to think that some people just don't get poverty?

[Ohsoworried]

I've seen a few posts recently where people earning a fair bit of money (think around 100k a year) are complaining that they're struggling with money, don't have enough etc. I DO understand that it is all relative but equally, for people like me on a low low wage, in insecure housing, wondering how I'm going to pay rent, having to stop paying in to my pension for the extra £30 a month etc it does make me cringe a little. Things are a little better for me at the moment but it has been hard and my secondment is up soon so back down to low pay. When I left my abusive ex I was living in poverty. And when I mean poverty I mean in a refuge, no job because I had to relocate, no money for a deposit to rent etc. It's the choice between being able to downsize your house, not go on holiday for a couple of years, make sacrifices but still live comfortably etc, compared with not knowing if you'll be able to afford your bills. Of course I'm generalising and I'm sure there are people out there who are genuinely on high wages but have high mortgage payments etc who are struggling. I do sympathise. But I don't always think this is the case...

@Fizbosshoes; I always think of this quote by Terry Pratchett.
www.goodreads.com/quotes/72745-the-reason-that-the-rich-were-so-rich-vimes-reasoned

This.

We have never experienced poverty by any stretch but we have had periods early in our marriage when things were tight. But we could always have gone to our parents if we really needed to. We didn’t, but the knowledge that they are there to help if necessary is powerful.

I feel for those who don't have that level of family support for whatever reason. It must be very difficult.

No, but the argument is there IS degrees of poverty and the problem is, therefore, relative to where I the world you are.

Are you seriously trying to argue poverty is the same everywhere?

Evidence shows it is definitely not.

Not so.

"Latest Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics show that as at 31st January 2022 there were 2.9 million claimants entitled to PIP (caseload)..."

A small number, in comparison, have faced problems and had to get a mandatory reconsideration of which almost 80,000 were reconsidered.

As it stands, most disabled people are NOT struggling to get PIP or find it dehumanising. You haven't falsified anything when the argument is most disabled people are able to claim PIP without problems like I have.

Seriously, someone street homeless for years could just decide to become a doctor one day and do it?

My very middle class A* student daughter wants to be a doctor, we've been looking into it and only 25% of applications to medical school get places. Maybe it's street homeless getting the other 75% of places?

Yes. There are all avenues to do that. Whether they would do that is a completely different question.
Even more so for your middle class daughter. Yes, it is a numbers game with admissions, but many children around the world would give their right arm away to suddenly find themselves homeless on a British street. I know I would at the time when I was around your daughter's age.

Are you seriously trying to argue poverty is the same everywhere?

No, I wasn't saying that poverty was the same everywhere. I was saying that even extreme poverty exists in the UK, some posters were arguing that it doesn't. It absolutely does and they probably walk past it every day.

Are you seriously trying to argue poverty is the same everywhere?

No, I wasn't saying that poverty was the same everywhere. I was saying that even extreme poverty exists in the UK, some posters were arguing that it doesn't. It absolutely does and they probably walk past it every day

I remember when we were having an extension done to our home. Dad had a stable low income job but they had saved for years to afford it. Dad lost his job, they remortgaged the house to finish it off. He was at the jobcentre everyday but it was 7 months before he found a job. I had previously had a part time job at tesco but needed more hours so applied for a weekend job at Primark. My tutor at uni had always said to put them down for job references. So I did for the primark job, she refused because she didn't agree with fast fashion. My wages were the only money coming in aside from dad's jobseekers. It's easy to have principles when you actually have money. We had to sleep in one room to save on heating, six of us. I had to take out a student living loan so that we could buy food (previously hadn't needed one as I lived at home and had a part time job to cover my mobile and travel). It was shit, my dad's mental health went to pot as he couldn't afford to feed us and felt awful taking money from me. It has impacted me, I am frugal and make my money go as far as possible. If I can't afford it, I won't buy it. I have savings l, have a professional job and could afford to live more extravagantly than I do but you never know when the shit will hit the fan and I need to have something to fall back on.

I get where you are coming from, once you've been on the bare bones if your arse you never forget.

I think this is quite common to be honest. My mil is similar. She’s very much one of the ‘we had no heating and nearly starved and no-one supported us, we had to work’ forgetting, I think, that she was a sahm from her teens and her and dfil bought their council house for a pittance when their kids were small. In fairness, they had no family support at all which must have been difficult,

My dm on the other hand values hard work but thinks it’s an absolute disgrace that families are still having to struggle to afford to heat their homes in this day and age. She says that no-one should ever be hungry or cold and thinks that these things should be subsidised for all. I have to say that given the current situation I’m inclined to agree with her.

No, I wasn't saying that poverty was the same everywhere. I was saying that even extreme poverty exists in the UK, some posters were arguing that it doesn't. It absolutely does and they probably walk past it every day.

I remember when we were having an extension done to our home. Dad had a stable low income job but they had saved for years to afford it. Dad lost his job, they remortgaged the house to finish it off. He was at the jobcentre everyday but it was 7 months before he found a job. I had previously had a part time job at tesco but needed more hours so applied for a weekend job at Primark. My tutor at uni had always said to put them down for job references. So I did for the primark job, she refused because she didn't agree with fast fashion. My wages were the only money coming in aside from dad's jobseekers. It's easy to have principles when you actually have money. We had to sleep in one room to save on heating, six of us. I had to take out a student living loan so that we could buy food (previously hadn't needed one as I lived at home and had a part time job to cover my mobile and travel). It was shit, my dad's mental health went to pot as he couldn't afford to feed us and felt awful taking money from me. It has impacted me, I am frugal and make my money go as far as possible. If I can't afford it, I won't buy it. I have savings l, have a professional job and could afford to live more extravagantly than I do but you never know when the shit will hit the fan and I need to have something to fall back on.

I get where you are coming from, once you've been on the bare bones of your arse you never forget.

No, I wasn't saying that poverty was the same everywhere. I was saying that even extreme poverty exists in the UK, some posters were arguing that it doesn't. It absolutely does and they probably walk past it every day.