To have a whinge about this mob

[Scattybird]

here

[UniversallyChallenged]

Sure legal aid would

if not some legal whizz would take it on for the fame of helping the "underdog" - as i go off on a nightshift leaving 5 children with dh and then see him for 10 mins at 7.30am in the morning. and we still cant pay our bills. As they trot off benefits in hand

Sympathy for this "misquoted" family - NO NO NO*!!!

[TheAntiFlounce]

A lot of the quotes in that article are not ringing true for me. If the whole family is shameless and feckless, why are their 'direct quotes' so well articulated and carefully arranged for maximum impact?

[DeeRiguer]

lets put the daily mail aside


i agree hecate
there are families like this, rolling into generations on living on benefits working on the side too often times, and who have no intention nor inclination nor need to work, like the rest of us have to..
(disability etc also aside for the moment and carers etc)
it is bad for them and bad for the rest of us too

the welfare state is generally a good thing but has been under abuse for long time by people who see it as a job in itself to wangle every benefit allowance going

it's not on

i have sources in the benefits system and other services and some stories are hair raising and sad ultimately..

[TheAntiFlounce]

The benefits system is, unfortunately, wide open to abuse. People do abuse it, it relies mainly on the honesty of the claimants.

But I'm not taking a word of that article seriously. I will read independently funded studies, not misogynistic claptrap, and I will talk about benefits reform until the cows come home.

[Divastrop]

legal aid is alot harder to get than benefits IME.

UC-you are reacting exactly the way the DM want you to.

this article is a big pile of steaming bullshit.i'm not saying there arent such families,but its never quite as black and white as this tripe makes out.

[UniversallyChallenged]

No Diva - i am reacting the way i feel when I am working my pants off and getting nowhere fast and then people make excuses for others who appear to chose benefits as a way of life.

Am not so thick as to follow a newspaper remit on things with no thought of to how i really feel. It's called having my own opinion

[TheAntiFlounce]

It used to annoy me too UC, it used to make me spitting mad. But the benefits system is not the fault of the claimants, it's the fault of the government who have become quite adept at deflecting the fury of the abused majority.

[ladymariner]

imo the welfare system should be there for those who genuinely need it, and that should never change. What should change is the way some people have no intention of working ever but claim every benefit going, that is wrong, wrong, wromg!!!!
Going off on a tangent slightly, how do they manage to claim all this stuff? We tried to claim a poxy allowance for my mother (aged 74) who looks after my disabled father (aged 80) and were presented with this ridiculous booklet that took myself and my brothers (all reasonably intelligent individuals ) over 5 hours to complete!!! How the hell is an oap on their own expected to be able to fill this in and claim what is rightfully theirs? No wonder this bloody government says there is millions in unclaimed benefits

[Divastrop]

UC-i'm sorry i didnt mean to piss you off.

[onepieceoflollipop]

Agree with Squonk.

I refuse to read that "nice" newspaper that my ils (and incidentally my parents) buy daily.

Mil and Fil quote all kind of interesting "facts" - mainly about the country being invaded by immigrants, and "benefit" cheats. of course it is true - we read it in the paper don't you know.

Really makes me .

What makes me more angry is that it churns our variations of one or 2 topics (as above) practically every day. Why read the same "news" every day?? (that's a serious question)

[onepieceoflollipop]

churns out

[DeeRiguer]

ladymariner
many people entitled to benefits do not know they are, cannot claim due to length and wording of form unless the have help...and the government rely on this apparently
it is not a mistake it is like this

to get benefits properly, all the benefits going, it is a full time job (as it is told to me by civil servant(s)) the system is allowing itself to be worked by the dedicated who refuse to get off their ass and work normally

for example, they can get a one off hardship payment for emergency circumstances, compared to someone who doesnt use system often would if lucky and persevered, get a loan to be repaid ..

[ladymariner]

and that is just wrong!!! Honestly, I could spit, i really could. And I don't see it getting any better.

[madamez]

The thing is, if someone says they are better off on benefits than working in the only types of job available to them - why is it always the person on benefits who is attacked and not the companies that refuse to pay a living wage?

[Greyriverside]

I can recall a government minister saying without a trace of embarrassment that it was necessary to keep some people unemployed or wages would be forced up.

You need some desperate people or the companies will be forced to pay a reasonable wage and where we would be then

[DeeRiguer]

same reason that illegal workers get collared and the company employing them has very little retribution
(i think this is changing now though)

the housing costs these days are considerable and if housing benefit pays most of it then a shitty menial job in a packing plant will not cover it, tis true..
so we have foreign workers to do these jobs and we have class that is not working
its state sanctioned 21st cheap labour really
we are paying for it but get no benefits

benefits are for the fat cats and economy i guess..

[KatieScarlett2833]

Utter carp. I have worked in the benefits system for over 20 years and with very, very few and noticable exceptions, no-one is like this.

The rate of personal benefit for an adult is £59 per week. Hardly funds a rock and roll lifestyle?

It's the Daily Mail FFS!!!!!

[Bouncingturtle]

I do wonder how they can afford Sky though, only because my dh and I don't have sky despite our dual incomes. But thinking about we probably could afford Sky - we just think there are better things to spend money on!
My mum went on benefits after my dad walked out on us leaving her in thousands of pounds of debt .
Things were tight, we lived comfortably enough, no car as mum doesn't drive, but we never had holidays (apart from a week in a caravan park when I was 15!) and she had to skimp on a few luxuries to ensure that we had plenty of clothes and decent grub. She hated not working and eventually managed to get a part time job which didn't affect her benefits or our school hours. Once me and my brothers had finished education she found full time employment as a cleaner and stop claiming. She has a nicer lifestyle as a result - she can now afford to go on foreign holidays including to South Africa to visit her sister.
I do think that this particular family are frankly slackers and I think there is a possibility they are cheating the system. But I also think that they are very much the minority of benefit claimants. The majority I think are like my mum who claim because their circumstances force it and want nothing more than to get out of the benefit trap. In many cases because of their skills/experience (or lack thereof) prevent them from getting a job which allows them to be better off financially than if they didn't work.
Basically this article is DM sh!t stirring as usual.

[artichokes]

Here is a little Daily Mail tale to make you think twice about buying it.

A jourlist called Nick Davies has recently published a book on the state of modern journalism. It has many horrific tales about the DM. The one that sticks in my mind is that early reports of a murder were coming through. It was in the Midlands and involved an elderly couple slayed in their beds. The editor of the DM put a team of journalists on the train to rush up and cover this story. The story was promising as it was a perfect fit with DM's normal line of crime being out of control, the elderly being in danger, we are not even safe in our homes etc etc etc.

An hour into the train journey the Editor called the journos and demanded they get off the train. When they asked why he explain more info had come through. The elderly couple were not white. The story would not be covered by the DM at all.

[ninedragons]

Jesus wept. I'll have to get that book for my husband. Any mention of the DM turns him purple with rage and contempt.

[Bouncingturtle]

Artichokes - that is disgusting - but I'm not surprised. DM is just a hate rag.

[lalalonglegs]

They seem extremely articulate for people who have no qualifications or real education between them. Makes me wonder how much some of their direct quotation was "helped" along by the journalists .

I can second Artichokes's story: I have had friends who worked on the DM and were told not to feature black/overweight/"poor-looking" people in their case studies...

[cory]

UniversallyChallenged on Sun 23-Mar-08 21:38:37
"No Diva - i am reacting the way i feel when I am working my pants off and getting nowhere fast and then people make excuses for others who appear to chose benefits as a way of life."

And "appear" I think is the operative word. We don't actually know these people, do we, apart from what the newspaper claims they say? And the Daily Mail are experts in making people appear in a way that conforms to one of the two or three story lines that make up the bulk of their reporting:

feckless lower classes
scheming immigrants
hard done by middle classes

[cory]

Oh, this is a great quote for the SAHM thread:

"Jean says: "My own dad worked down the pit, but my mum didn't work, so I suppose I wanted the same life that she had when I grew up. I just wanted to be at home and live off other people."

There ladies, that's you sorted. You just want to stay at home and live off other people. And to think of all those mothers, grandmothers and greatgrandmothers who have set us awful examples by being at home and living off other people. No wonder we're all messed up! (Cory shakes her head at all those immoral Victorian women).

[mrsruffallo]

LOL- at this.God the DM is ridiclous.
They are a family of ten in a three bedroomed ghouse- hardly the lap of luxury is it?
The matriarch is quioted as saying 'we are after a ten bedroomed house'
More to this than meets the eye I feel