote]
Of course she isn't joking, sadly. . It's consistent with her defence of this appalling and despicable government.

I think most posters are trying to be encouraging when they say things like this. Unfortunately, people will have to 'adapt' accordingly as this is not going to go away. A collapse in living standards in the West has been spoken about for a few years now. Corporations have been buying up farmland and buying residential homes to rent in anticipation of it. There will still be vast profits made, but they will be on food, housing and energy. The era of conspicuous consumption is coming to an end. It will be a shock for those who know nothing else, and I think older posters are genuinely trying to be helpful.

@Moonface123

Its called adapting, that is how the human race has survived this long but for some reason as Covid proved people dont want to adapt anymore, ni its so much easier bitching, moaning and bringing everyone down who dare so much as throw another perspective on it, than finding a solution.

Are you struggling to heat your home or feed yourself?

@Pissyduck

YANBU

why are people happy with the bar being set so low? We live in one of the richest countries in the world and yet wealth is distributed in such a way that people are being forced to live in the cold without enough money for food.

The social contract between citizen and government has been ripped up and spat upon by this government.

This, absolutely this!

Diolch, babyroots -- I hope so! I always wear a thick cardigan and he wears a Tshirt! How strange is that? I am an unpaid carer.

The social contract between citizen and government has been ripped up and spat upon by this government.

Total bollocks.

@Hugasauras

It's also just another layer of exhaustion for people living in poverty or skirting the poverty line. Taken in isolation, turning down the heating or reducing your food bill a bit isn't really a big deal. But when every single thing you have do is a struggle, when every day you just have to try and get through and know that tomorrow will be exactly the same or even worse, then adding something else on top, even something that might seem minor, is an incredible weight. So many people have to live joyless and absolutely crushingly exhausting lives because of the battle to just survive day to day.

This. When you don’t have enough money, you have to make up for it with time, energy, pure grit and delusional hope that it will somehow get better. No one who has any kind of safety net can even begin to imagine it, and no one in Westminster has the slightest idea, not the tiniest inkling, of what it is like to life with the gnawing, ever present panic of not having enough money to live. It’s simply not actually possible on a 115k salary.

People die of poverty.

@Tryingtokeepgoing Instead of posting articles that are 4 months old, suggesting German households are having facing huge energy costs.. it might be better to post something more up to date?....

German Govt is doing loads to help its people, especially those on low incomes.

www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-unveils-energy-relief-package-2022-03-24/

Back then we had open fires we could burn stuff on to keep warm now we do not

Back then two parent families and extended family were the norm now they are not my 70 year old mother works her mil didn't and she handed us over to them for childcare plus her sisters helped now I need to pay more than my rent in childcare to work by the time I've paid rent childcare Council tax im in negative figures

The reality of the situation doesn't hit home with most people and yes I know UC will pay UP TO 85% Back BUT you need to pay it yourself first and they won't pay it if it doesn't fit the criteria for example "breakfast club" they don't pay for food and clubs so that's out if any food is named on the invoice they won't pay if the invoice is paid in cash they won't pay you need to prove you have paid in a way they find acceptable before they will pay

And it varys by area

Rules are interpretated differently in different areas

If you get a job you will be forced to take a day off to go to the job centre to tell them in person or they will stop your payment its not the best impression to give to an employer I could go on but what's the point

@Pyewhacket

The social contract between citizen and government has been ripped up and spat upon by this government.

Total bollocks.

That's an interesting and thoughtful input into the debate from another who consistently defends the current government.

@Pyewhacket

The social contract between citizen and government has been ripped up and spat upon by this government.

Total bollocks.

As usual, a very rude and totally inaccurate response.

Across the EU, Governments are doing far more to assist households, esp the poor.

Unlike your Tory Government, which consists of millionaires who look down on anyone who isn't in their social circle, we are scum to them, they do the bare minimum to keep us from rioting.

Actually the ice on the inside of the windows was exciting when I was a kid, the jack frost patterns not thick ice. The rest of it you can keep, the 50s were bleak, the 60s mad, the 70s totally grim.

MissyB1
Damn right!! I’m fed up of being polite about it. I’m fed up of the “I’m alright Jack” attitude of too many people. I used to politely change the subject if friends/ colleagues/ neighbors spouted any right wing Tory nonsense. Now I shoot them down in flames. A neighbor I walk my dog with started it the other day, I gave him short shrift. I’m fucking sick of these idiots.

Do your friends/colleagues/neighbours point out that you send your dc to a private school and sound a bit like a champagne socialist? You could have sent your dc to a state school and donated £50,000 to a local charity instead.